‘It’s like the Garden of Eden,’ murmured Jack.

The woman indicated for Jack to put on some wooden sandals, then shuffled along the path in tiny steps, beckoning him to follow.

On the other side of the pond a bony old man, evidently the gardener, tended an already perfect plot with a rake. As they passed by, he bowed low. The woman gave a slight bow in return and Jack followed suit. It appeared bowing was the thing to do, at all times.

They entered a small wooden building on the other side of the garden. The room was pleasantly warm and inside there was a long stone bench and a large square wooden tub filled with steaming water. To Jack’s horror, the woman signed for him to get in.

‘What? You don’t expect me to get in there, do you?’ exclaimed Jack, backing away from the bath.

Smiling, she held her nose, pointed at Jack, then at the bath. ‘Ofuro.’

‘I don’t stink!’ said Jack. ‘I washed barely a month ago.’ Didn’t they know that baths were disease pits? His mother had warned him that he could catch the flux or worse!

‘Ofuro haitte!’ she said again, slapping her hand on the bath. ‘Anata ni nomiga tsuite iru wa yo!’

Jack didn’t understand and didn’t care. There was no way he was going to get in that bath.

‘Uekiya! Chiro! Kocchi ni kite!’ shouted the woman, making a grab for Jack.

He ran round the bath and headed for the door, but the gardener had appeared and blocked his path. A young maid then dashed in and caught hold of him. The woman pulled off his robe and began to sluice him down with cold water.

‘Stop that! It’s freezing!’ cried Jack. ‘Leave me alone!’

‘Dame, ofuro no jikan yo, ohkina akachan ne,’ the woman said, and the maid laughed.

Jack struggled and kicked so much that the gardener had to help hold him down too, though the old man took great care to avoid Jack’s broken arm.

Jack felt like a baby as they scrubbed him down and then lowered him, still protesting, into the steaming bath. The heat was almost unbearable, but every time he tried to get out the woman gently pushed him back in.

Eventually they let him out, but only to wash him down again, this time with warm soapy water. By now, though, he was too tired to resist and resigned himself to the indignity of it all. The worst thing was that the water was scented. He smelt like a girl!

They dunked him back in the bathtub, his skin turning bright pink from the heat. After a while, they let him out, only to subject him to a final dousing of cold water before drying him and dressing him in a new robe.

Exhausted, he was led back to his room where he collapsed on his quilt and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

9