Naked Truth

(reflections on Fuigo-inn onsen experiences in Yamakawa, Tokushima Prefecture. January 2011)

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From that very day when my colleague Daniel first shared with me his observation that a public bath in Japan is rather a locale for community gathering than just a place to wash your body – something like a well in a village, I kept thinking about this. Indeed, there is little doubt that people who come to a rural onsen like ours at Fuigo-inn in Yamakawa have known each other throughout their lives, and the same was true about their parents and grandparents and so on for generations. Regular visits to an onsen are a usual thing, a part of life routine loved by the entire nation.

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What struck me most was the possibility of a deeper meaning contained in the fact that suchlike community interactions occur at a place where the participants are in the state of their utmost naturalness, i.e. completely naked. Moreover, the visit to an onsen begins with a “purification rite” of sorts: with thorough washing of your body in a fairly ritualized manner. Any guidebook on Japan is sure to include detailed description of the onsen etiquette, which, simple as it is, sometimes is not so easy for a foreigner to follow faultlessly.

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So, visitors to an onsen are stripped to the core – their appearance doesn’t anymore carry the signals of individual taste, status, political affiliation, etc. encrypted in the choice of what and how to wear. There is nothing but your own self among the same kind of selves – that’s it. I thought if it were legitimate to make here a connection to the Shinto ideals of naturalness and purity, Taoist ideas of the necessity of becoming one with the natural way of the universe, Zen Buddhist concept of nothing special being necessary for the awakening since everything possesses Buddha’s nature? All these teachings / religions, consciously or unconsciously, became essential for the Japanese way of thinking, shaping concepts of ethics and aesthetics, or to say this simply – defining the understanding of what is good and what is beautiful.

Japanese aesthetics relies on the appreciation of things simple, natural, and unpretentious. Unmatched craftsmanship of Japanese artisans is rooted in the treatment of every natural material as a living entity since everything in nature is regarded animate due to the presence of the spirits kami within. This approach is evident in Japanese woodwork with its careful revealing of grain and the natural color of timbers, particularly striking at Ise Jingu but not limited to it, of course. You see the similar attitude “molding” Japanese pottery in which any kinds of spontaneous distortions become the most prized features. The same sentiment underlies rock and moss arrangements of the dry gardens, the so often seen support systems of straw ropes and bamboo struts propping up the sprawling branches of a living tree unable to hold them itself, etc.

With all that said it hardly should be surprising that old friendships are kept refreshed in an onsen where things are literally laid bare. It is also, perhaps, not a surprise that new cordial friendships spring up in this environment of utmost openness. And this is exactly what happened one day when a friendly Japanese woman came up to me and asked something simple – it seems to me, she just asked where our group was from and what we were doing in Yamakawa. Hiwada Shizuyo introduced herself, told me that she lived at a local temple Ikōji not far from the inn and invited me over.

The first day I went to explore the place with some friends and found the temple but knocking at the door seemed an intrusion and so we retreated. The next morning we met with Shizuyo-san again and she repeated her invitation. So, after the day at the Awagami Factory ended I wandered through a completely quiet town in twilight and already in complete darkness climbed the steep steps of the temple. I came up to the door and rang. This very minute I saw a quickly moving shadow of my new friend appearing against the milk-white shoji and Shizuyo-san went out to meet me. It was obvious that she was waiting for me! She showed me around the temple, let me into the adjacent room, brought little tray with nice pastry and in a second appeared with a bowl and a bamboo whisk. With easy, precise and absolutely natural movements she whipped up the beautiful thick green tea for me which I greatly enjoyed. When it was the time for me to leave Mrs. Hiwada, having presented me a bag of goodies, jumped into her car and drove me down to the inn. It was already a cordial friendship! Difficult as our communication was because of the language barrier we still managed to exchange basic information – how old we were, who our children and grandchildren were, who our husbands were. I know, for example, that Shizuyo-san has a son and two granddaughters and that a grandson is forthcoming soon. From that day on every morning we met with Shizuyo-san in the onsen, washed next to each other and sat in the hot bathtub afterwards, always finding some simple but important things to tell each other about. One day Shizuyo-san came up and rubbed my back – an unexpected but recognizable experience, something practiced in public baths in Russia where I am originally from. An unexpected coincidence but perhaps just a natural favor among washing people in public baths internationally.

I told my colleague and the students about my new close friend and about being a guest in the temple. Everyone was intrigued – and Shizuyo-san graciously extended her invitation to the entire group. The next day there were fourteen of us! Again we were shown around the temple and Shizuyo-san and her friend made green tea for all of us and let everyone try a hand at it to the utmost excitement of the participants. It was on two more occasions that our group was welcomed to the temple. Once the husband of Shizuyo-san, Mr. Hiwada Jisen, the priest at the temple and author of many books came out to greet us in his priestly garb. We all felt in awe. Special scrolls were put out and hung at the front of the altar frame. One of the scrolls represented Kukai, the same as Kōbō Daishi, the 8^th century Buddhist teacher and a founder of Shingon School of esoteric Buddhism, who is particularly revered on Shikoku where he was born. His story was somewhat familiar to many in our group since we were going to Koyasan, the main temple complex founded by Kukai. The other scroll told about the pilgrimage of our host to China where he visited all famous places associated with Kukai who had studied there. Both our hosts – the priest and his wife taught us calligraphy and gave us towels and memo-pads as souvenirs. Everyone seemed thrilled and moved because the experience was so utterly authentic.

By way of conclusion, these deliberations on the root of the warm human connection that swiftly developed from my onsen acquaintance made me suddenly realize its innate correlation with the concepts fundamental for Japanese culture that all focus on the deeply hidden truth of things. Two major are makoto – the sincerity and purity of mind and heart, and kokoro – the heart, the inner core of things.

Elena Varshavskaya

Our group at Ikoji Temple with my friend Hiwada Shizuyo.

Our group with Hiwada Shizuyo's friend.