Sento and Super Sento: Japan's Public Bathhouses

A sento (銭湯) is a neighbourhood public bathhouse: you pay at the door, wash, soak and go home. Sen (銭) is money and to (湯) is hot water, so the word is close to "the paid bath". Japan's public bath rules give it a class of its own, the general public bath (一般公衆浴場), which the health ministry describes as a bath local people use for everyday hygiene.

That is why its price is capped. Under the Price Control Ordinance of 1946, each prefecture's governor sets the most a general public bath may charge. In Tokyo the adult price went up from 550 to 600 yen on 1 August 2026, with 200 yen for children aged 6 to 11 and 100 yen for younger ones. The same class takes in many town-run communal baths in onsen towns, and that is why the catalog files both as public bathhouses.

The word says nothing about the water. Many sento heat ordinary water, and some sit on a hot spring of their own: a sento can be an onsen, and plenty are.

The word, piece by piece

1. 銭せんmoney, coins (zeni)
2. 湯とうhot water, a bath (read yu on its own)

Paid baths are old in Japan. An encyclopedia records a sento in the grounds of the Gion shrine in Kyoto at the end of the Kamakura period, and the word turns up in a diary in 1450. In Edo, the Tokyo Sento Association dates the first to 1591, when a man called Ise Yoichi built a bathhouse by the Zenigame bridge, near today's Tokiwabashi. An account of the time complains that inside, the steam and smoke left you unable to speak or open your eyes. By the early 1800s Edo was said to have more than 600.

The shogunate kept trying to tidy them up. In 1657 it shut down the yuna baths, bathhouses with women attendants. Mixed bathing was banned again and again, under the Kansei and the Tenpo reforms, and only really ended in the middle of the Meiji period. Meiji also did away with the zakuro-guchi, the low screen you stooped under to reach the hot tub, and the new "improved baths" had high ceilings and vents to let the steam out. After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, temple carpenters are said to have rebuilt Tokyo's sento in grand temple style, to lift the spirits of a city that was rebuilding.

Tokyo had 2,687 sento in 1968, the most since the war. That year 42.2 percent of homes in Tokyo had a bath of their own; by 2008 it was 97.6 percent, and Tokyo was down to 879 sento. There were 476 in April 2022, and the shared discount ticket sold in 2026 works at about 420. Across Japan, the national bathhouse association counted 17,999 sento in 1968 and 1,493 in April 2026.

Every sento is a little different, but many share a layout, the old ones in Tokyo most of all. From the street to the bath, this is what you meet.

• The building

  Many Tokyo sento have a curved temple-style gable over the entrance and a high coffered ceiling inside. A tall chimney used to show the way, though many sento no longer have one. A noren curtain hangs in the doorway, and there is usually one for men and one for women.

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• Shoe lockers

  Shoes come off at the entrance and go in a small locker. Its key is often a wooden tag: take it with you so it does not get lost.

• Bandai (番台)

  A raised seat at the entrance, where the attendant takes your money and can see over the changing rooms. Some sento still have one. Others have a front desk in a lobby, and some a ticket machine.

• Changing room (脱衣所)

  Most have lockers; keep the key on your wrist while you bathe. Some old sento have baskets instead, and then valuables are left with the attendant.

• Washing area (洗い場)

  Rows of low stations along the walls, each with a stool, a basin and a pair of taps, one hot and one cold, often with a shower and a mirror. You sit, wash and rinse here before you get in the bath.

• The mural (ペンキ絵)

  Above the bath, many Tokyo sento have a big painting on the wall, usually Mt Fuji, called penki-e, a picture in paint. The custom is usually traced to Kikai-yu, a sento in Kanda, around 1912. Some have a local view or a tile picture instead.

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Since sento is a class of bathhouse, not a kind of water, nothing stops a sento from being an onsen. Around Tokyo Bay, in Ota ward and beyond, a dark brown spring water called kuroyu (黒湯), black water, rises from the ground. It comes out below 25°C and counts as onsen water for what it carries rather than for its heat: Ota ward describes it as ancient seawater, rich in metasilicic acid and bicarbonate, and long used in the local sento.

In Kagoshima city, which has 267 hot-spring sources, many people use an onsen as their everyday neighbourhood bath. If the water matters to you, look for the water analysis, the onsen bunsekisho, on the wall or at the front desk.

The rules are the same as at any Japanese bath. These are the ones a sento adds, or makes more likely to come up.

• Bring your own towel and soap

  Not every sento supplies a towel, soap or shampoo, so bring your own. If you come with nothing, most sell small soaps, shampoos and towels at the counter, and some sell a whole bathing set.

• Ask about the sauna

  Many Tokyo sento have a sauna, and some charge extra for it. Ask when you pay.

• Wash first, and mind your neighbours

  Wash at the taps before you get in, or at least rinse well and pour water over yourself with kakeyu. Showers splash, so point yours at yourself, not at the next station.

• Ask before you cool the bath

  Sento water is often hotter than a bath at home. Stay in for a short time if it is very hot. If you want to run cold water into the bath, ask the people around you first: it is their bath too.

• Towel and hair out of the water

  The small towel stays out of the bath, and long hair goes up so it does not touch the water.

• Dry off before the changing room

  Wipe yourself down with your small towel, the soles of your feet too, before you step back into the changing room, so its floor stays dry.

• Children

  In Tokyo, since January 2022, children aged 7 and over bathe on their own side, not with a parent of the other sex. Other prefectures set their own age, so check if you are travelling as a family.

• Tattoos

  In 2017 Japan's national sento association said its members do not turn people away for tattoos, and it does not ask them to put up signs that do. A super sento makes its own rules, so check before you go.

A super sento (スーパー銭湯) takes the sento idea and makes it big: a day-use bathing complex with many kinds of bath, saunas, a restaurant and somewhere to lie down afterwards. The format appeared in the mid-1980s, is said to have spread from the Kansai region, and took off in the 1990s. Under the public bath rules it is not a general public bath but one of the "other public baths", like a health centre, so the prefecture's price cap does not apply.

What you find inside varies, but Ryusenji no Yu in Nagoya's Moriyama ward gives the idea: 13 kinds of bath, an open-air bath of natural onsen water, ganbanyoku rock-bed bathing, a restaurant, massage, a corner with books and manga, and opening hours from 6 in the morning until 2:30 at night. Most have a rotenburo, a sauna with a mizuburo cold plunge beside it, and a kyukeijo rest area.

Both are public baths you pay to use, both have a men's side and a women's side, and the manners are the same. The rest is different.

• Price

  A sento's price is capped by its prefecture: 600 yen for an adult in Tokyo from August 2026, 500 yen in Miyagi from December 2025. A super sento sets its own price, and it is not held to the cap.

• Size and facilities

  A sento is one bath hall on each side with a few baths, and in Tokyo often a sauna. A super sento has many baths indoors and out, saunas, often rock-bed bathing, a restaurant, massage and rest areas.

• How long you stay

  A sento is an everyday stop on the way home. A super sento is built for an afternoon or a whole evening, and some stay open until well after midnight.

• Who goes

  A sento's regulars are the people who live around it. Super sento are popular with families and younger people, and many have been built in the suburbs.

• Onsen or not

  Neither name tells you. A sento may heat tap water or run on black onsen water; a super sento may heat ordinary water or have a spring of its own. Look at what each place says about its water.

• Tattoos

  Sento, as general public baths, do not turn people away for tattoos, the national association says. A super sento decides for itself, and some do refuse; the tattoo guide has the details.

See all 1,610 public bathhouses on the map

See all 369 bathing complexes on the map

Is a sento an onsen?

It can be. Sento is a class of public bathhouse with a capped price, not a kind of water. Many heat ordinary water, but some draw their own hot spring, like the black water sento around Tokyo Bay. If the water matters to you, look at what a place says about its water.

How much does a sento cost?

Each prefecture sets the most a sento may charge. In Tokyo it is 600 yen for adults from 1 August 2026, 200 yen for children aged 6 to 11 and 100 yen under 6. Saunas and towels can cost extra. A super sento sets its own price.

What should I bring to a sento?

A small towel, a bath towel, soap and shampoo. If you forget them, most sento sell small soaps, shampoos and towels at the counter.

Can I go to a sento with tattoos?

Usually yes. Japan's national sento association said in 2017 that its members do not turn people away for tattoos. Super sento make their own rules and some refuse, so check before you go.

What is the difference between a sento and a super sento?

A sento is a neighbourhood bathhouse whose price the prefecture caps; a super sento is a big day-use complex with many baths, saunas and a restaurant, which sets its own price. Either may or may not use onsen water.

• Bandai番台Attendant's booth at the entrance of a traditional sento or onsen, where an employee monitors the premises and collects fees.
• Noren暖簾Traditional fabric curtain hung at the entrance, typically color-coded (blue for men, red for women) to indicate bathing areas.
• Datsuijo脱衣所Changing room with lockers or baskets for storing clothes, located between the entrance and the bathing area.
• Araiba洗い場Washing area with seated shower stations where guests rinse and wash thoroughly before entering the bath.
• Kakeyu掛け湯Pouring hot water from the bath over yourself with a basin before you get in, starting with your feet and hands, to rinse off and get used to the temperature. Some baths have a small tub of hot water just for this.
• Mizuburo水風呂Cold water bath. Commonly used after sauna; rinse off before plunging in.
• Kyukeijo休憩所Rest area for relaxing after bathing, often with tatami seating, beverages, and sometimes massage chairs.
• Ganbanyoku岩盤浴Hot stone bathing: visitors lie on heated stone slabs. Clothing is worn, and the areas are typically mixed-gender.