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The oldest bathhouse in Beppu reminds me a lot of the bathhouse in Spirited Away, though the only giant monsterous beings in this one are Kay and I, as we negotiate our way through the confusing sand bath protocol with minimal Japanese. There are sand baths on the beach at Beppu, and in other parts of Kyushu, but takegawara is hard to beat for atmosphere. Thrillingly, the ticket office has large-sized men’s yukatas for us to wear, and we work out that some lockers are for our shoes, some are for our valuables, and some are for everything else. There’s a sign warning that menstruating women are unallowed in the sand bath, and it just so happens that Kay is on her period this very day. We decide that there is no danger of her bleeding anywhere, or contaminating the sand any more than any other person might, and that the rule against menstruation is a bit stupid, and possibly ignorant, since heat and weight and dampness can be soothing if you have period pain. We have probably offended, and I am sorry about that. So we find ourselves naked except for these short robes, standing with about four others in the women’s section of the bathhouse. The whole building is tall and open, with windows on the second floor and wood panelled ceilings and partitions separating the different areas: men, women, onsen, sand bath.
An assistant motions us through a door. There, on the other side, are two big, square, hot, sand pits, each about ten metres square. One is dry, the other is filled with hot water, soaking the sand. As we lie in our sand baths, the other pit will be drained and made ready for the next batch of bathers. A team of about six Sand Ladies, the somewhat patronising term for the strong women who work at the baths, have dug indentations in which we are to lie. They look like graves. One by one we go and take our place in them, we are lined up neatly. A wooden block is put under the head and, using a big, flat shovelling implement, the Sand Ladies start to bury us. This is the part where you might start to feel a tiny bit claustrophobic and panicky. It takes a couple of minutes for them to bury you, and by the end you will have become merely a mound and a head poking out of the sand. They leave you to zone out for about ten minutes and then they come and urge you to burrow your way out, shower off the black sand, and have a dip in the hot onsen. The sand is very heavy, it’s hot and wet and scratchy, but it feels very good. Being buried is a bit of an endurance test, but you feel safe and looked-after, you feel that the Sand Ladies have seen it all and will sort you out if you take a turn for the worse. Our body feels light and relaxed after you’ve dug your way out, and your first steps will be a bit unstable, but after you have dressed again and are dry, you can sit in the main visitors area of this fantastic building and have a cigarette, or watch some television, or drink some Pocari Sweat, and feel calm and happy, watching the people go by. |
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