銭湯 is read sentō (せんとう) and means a public bath, or bathhouse. It is two kanji. 銭 is coin, or money. 湯 is hot water. Put together you get something close to "coin hot water", which is an honest description of the deal: you hand over some coins and you get hot water.
On its own 湯 is read yu. That matters, because it is the one character you need to recognise to find a sentō from the street.
A sentō is not an onsen
People mix these up. An onsen is defined by its water. Under Japan's Hot Springs Act the water has to come out of the ground at 25°C or more, or carry set amounts of certain minerals. A sentō is defined by what it does: it is a neighbourhood bathhouse you pay to use. Most were built for people whose homes had no bath, which was a lot of people. Tokyo had about 2,687 of them at the peak in 1968. By the end of 2017 it was around 560.
What you see and do
When a sentō is open, a short split curtain hangs over the door. This is a noren (暖簾). On a bathhouse it usually carries ゆ, the hiragana for yu, or the kanji 湯. You duck through the gap.
Inside, in order:
- Shoes off, into a small locker. Keep the key.
- Pay at the counter. In Tokyo the adult price is ¥600, in force since 1 August 2026. Ages 6 to 11 pay ¥200 and under-sixes ¥100. The figure is set for the whole city, so it is the same at every ordinary sentō.
- Undress in the changing room and lock your things away. The key goes on your wrist.
- Wash before you get in. This is the rule that matters. The bath is for soaking and everyone shares it, so you rinse and scrub at the taps first.
- Keep your towel and your hair out of the water.
- Dry off before you walk back into the changing room.
The mountain on the wall
Look up from the bath in a Tokyo sentō and there is often a painting of Mount Fuji across the far wall. The usual account dates it to 1912, at a bathhouse called Kikai-yu in Kanda. The owner wanted something children would enjoy and commissioned a painter, Kawagoe Kōshirō. He came from Kakegawa in Shizuoka, where you can see Fuji, so he painted what he knew. Customers liked it and other bathhouses copied it.
Only a handful of painters still do this work. According to the Tokyo Sento Association they finish a whole wall in about five hours, before the doors open.
Why 10 October is Sentō Day
Japanese dates lend themselves to number puns. Write 10 October as 1010 and it can be read sen-tō. The Tokyo Sento Association applied to register 10 October as Sentō Day and it was recognised in 1996. The date is also the opening day of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, which suited the argument that a bath after exercise is good for you. Tokyo bathhouses mark it with lavender baths, something they first did on 10 October 1995.
There is a second one. 26 November is Good Bath Day, because 11/26 reads ii furo, "good bath". That one was set up by the Japan Bath Additive Industry Association, so you can guess what they would like you to buy.
The cap
I put the noren on a cap. The 5C5V Sentō (銭湯) corduroy cap has two royal blue panels hanging from an old-gold pole with a white ゆ across the split, embroidered on the front, and 銭湯 over No.06 on the back. It is cotton fine-wale corduroy, in black, olive or brown. If someone asks what the ゆ means, you now have about six hundred words to give them.
Questions people ask
What does 銭湯 mean?
銭湯 (sentō, せんとう) means a public bath or bathhouse. 銭 means coin or money and 湯 means hot water.
What is the difference between a sentō and an onsen?
An onsen uses natural hot spring water, which Japanese law defines by its temperature at source (25°C or more) or its mineral content. A sentō is a neighbourhood public bathhouse you pay to enter.
How much does a sentō cost in Tokyo?
The standard adult price in Tokyo is ¥600, in force since 1 August 2026. Children aged 6 to 11 pay ¥200 and children under 6 pay ¥100.
Written by the founder of 5C5V. I design every collection from Copenhagen, built around five Japanese cities and the virtue each one stands for. Questions about a design, sizing or an order? Email matthew@5c5v.co.uk. It comes straight to me. More about 5C5V.
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