OSAKA--Even after closing its doors for good last spring after serving the local community for 80 years, the Gengahashi Onsen in Ikuno Ward here is continuing to make a splash.

The bathhouse is enjoying fresh popularity for its unique appearance, which include "shachihoko" fish-shaped ornaments on the roof and twin Statues of Liberty at the window sill, and heavy use of stained glass for the windows.

It combines elements of Japanese and Western styles in its design and interior.

The two-story wooden building with a tiled roof, standing on a 900-square-meter premises, was awarded a tangible cultural property status by the government, the first for a bathhouse. 

Gengahashi Onsen continues to attract visitors eager to see its unique features, while serving as a venue for performances streamed live online last fall.

In November 2020, Ikunomori, a general incorporated association founded to revitalize Ikuno Ward, hosted an event at Gengahashi Onsen. A storyteller gave a "kamishibai" picture card show in the changing room, while musicians performed a song in the men's side.

Both performances were streamed live on YouTube.

"The live performance at the bathhouse was an adventurous attempt, but we really wanted to use it because Gengahashi Onsen is a one-of-a-kind place that Ikuno (Ward) has to offer," said Kazuhiro Kimura, 53, head director of the association. "It is a historically interesting place. We want to continue to use it for the sake of our community."

Gengahashi Onsen's second-generation proprietor, Hiromu Nakajima, 78, welcomed the use of his former bathhouse. 

"If they think this building is useful, they can use it in any way they want," he said with a smile.

Nakajima has started receiving two to three requests each month from groups to tour his closed bathhouse. He accompanies the visitors to explain about the exterior of the building and its history.

BUILT BEFORE THE WAR

According to Nakajima, the building was built in 1937 by a local landlord. His father Teiji rented the property in 1942 when Nakajima was born to operate a bathhouse. He later purchased the land.

As Japan was in the middle of World War II at the time, the proprietor once had to collect unburned timbers that escaped an air raid to heat the bathwater.

The number of customers sharply increased after the war, with 1,000 customers coming to the bathhouse each day in its heyday. 

Its exterior has remained almost unchanged ever since the bathhouse opened for business, although even Nakajima doesn't know how it came to look like its current state. But it is said that the Statues of Liberty might have been placed to make a pun on "nyuyoku" (taking a bath) and New York.

There are also stone pillars at the main entrance, which are engraved with "Gengahashi."

Its interior is also unconventional. A chandelier hangs from the 10-meter-high ceiling in the changing room, while the marble-floored bathing area is complete with a bathtub surrounded on all four sides by opals.

The business was going strong until the oil crises in the 1970s when oil distributors stopped providing the fuel, citing rising prices.

The fact that private baths became commonplace also spurred a decline in customers.

According to the prefectural cooperative association for public bathhouses, there were 2,358 bathhouses operating in the prefecture in 1968. But the figure decreased to 331 by December 2020.

END OF THE LINE AFTER 80 YEARS

By 1981, when Teiji passed away, Gengahashi Onsen had almost always bled red ink each year. Although the bathhouse had nine employees during its peak years, Nakajima and his wife had to manage the public bath on their own in recent years. 

The building was designated by the central government as a tangible cultural property in 1998, but that didn't bring back customers. The bathhouse was also heavily burdened with fixed expenses such as utility bills, on top of repair costs.

Nakajima continued operating the bathhouse each day even if it meant dipping into his savings, largely because he couldn't turn his back on his regular patrons.

"I just didn't want to see them with a pained look on their faces," Nakajima said.

But he decided to suspend operations for a long period in January 2019 after he was swamped with repair needs for the boiler and the chimney, in addition to having surgery on his waist.

His eldest daughter and her husband offered to take over the business, but Nakajima turned down their proposal because he didn't want them involved in the bathhouse business, which was no longer profitable.

In April 2020, he filed a going-out-of-business notice with the cooperative association.

But now, with the onsen experiencing a revival in popularity, Nakajima said that he wants to fix up the building as much as he can on his own so that people can continue to use it comfortably.