Yuzu Bath on the Winter Solstice

In Japan, we take a bath every day. It literary means not just taking a shower but soaking your entire body into a tub filled with hot water. This is one of the happiest moments in a day, being released from all the exhaustion from a long day, which give us a good night sleep.

On the winter solstice, we traditionally put Yuzu, a type of citrus fruit, in the bath. This custom has been around since the 17th century in the Edo period as people believe this would prevent the cold. Winter solstice in Japanese is pronounced Touji (冬至), and the hot water therapy is also pronounced Touji (湯治), thus people decided to take Yuzu bath on the winter solstice :) This effect of the Yuzu bath had actually later been proven in science; after you take a Yuzu bath, noradrenaline release, which excitates sympathetic nerves resulting in increased heart rate and blood pressure, becomes four times more than after you take a normal bath.

After I came back from the lab today, I decided to take this kind of special bath. As I cannot find Yuzu in Oxford, I used Mandarin Orange instead this time. I put peeled skins of 5 oranges into a net and threw the net into a tub filled with hot water. The bath room became full with the oranges' smell, which I really like. It was a very good time to relax myself. When I came back to my room, I felt my blood was running pretty fast. Well, I don't know if the Mandarin oranges really have the same function of Yuzu, but I felt this may have worked as well :P