JAANUS / ooyuya　大湯屋

ooyuya　大湯屋

KEY WORD :　architecture / buildings & structures

Also called yuya 湯屋; yokushitsu 浴室; onshitsu 温室. A bathhouse. Traditionally, a separate building at a temple where the monks could bathe. The SHIZAICHOU 資材帳 (register of assets; 8c) mentions that a bathhouse measured 45.45m long × 12.6m wide, and had a tiled roof *hongawarabuki 本瓦葺. An onshitsu (hot house), was located some distance from the main part of the temple. There is some indication that the onshitsu may have been a steambath. Yokushitsu 浴室 (a place to bathe), refers specifically to hot water bathing. At Zen temples, the yokushitsu was one of the seven major buildings in a Zen temple compound, and had an image of Buddabahadra 仏駄跋陀羅, a common Zen image, inside the bathhouse. Bathhouses do not look especially different on the exterior from other relatively simple Buddhist buildings. While the layout of bathhouses vary, the interior must be functional. Usually bathhouses are 3×3 bays and have gable roofs *kirizuma-zukuri 切妻造. The entrance is on the gable end, and the building is located southwest of the main part of the temple. The bathhouse at Hokkeji 法華寺 in Nara was rebuilt in the Muromachi period, but the base stones, paving stones and well appear to be from the Nara period, and thus may have been reused. The building is 3×2 bays with a gable roof, kirizuma-zukuri. The cauldron used to heat water, now missing, used to heat the water was in the second bay on the left side. Exactly how the boiling water was directed to the bathing space is not clear, but it is thought that some kind of outlet sent steam under the floor. The floor of the bathing area was tiled on the front side, the place where the monks washed themselves. The largest extant bath house is at Toudaiji 東大寺 (1408) in Nara and is called Ooyuya. It is 5×8 bays, 12.20m across the front and 22.82m along the sides. The front has a hip-and-gable roof *irimoya-zukuri 入母屋造, and the back has a simple gable roof, kirizuma-zukuri. The roofing material is tile *hongawarabuki 本瓦葺. It has an iron tub over which there is a small timber roof to retain the steam. The floor is made of boards, with the exception of a 1-bay earthen floor on the gabled end and a 2-bay earthen floor on the hip-and-gabled end. Two bays in the rear have a fire box for heating water. The core of the building *moya 母屋, has a board ceiling but the ceiling in the other parts of the building is open-beam, keshou yaneura 化粧屋根裏. The bathhouse at Myoushinji 妙心寺 (1656) in Kyoto, is unusual because it has a belfry, yokushourou 浴鐘楼, to announce the bathing time. The Ooyuya at Houryuuji 法隆寺 (1605) in Nara, is a rather small, 6×4 bays, with a single bay wide eave over the front entrance on the gable end. It faces north and opens into a changing area. It has a wooden tub in the center of the room. The plank floor slopes and the rear room has an earthern floor *doma 土間, with two cauldrons for heating the bath water. There is no ceiling. Water was supplied through bamboo pipes. Only seven detached bath buildings used only for bathing remain today and are designated important cultural properties. The roofing is tile. The bathhouse at Toufukuji 東福寺 (1459) in Kyoto, is another example.

Toudaiji Ooyuya 東大寺大湯屋 (Nara)

Myoushinji Yokushitsu 妙心寺浴室 (Kyoto)

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