JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED SAUNAS
Introduction
Japan's sauna forms, in one building
Sauna is said to have begun in the Nordic countries and rural Russia, and it spread in Japan after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Through several booms since, Japanese sauna grew into forms of its own.
Sauna Tokyo focuses on that variety. It sorts the sauna styles Japanese people love into six, gives each its own character, and draws on Japanese design while keeping the whole facility coherent.
01 · Jokiranbu
An auto-löyly sauna of over 30 m²
The largest room is an auto-löyly sauna of more than 30 m².
Its walls are finished in durable bengara (red iron-oxide) paint, whose reddish tone gives the space a Japanese feel.
02 · Kelo sauna
A self-löyly room of kelo wood
Kelo wood, prized for saunas in Finland, was imported as raw logs and used here.
In this room you pour water on the stones — löyly — yourself.
03 · Six styles
An Edo cupboard bath, meditation and Showa infrared
There is also a steam half-bath sauna based on the Edo-period todana-buro cupboard bath, a meditation sauna screened by wooden partitions, a gas-stove far-infrared sauna and a cool sauna for cooling down.
Within one facility you can trace the history of sauna in Japan.
04 · Baths and rest
A dim bathhouse and a room to lie back
The bathing area is a calm space with low lighting.
The rest room is lined with chairs you can sink into.
What is löyly?
Pouring water on the hot stones of a sauna stove to make steam. The word is Finnish.
There is “auto-löyly”, where a machine pours the water, and “self-löyly”, where you do it yourself. Sauna Tokyo has rooms of both kinds.
