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.