{"id":73931,"date":"2020-11-01T09:30:19","date_gmt":"2020-11-01T00:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/?p=73931"},"modified":"2020-09-30T17:13:35","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T08:13:35","slug":"1-sento-a-place-that-forgives-weaknesses-how-one-person-threw-away-an-ideal-career-in-order-to-find-her-own-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/news\/2020\/11\/01\/73931\/","title":{"rendered":"[#1] Sento, a Place that Forgives Weaknesses: How One Person Threw Away an \u201cIdeal Career\u201d in Order to Find Her Own Path"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honami Enya has visited over 200 sento <\/em>(communal baths) across Japan. Under the eccentric title of \u201cbanto (clerk)\/illustrator,\u201d her illustrations of sento <\/em>have garnered significant attention on Twitter, and she has appeared on Jounetsu Tairiku<\/em> (TBS) and Jinsei Design<\/em> (NHK E Tere).<\/p>\n

After studying architecture at Waseda University\u2019s School of Creative Science and Engineering, Enya started working at a design office and launched her activities as a sento <\/em>illustrator with \u201cSento Illustrations,\u201d a project she started in order to communicate to friends the allures of sento<\/em>. Published in February 2019 by Chuokoron-Shinsha, Sento Zukai<\/em> (Sento <\/em>Illustrations) is a collection of steamy sento <\/em>illustrations and the culmination of an unprecedented experiment, comprised of onsite surveys, photography, interviews, and illustrations of sento <\/em>interiors that utilize isometric architectural projections.<\/p>\n

Sento <\/em>illustrator Enya currently works at Kosugiyu sento <\/em>in Koenji, Tokyo. Join us as we trace her story and learn how she committed her youth to drawing and architecture on a quest to find a place of belonging.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

#1 Sento Illustrations<\/em>: A Project Brought to Life by Days of Melancholy<\/h3>\n

Q. How did you get into sento<\/em>? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Enya
\nI started working at a design company after graduating from Waseda. My job absorbed my life, and I would get by with less than five hours sleep and a diet of energy drinks and chocolate. After a year and half, I was diagnosed with \u201cfunctional hypoglycemia,\u201d a condition that prevents one from being able to control their blood sugar levels, and entered a state of depression.<\/p>\n

Bedridden at my family\u2019s house, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of hopelessness, thinking to myself, \u201cNothing gets better no matter how I try,\u201d and, \u201cWhat was I even working so hard for?\u201d It was during this period that a friend invited me to Kohmeisen sento <\/em>in Nakameguro. That\u2019s where my obsession with sento <\/em>began.
\n\"\"
\nWhen I was depressed, my body got really stiff, but when I stepped into the sento<\/em>, which was the first time I had done so in a long time, and relaxed, I felt the tension release from my shoulders. It was a refreshing feeling. When I stepped out of the bath, I felt better physically and emotionally. I started going to various sento <\/em>ever since.<\/p>\n

Q. So the sento<\/em> allowed your body to recover from its weakened condition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enya
\nBecause of that experience, I felt the need to share the wonders of sento <\/em>with others. The sento <\/em>illustration I later uploaded on Twitter marked the beginning of Sento <\/em>Illustrations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Caption: Sento <\/em>Illustrations, a project started for friends.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Q. Did you use isometric architectural projections when you first started drawing? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Enya
\nYes. Isometric drawing is an elementary technique architecture students learn in their first year, and it\u2019s perfect for depicting the atmosphere of buildings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Caption: With a laser measuring instrument she used when working at the design office, and a tape measure, Enya draws at a precise scale, down to the width of the tiles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Back then you could barely find any information about sento <\/em>online. There were blogs run by sento <\/em>enthusiasts, but they mostly focused on technical aspects, such as \u201cwater outlets, jet streams, electricity, water, etc.\u201d You couldn\u2019t get an idea of the baths\u2019 atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Q. What are some of the details you focus on when creating Sento Illustrations<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enya
\nI pay particular attention to scenes of people, and their expressions. Architectural drawings don\u2019t generally include people. When I was a student, Masayuki Irie (Waseda University Emeritus Professor) told me that \u201cdrawings are dead without people.\u201d Because of that, and my own preferences, I was uncomfortable with drawings that didn\u2019t include people.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Caption: People are depicted with a soft touch in this precisely scaled recreation of a sento<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Architecture is brought to life by people\u2019s presence. That\u2019s why I think depicting an older woman in a bath tub with a relaxed expression on her face, for example, is the best way to create \u201cliving\u201d sento <\/em>drawings.<\/p>\n

Q. When looking at these illustrations, you can see how people use sento<\/em>, whether it\u2019s in the way they talk to each other or how they enter the water. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Enya
\nAs a student, I was wary of people\u2019s placement when creating architectural models, and it\u2019s something I apply to my sento illustrations<\/em>.<\/p>\n

#2 Days Soaked in Beloved Architecture, and the Curse of \u201cNeeding to Become an Architect\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

#3 The Conflict Between \u201cWhat I Want to Be\u201d and \u201cHow I Want to Be,\u201d and Arriving at One\u2019s Path<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Honami Enya has visited over 200 sento (communal baths) across Japan. Under the eccentric title of \u201cbanto (cle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3613,"featured_media":73968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73931"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79144,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73931\/revisions\/79144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}