糖心破解版

As part of my work, I am often invited to speak to the public about ancient Roman art. The challenge is always the same: how to spark genuine interest in a world so far removed from today’s Japanese audience. But the success of Mari Yamazaki’s manga Thermae Romae (2008–2013) — and its film adaptations (2012, 2014) — has made that task much easier. Thanks to these works, many Japanese people now know that Imperial Rome had vast public bath complexes called thermae, and that bathing was a cherished part of daily life. For many, this discovery has brought ancient Rome closer to home.
 
This book is the catalogue for an exhibition held in 2023–2024 at the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, the Oita Prefectural Art Museum, the Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art, and the Kobe City Museum. The project, supervised by Professor Masanori Aoyagi, Director of the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, and by myself, was carried out with the cooperation of Mari Yamazaki, author of Thermae Romae. Our aim was to take the curiosity sparked by Thermae Romae and use it to open a window onto the real history and culture of ancient Rome.
 
The exhibition’s first chapter introduces everyday life in Roman cities. The second explores the architecture of the thermae and their Greek origins, such as cold baths in gymnasia and bathing in sanctuaries of healing gods. Roman bathhouses featured a sequence of rooms—cold, warm, and hot baths—through which bathers would pass at leisure. The pleasure of soaking in hot water is something Japanese visitors can immediately relate to.
 
Yet there were also differences: every thermae included an exercise ground, a legacy of Greek athletic facilities where sport and bathing went hand in hand. This necessity led to the development in Greece of large cold baths, which in turn developed in Rome into highly sophisticated thermae equipped with heating systems.
 
Chapter three looks at the art that decorated the thermae. Many sculptures filled the thermae, such as statues of Venus, who was believed to have been born from the sea, Hercules, the protector of athletes, and healing gods such as Asclepius and Apollo. These were not chosen at random, but carefully selected to suit the meaning and atmosphere of the place.
 
The final chapter turns to Japan’s own bathing traditions. Since Thermae Romae’s hero, Lucius, travels between Roman and Japanese baths, the exhibition could not omit this theme. Fragile works painted or written on paper could not be shown for long, so displays varied from venue to venue, but the catalogue presents the story in full—from the origins of baths and hot springs in Japan, to the beliefs and legends surrounding Beppu and Arima, to the spread of baths in private homes after the Second World War.
 
In Japan today, interest in our own culture has grown significantly compared to a generation ago. While that is certainly a positive development, I cannot help but worry that it might foster indifference toward more distant worlds. To understand our culture fully, we also need perspectives that take us beyond it — and the more distant they are, the more valuable they become. If this exhibition encourages some people to add ancient Rome to their horizons, helping them see the world with a broader, fairer gaze, then it will have more than fulfilled its purpose.
 

(Written by SENGOKU-HAGA Kyoko, Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology / 2025)