How to take a bath in Japan

Hello everyone,

my cold isn't quite over yet, but I still decided I couldn't stay home all weekend. So after relaxing (and studying) all day on Saturday, I went out on Sunday.
Hirotake-san was so nice to take me to a few more really nice temple. First we went to Ninnaji (仁和寺), founded in 888 by emperor Uda as a residence for the emperors, and a place for studying buddhism. It is really famous for its Sakura Trees which bloom later than other Sakura and are shaped more like a bush than a actual tree, through which the blossoms are on eye level, which is supposed to be very beautiful. Like many other temple this one was also destroyed repeatedly by fires and so all buildings were rebuilt over and over.

After Ninnaji we went to the more famous sister-temple Ryoanji (龍安寺), with supposedly the most beautiful stone garden in Kyoto. I have to admit that I didn't think it so extraordinary and because of all the people sitting and standing in front of it it was impossible to take a proper picture. The big pond within the garden surrounding the temple was really nice to look at and a good place to relax. 

We left at around 11:30 a.m. to eat Lunch at a very small Ramen place. When we arrived it was already full (10 seats) so we had to wait about 15 minutes. But the Ramen was really good (hand-made Ramen noodles and soup). It was a great experience.

Hirotake-san had to work from 1 p.m. (like every day) and so I went to Nijojo (二条城) on my own. It was originally built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu (everyone with a little knowledge of Japanese History knows the guy). When in 1867 the fifteenth Tokugawa Shogun retururned sovereignty to the Emperor, the castle became the property of the Imperial family, until it was donated to the city of Kyoto in 1939. The Ninomaru Palace within the Nijojo is open to the public and worth a visit. You can walk trough all the rooms where the Shogun lived, and received Guest like Daimyo from all parts of the country. The drawings on the walls are all really beautifully made (unfortunately it is prohibited to take any pictures within the building so I can't show you). The gardens of Nijojo are really wide but if you have been to other garden in Japan they are really nothing too special.

Now I would like to come to the main part of this post. At night Michiko-san and I decided to visit a public bath near our home. Those public bathes were really common and much frequented when it was still unusual to have your own bathroom and bathtub in your house. Japanese people have always been much more clean than people in Europe, bathing long and often (even now it is common, that people take a bath every day).
The concept is really great, but nothing for shy people, since you are completely naked in a room with other people (of the same sex). There is some kind of ritual to follow when going to a bath house. First you undress completely and wash your body with soap and water. Only after that will you enter one of the big bathtubs (depending on the size of the bath house there are more than one tub with different temperatures, some even outside). There you soak until you can't stand the heat anymore and then go into a small tub with ice cold water (it feels really good). You repeat this as often as you like. Usually people will stay about an hour and then go back home.
When going to Japan I have been to Onsen (basically the same, just bigger, and usually natural hot springs) and shared bathes in Ryokan before. The process is always similar, but the mindset is kind of different. When going to an Onsen you do it to relax, have fun and often get more healthy because of minerals in the water. When going to a public bath house it is only for the purpose of getting your body clean, like taking a shower (only going to a public bath has more style, at least in my eyes).

Well I hope you have learned something new and interesting. I will write again soon!