柳原美咲

Misaki Yanagihara

Japan is a country of Onsen, hot springs. With 27,899 source of natural Onsen, which have been officially registered, it mark the highest number in the world.
Incidentally, China, in second place, has around 3,000. Just looking at the figures makes it very clear just how many Onsen there are in this small island in Japan.
Having travelled through this land of hot springs for 10 years, I find myself wondering whether the Japanese—who have preserved spaces where one can fully savour the bounty of the earth and take a moment to relax, for a long time across the era—might be a unique group of people. On New Year’s Day, we purify the water in a ritual; we gauge its rarity by its mineral composition and filtration methods; we pass down unique local customs;
and some travel whenever they hear of Onsen in the mountains, rivers or sea.
This March, I was permitted to photograph the Onsen at Hatoya and the cleaning process there for preparation for this exhibition.
The way they scrub every single thing that catches the eye—the ceiling, walls, floor, windows, mirrors, shampoo bottles, the depths of the drains, chairs and buckets—is nothing short of a master’s craft.
This ‘cleaning’ is also an indispensable and vital task for preserving Onsen culture.
Although I have written about ‘hot spring culture’ in broad terms, I believe it is crucial work for the Onsen culture from scenes repeated day after day. I would be delighted if this photo exhibition provided an opportunity for you to connect with the Onsen and the lives of the people that have been crossed together continuously over the years.