Are the Healing Benefits of Japanese Onsen or Hot Springs Universal?
INTRODUCTION
When it comes to Onsen (i.e., “hot springs”), Japan is the ultimate hosting site. This numerous-volcano-hosting country is home to more than 27,000 hot springs, in totality spewing out about 2,600,000 liters of soothing-to-the-skin, mineral-rich water approximately every minute; more importantly, 47% of the water being spewed is in excess of 42 degrees (Celsius).
The amazing thing is that external heating sources are often not needed at the more than 3,085 hot-springs-area lodges spread out along a volcanic belt that stretches for miles.
The springs, furthermore, are continuously and generously replenished by the huge amount of precipitation that annually blesses the Japanese archipelago via rain and snow. It’s no wonder, therefore, that the Japanese early on in their ancient history fashioned unique bathing practices, techniques and traditions that revolved around “hot springs therapy.”
In fact, Onsen was slowly and methodically weaved into the rich cultural tapestry which has now become legendary to its many admirers, a high percentage of them being historians from all over the world.
The Benefits of Hot Springs Therapy
The words “ishukan hitomeguri” (translation: “one-week visits”) refer to hot springs therapeutic bathing for the sake of addressing medical conditions and promoting over-all good health. This time frame, the ideal hot springs therapy unit to follow, is said to have been determined 400 to 500 years ago.
The main impetus for hot springs bathing happens to be “stimulation”; accordingly, certain essential minerals and certain elements are absorbed by the body, ultimately promoting hormone secretion. The sympathetic nerves become dominant as one begins hot springs therapy, accompanied by increases in heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
To compensate for this highly-stimulated reaction, the parasympathetic nerves system takes over, leading to a reduction in heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Actually, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve systems alternate in predominance, although a condition of equilibrium is finally brought about. This see-saw effect is thought to be therapeutic and healing for the human body.
Doctors of medicine first started using hot springs therapy during the Edo period in Japan lasting from 1603 to 1868. The first man to officially try this treatment was Goto Konzan (1659 to 1733), a traditional medicine master with 200 apprentices under him. Konzan was intrumental in helping to champion a medical reformation of current accepted formal medicine—especial in regards to the problems and challenges that Chinese medicine was facing. He was one of the medical experts that helped to revolutionize Japanese medicine.
Konzan, for instance, came up with the radical theory of ikki ryutai (or “energy blockage”), which proposed that sickness in the human body was often the result of blatant energy flow blockage. To illustrate this principle, the character in Japanese for “energy” (ki) was essentially the same as the one used in the word “genki,” which stands for “healthy.”
In fact, the word refers to the autonomic nerves in present-day medicine. Assuming that it was plausible to cure illnesses simply by unblocking these energy stop-gaps, Konzan suggested that it was beneficial to soak in natural springs that were preferably hot in order to ameliorate levels of “ki.”
This became an accepted method to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. In other words, if people wanted to feel more energetic and restore the balance of energy within them, then they were told to soak their weary bodies in hot springs water in weekly sessions during the year or as often as was possible—for there was no indication that you could “overdo” hot water springs therapy.
Proper Bathing Can Prevent Diseases & the Effects of Aging
Society today is obsessed with the eating of vegetables, fruits and mushrooms because they contain high amounts of antioxidants that can help eliminate free radicals which are, supposedly, one of the key reasons for senescence (a.k.a. “aging”) and diseases that have been tied to poor lifestyle choices, including high blood pressure, cancer, stroke, arterial sclerosis, heart attack, obesity and diabetes.
In fact, some experts opine that 90% of diseases (including aging) are brought about by the effects of free radicals. The sources thereof include radiation, ultraviolet rays, car exhaust, pesticides, cigarettes, food additives, intense stress and pharmaceuticals. When we say that a free radical oxidizes something what we mean is that corrodes it.
Other effects of oxidation include metals rusting and unrefrigerated fish turning rancid. It just so happens that the human body consists of approximately 60,000,000,000,000 cells which, when they undergo the physiological equivalent of “corrosion,” can result in DNA getting permanently damaged, thus potentially leading to cancer.
The alternative to “oxidation” is “restoration”—i.e., anything that prompts or promotes the opposite effects (to oxidation) on human cells, tissues and organs. Restoration, furthermore, delays the aging process, helps to repair corroded or decayed cells by re-activating them, thereby producing a rejuvenating effect that can be felt throughout the body.
It’s no wonder, therefore, that hot springs in Japan have been referred to as “waters of youth.” Soaking in hot springs, in other words, restores health to corroded skin, in essence turning back the clock, often returning a youthful appearance.
It should be noted that once disinfectants like Chlorine are added to these springs, chemical reactions occur that can eliminate or reduce the beneficial oxidation-fighting qualities mentioned herein. In fact, the most beneficial springs are those that have recently been breached (that is, only recently been open to the public), that offer pristine water that is continuously fed by chemically unpolluted sources and that aren’t treated with any chemical disinfectant of any kind.
Waters with the Ideal Restorative Powers
An incredible 90,000 kilometers (i.e., 2.5 times the circumference of the earth) of blood-transporting vessels are expertly laid out throughout the human body. In a healthy person, the blood that flows through all these vessels is usually somewhat alkaline, as is the urine that we transmit out of our bodies daily.
It just so happens that vegetables and fruits usually offer antioxidant benefits—unfortunately, though, many people consume less and less of these products. By the same token, consumption of animal protein and processed food consumption continues to escalate—in spite of the fact that most of these products are unhealthily oxidized.
Onsen has helped to keep Japanese people healthy for centuries. To this day, the Japanese simply don’t show the same health problems (at least not in the same high proportions) that are routinely seen in the rest of the developed world. This is especially true about chronic diseases.
If hot springs therapy were given a bigger role by modern medicine in every country, one may argue, perhaps some of these medical problems would be better managed and not as prevalent. Controlling free radicals would be one of the many benefits to be reaped on a more wide-scale basis.
Of all the hot springs sources with healing and restorative powers, the springs that are fed by naturally occurring sources seem to have the most beneficial effects—ostensibly because such sources aren’t tainted by chemicals and, perhaps more importantly, are chock-full of essential minerals and other elements. These “natural” sources generally come from deep beneath the earth and aren’t diluted, chemically treated or heated externally.
These waters are so uniquely beneficial that a special name has been given to the water that spills over the usually stony or earthy sides of bathing pools: “gensen kakinagashi (translation: “water that flows from the source”). This is the type of hot springs boasting of a continuously flow of naturally-occurring, deep-from-the earth water which has the healing powers now associated with the word “Onsen.”
Although many people may know that Onsen is an integral part of Japanese culture, they may not know about the detailed attention that is paid to the quality of the water regularly used by Onsen devotees. The fact is that Japan’s Onsen has as long a history as many of its other ancient cultural “treasures.” From the beginning, these hot springs were used for healing purposes, i.e., to prevent or cure disease (“Toji”). Then again, the Japanese have known that there are many different types of Onsen, each having its own unique healing usefulness.
Each Onsen provides visible or detectable “signs” in relation to the type and quality of the water it holds and the special effects they provide. These can help you determine if an Onsen at your disposal is best suited for your desires or needs. Getting to know what these signs are can help you develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for Onsen.
CONCLUSION
Fortunately, you don’t have to go to Japan to enjoy the benefits of Onsen. The hot springs that you can hopefully find near where you live may impart many of the same benefits the Japanese derive from the many hot springs in their country. This assumes, of course, that the hot springs you visit are mineral-rich, not too badly tainted by chemical solvents and disinfectants, and, preferably, not externally heated.
If you can find natural hot springs that are heated by the earth and are properly maintained, then you too may derive many of the healing effects the Japanese have enjoyed for centuries.
Although the better health of the Japanese (when compared to, say, Europeans and Americans) has mostly been attributed to their more natural, low-fat, high in Omega 3 diets and their mostly non-sedentary lifestyles (at least for folks still living in non-urban settings), maybe things like Onsen should be given some of the credit.
For your part, find a hot springs resort that you can use so that you too can reap the healing effects alluded to herein. There are plenty of reasons to conclude that, yes, the healing effects of Japanese Onsen are universal, for the most part.
Copyright, 2018. Fred Fletcher. All rights reserved.
REFERENCES
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