Tis the season for punishing rituals, like glugging litres of water each day, embarking on military-level exercise challenges and vowing to plunge your semi-naked body into icy water in the name of recovery.
Ice baths have become inextricably linked with fitness, grit and determination, driven in no small part by Dutch motivational speaker, Wim Hof, dubbed The Iceman. He is a proponent of controlled breathing techniques, regular ice baths and cold water immersion, which he claims helps with fat loss, balancing hormones, elevating your mood and fortifying your immune system.
But, for those who prefer a less abrasive start to the year, there’s a more pleasant way to embrace the benefits of bathing, and it has been practised for centuries by the Japanese, who know a thing or two about longevity.
Dogo Onsen public bath in Matsuyama
(Gabrielle Doman)
Toji, meaning “hot water cure”, is the practice of bathing in hot springs, known in Japan as onsen, several times a day for at least a week as a way to treat a wide spectrum of ailments. The practice dates back to the 6th century and has sparked folklore stories around the miraculous healing powers of the local onsen. Shima Onsen in Gunma, for example, translates as “40,000”, which is commonly thought to stem from claims that it could cure 40,000 illnesses and disorders, with heartbreak singled out as one exception.
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Further south, legends emerged that Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, Ehime healed the injured leg of a white heron who, 3,000 years ago, came every day to bathe it. A statue of the bird now sits atop the town’s public bath. In Shizuoka’s Tokko no Yu Onsen, stories have been passed down that Kobo Daishi, the 9th-century monk who established the Shingon school of Buddhism in Japan, struck a rock and caused hot spring water to gush forth and heal a sick young boy.
Wakayama’s Yonomine’s Tsubo-yu onsen, the world’s only Unesco World Heritage-listed hot spring, is thought to have cured injured samurais after battle. Even eating an egg boiled (and its shell blackened) in the hot spring of Owakudani in Hakone is said to add seven years to your lifespan.
Studies have shown that within three weeks of toji, blood pressure and stress hormones are lowered
Professor Shinya Hayasaka
While many of the historic benefits of toji might be a little far-fetched, there…
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