A coloring page of a nostalgic Showa-era sento (public bathhouse). The painted Mt. Fuji mural, the attendant’s booth (bandai), wooden lockers, and yellow Kerorin buckets — scenes that symbolize Japan’s bathing culture. Relax and enjoy coloring as you gaze at Mt. Fuji rising beyond the steam.
🗣 Conversation Starters — for care activities and family time
“Was there a sento you used to go to often? What was it like?”
“Did you buy a treat on the way home from the bathhouse? Perhaps a coffee milk?”
“What did you look forward to most after a bath?”
Why is Mt. Fuji painted on sento walls?
The tradition of painting Mt. Fuji murals in sento is said to have begun in 1912 at “Kikai-yu” in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. The painter Koshiro Kawagoe painted Mt. Fuji to delight the children, and the custom then spread across the country.
Why are Kerorin buckets so famous?
The yellow “Kerorin bucket” is an advertising bath pail that began appearing in sento nationwide in 1963. Made to promote the headache medicine “Kerorin,” its tough, break-resistant material was prized in bathhouses. More than 2.5 million are said to have been produced in total.
How much did a sento cost in the old days?
In the 1950s and early 1960s, an adult bath cost about 15–20 yen. Today a bath in Tokyo is 520 yen. Every neighborhood once had its own sento; at the peak in 1968 there were about 18,000 nationwide, but the number has since fallen to around 2,000.
