XVII.] 
BATHING AT KUSATSU. 
347 
shed. Without this arrangement it would perhaps be difficult 
to get the patients to go into the bath, for agreeable it could not 
be, to judge from the grave faces of the bathers and the fire-red 
colour of their bodies when they come out. 
The baths are under open sheds. Men and women all bathe 
in common, and in presence of both male and female spectators. 
They make their remarks without reserve on the diseases of the 
patients, even if they are of that sort about which one would 
not speak willingly even to his physician. Often the bath-basin 
is not fenced off in any way, except that it is protected from 
rain and sunshine by a roof resting on four posts. In such cases 
the bathers dress and undress in the street. 
In consequence of the situation of Kusatsu at a height of 
1050 metres above the sea, the winter there is very cold and 
windy. The town is then abandoned not only by the visitors to 
