Yushinden, Japan’s Sole Bathhouse Dedicated for Imperial Use
Dogo Onsen Front Page > Yushinden
Yushinden, Japan’s Sole Bathhouse
Dedicated for Imperial Use
A Bathhouse with a History of Successive Imperial Visits
The Yushinden / Tama-no Yu wing was constructed in 1899 as a bathing facility dedicated for imperial use. The name Yūshinden is said to trace its origins to a passage appearing in the second annotated chapter of “Great Learning,” considered one of the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism, describing a saying inscribed by King Tang, the first king of the Yin Dynasty, also known as the Shang Dynasty, on his washbasin. With a meaning to the effect of, “As you greet each new day, improve yourself anew, and as you repeat this with each and every new day, you yourself will be renewed,” the line seems to have been a sort of motto the king would repeat to himself each day as he washed his face.
A Space of Opulence and Refinement
A three-story wooden structure constructed by ISANIWA Yukiya and SAKAMOTO Matahachiro. Constructed of fine-quality tsuga (southern Japan hemlock) timber, Japan-grown and knot-free, and featuring plentiful gold leaf and silver leaf in the interior, the space brims with lavish and ornate decorative design. The bathing facility is constructed of wood, and here the bath, which dates to the Meiji period (late 18th to early 19th century), can be viewed.
