青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

Mari Yamazaki’s wildly popular manga series Thermae Romae—about an architect of public baths (thermae) in ancient Rome who time-travels to modern-day Japan—portrays the mutual passion for bathing that connects those two seemingly disparate societies. This catalogue of an exhibition at the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art and other venues further explores that connection, revealing how the human pursuit of pleasure merged bathing with entertainment and, ultimately, transformed it into a cultural tradition.

The book starts with ancient Roman bathing, examining its origins, the architecture and technology that allowed it to prosper, and the art that adorned public bathhouses, before moving on to describe the history of Japan’s own bathing culture from the earliest times through the present. Richly illustrated with close to 170 artworks, artifacts, and historical sources, the pages offer a unique journey through time and across cultures.