JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED SAUNAS40 saunas
Saunas designed by architects in Japan
40 saunas in Japan whose architect or designer is named in official sources. Areas include Ryogoku, Shibuya, Ikejiri-Ohashi, Misawa, Akasaka, Kanda. Each page has photos, hours and how to get there, with the address in Japanese.
Six styles of sauna gathered under the idea of a “Japanese-style sauna”
Forest, pond and tub — sauna as a place to experiment
Nine sauna rooms, and a place to work
A bathhouse on the 4th floor of a Ginza building, made for looking inward
A sento's leftover space, turned into an open-air rest area
A car park turned into a half-outdoor rest area
From changing to resting, all in one private room
A wide rooftop rest area and the shortest possible circuit
A private sauna of sound and scent
A “travel-mood sento” that keeps its Showa-era tile pictures
An 80-year-old sento updated for today
A noren-like facade, and baths floating among clouds
The “warm snow” baths of a Sapporo hotel
Three private saunas in an art hotel
Private modern-Japanese saunas themed on the moon
A Morioka bathhouse that combines spa and sento
A public hot spring bath built around a wooden engawa
A hot spring sento with nothing added — no water, no heating
A “terrarium sento” with a big aquarium and greenery
Modern Japanese, with just a touch of the exotic
A sauna that frames the mountains, and a tiled steam sauna
A private sauna in Ryogoku, wrapped in mist
A sauna for “rest and recovery in the city”, in a complex linked to the station
The sauna as a tea room — SAUNA OOO's first branch
A bath like a public bathhouse, joined to the guest room's living room
A Mt Fuji mural and a bathroom of pale blue tile
A Misawa hot spring sento with a wooden ceiling and hot spring tubs
A bath you walk through, and tubs you enter without stepping over
An enzyme bath in black and white, wrapped in hinoki sawdust
A winery spa with a lounge of books and wine
A sauna and shower rooms in a cave-like basement
Beige capsules and a Finnish-style sauna
A dim private sauna where you make löyly with aroma or tea
A sauna under a roof inspired by cap clouds, looking at Mt Fuji and the lake
A private sauna that keeps the family farmhouse just as it was
A stepped sauna and a loft sauna of Mie hinoki
A private sauna in a small alley townhouse, finished like a burrow
“Sea” and “Sky” saunas facing the Sea of Japan, in a Taisho-era annexe
A hot spring sento running since the Taisho era, renovated to open onto the street
Designed by Shigeru Ban: a hot spring with a 100 m walking bath and a sauna
