When the coronavirus crisis occured in 2019, Japan shut its borders for a very long time, allowing almost no foreigners inside. I wanted really badly to come back to Japan to pursue my research on the Japanese bath, so as soon as the borders opened, me and my partner – artist and photographer Luna Duchaufour-Lawrance – took a flight for Kyoto, to live there during thee month and start the project of a documentary book called « Ukigumo ». This book aimed to document and share the sentô culture, both to the French and Japanese readers.

During three months, we visited as much Sentô in Kyoto as we could, and realized that a lot of them were about to close and be destroyed. It was due to multiple causes: the coronavirus, the prices of fuel going up, the old age of the owners and the high costs of repairing the timeworn buildings… It was very sad to witness that some of the most important and historic public baths of Kyoto, such as Nishiki-yu (located in the central area, just next to the market), had to close their doors, and their buildings had to be completely demolished.

Fortunately, kept a trace of some of those bathes: I interviewed the owners as Luna took some photographies.
Talking with the owners, we learned that these public baths were not only places of bathing and cleansing, but also important meeting points for the local community: Nishiki-yu even held cultural events such as Rakugo theatre.

While many of Kyoto’s Sento were shutting their doors, there was some hope to be found: a young generation of « Sento activists » is determined to keep the public baths alive: we met with the staff of Yutonamisha, a company that runs Umeyu and Minamoto-yu in Kyoto, as well as the owners of Denki-yu and Inari-yu in Tokyo. All these activists do their best to revive local sento by employing young staff, creating merch, and organizing exhibitions and live music events.

Making this documentary on the Japanese bath allowed us to discover crazy places: a Beatles-themed sento, a Sento full of birds… I even took a bath in a Goemon buro inside a temple! We also met with Tenma Miyake, a young man who travelled Japan – and even the USA – in a sento-themed dekotora! His dream is to unite the world though the Japanese bath.

Of course, I also drew a little guide to introduce foreigners to the use of the Japanese bath.

Making a book like this one – selecting the photographies, writing the texts, translating the interviews – was a very long task, but I’m happy we got to share this book to so many people both in France and Japan. I hope people will enjoy it as much as we enjoyed taking a good bath !
In case you’re looking for it, the book will be available during Tokyo Art Book Fair.
To be continued…