Fuegoleon Bath Times
No, this isn't anything spicy. The only steamy part about this post is the steam from the hot baths.
So a mutual of mine, @thoughtfullyrainynightmare, recently posted about Fuegoleon and his like of public baths. (Not going to link the specific post because it is in fact spicy.)
She presumed that the public baths that Fuegoleon likes are probably a reference to Japanese onsen. She also mentioned that she had only looked at the English version of Fuegoleon's profile and not the Japanese one. I immediately honed in on that and decided to look it up for myself.
So in the profile, under the 好きなモノ section, it states that Fuegoleon likes 大浴場にゆっくり浸かる, which is officially translated as "long soaks in large public baths."
I looked it up and asked my Japanese mother about it and here's what I've gathered.
First things first, 大浴場 (daiyokujou) is translated as "large public bath(house)."
Now, 大浴場 isn't your standard bathhouse. That would be simply 浴場 (yokujou). Both mean "public bathhouse" but, according to my mother, there is a difference. "Large public baths" are LARGE. Less like a bathtub (though even regular 浴場 are bigger than at-home tubs) and more like a big pool of heated water. Of course the depth is lacking because you're not going to be swimming laps at the public bath.
This means that when Fuegoleon goes out to bathe in public, he likes to go somewhere spacious where he'll have plenty of room to himself.
(Two bros, sitting in a bathhouse, fifteen feet apart 'cause they're not gay~!)
Next thing, 大浴場 isn't synonymous with 温泉 (onsen).
However, a 大浴場 can be an 温泉. But it can also be something called a 銭湯 (sentou).
It's all about how they're used and the water supplied.
銭湯 are bathhouses for the purpose of standard hygiene. You pay to bathe bathe off sweat and grime and get yourself smelling squeaky clean. The kanji for the word mean "coin/money" and "hot water." Essentially, hot water that you pay for. The water you pay for is typical tap water. These are the types of bathhouses that you find in the city.
温泉, meanwhile, are hot springs as indicated by the kanji for the word meaning "warm" and "spring/source." These are bathhouses meant for recreation or relaxation. It's less about cleansing the physical body and more about cleansing the spirit of things like stress. You go to soak in water with certain minerals (which there is a criteria for) in it since said minerals are said to be beneficial to one's health. 温泉 are usually found near volcanic mountains from which the water is sourced. The baths don't have to be the original spring of water (because that could be difficult to build around), they simply have to get the water from that kind of source.
I'm suspecting that Fuegoleon typically goes to 銭湯 because there is definitely no volcano near the royal capital for the right water to be sourced from. Meanwhile, Mereoleona is likely more familiar with 温泉, though they're definitely not professionally run ones.
Just some food (or maybe water) for thought.
