Due to the dense population and the high cost of building bathhouses, along with the need to ensure fire safety, among the nearly one million people in all of Edo, only a very few families had the financial means to establish private bathhouses. The vast majority of townsmen and samurai could only go to public bathhouses to solve their bathing needs.
Therefore, in the Edo Era, where entertainment activities were scarce and there were no convenient means of communication, bathhouses were not only places to cleanse the body but also the most important social venues, almost without exception.
Inviting family and friends to share a moment of tranquility in the bath pool... this was the most common sight in Edo Era bathhouses.
Hence, in the eyes of many, bathhouses were places of very special significance.
