Thanks for the detailed descriptions and references. It helps very much
indeed. Since my inital post on Friday I have continued to consult with
numerous people, including some Japanese. Yesterday, we exposed the
foundation of the bath. It is very much like you describe except instead
of bricks, rocks were used for the foundation, and the tub would have
been built with local western red cedar. I originally thought the metal
was bent but now I can see that it was originally flat and nailed to the
cedar tub walls.  We also found a scoop and washbasins in close
proximity. I was able to get an elderly Japanese-Canadian women out to
the site earlier today and she confirmed that what we have is definitely
an ofuro (Japanese bath), almost excatly as she remembered them.

As an aside, when I was discussing my thoughts about the unusual layout
of the camp (ie. what appears to be several separate cabins with
individual middens rather than the more typical logging camp layout of
bunkouses and mess halls) and many artifacts indicative of women at the
two Japanese camps I have excavated (eg. costume jewelry, fancy comb,
several 'Ponds' handcream jars), she indicated that to her the most
clear evidence of women at the camp was the preponderance of ceramic
rice bowls and other dishes. According to her, Japanese men would likely
have just eaten out of cans. This explains one small midden I found on
the site that consisted solely of tin cans and beer bottles. It must
have been a bachelor cabin.

Bob

>>> [log in to unmask] 06/16/04 5:57 PM >>>
Hi all

Hope it isn't too late to jump into the Japanese baths discussion. I've
been
out of town and am catching up.

A few years ago I was working on ca 1910s-1940s Japanese agricultural
camp
sites in Northern California and found several useful sources.  Many
state
health inspectors visited various camps in the 1910s and early 1920s and
reported
on the conditions of workers.  These reports usually deplored the
unsanitary
camps conditions.  The personal hygiene of the Japanese workers was
reported as
excellent, with credit given to the Japanese style camps that were
present at
every camp (Bunje 1957; California State Board of Control 1920).

A personal memoir written by a Japanese farm worker's daughter notes
that
every farm or camp had a bathhouse.  The bathhouse was built "Japanese
style" and
included a large redwood tub with a metal bottom elevated on a
foundation of
bricks.  A fire was lit under the tub to heat the water.  Bathers sat on
platforms on the sides of the tub and scooped pans of hot water from the
tub with
which to wash and rinse.  Once their bodies were clean the bathers
slipped into
the tub and sat on floating platforms that protected those sensitive
body
parts from the hot metal bottom! (Shimamoto 1990:13).

Some useful references:

Bunje, Emil T. H.  1957  The Story of Japanese Farming in California.
U.S.
Works Administratin Project Number 165-05-6336.  University of
California,
Berkeley.

California State Board of Control  1920  California and the Oriental:
Japanese, Chinese and Hindus.  On file, California State Library,
Government
Publications Section, Sacramento.

Naka, Kaizo  1913  Social and Economic Conditions Among Japanese Farmers
in
California.  MA Thesis, University of California, Berkeley.

Shimamoto, Chiyo Mitori  1990  To the Land of Bright Promise.  San
Joaquin
County Historical Society and Museum, Lodi, California.

Hope this helps
Mary Maniery
PAR