Even Samurai need to go sometime...

[Jacynth]

Silly question that's been bugging me for a long time. Obviously at the time of the Samurai toliets were not invented and I don't suppose they done it the western way ( doing it in a pan and throwing it outside the window). Just how did the ancient Japanese toliet system work?

[taganahan]

you dig a hole in the ground, wipe your ass with dry, or even better, a fresh leaf. after that, you cover the hole.

~taganahan

[Hyaku]

Silly question that's been bugging me for a long time. Obviously at the time of the Samurai toliets were not invented and I don't suppose they done it the western way ( doing it in a pan and throwing it outside the window). Just how did the ancient Japanese toliet system work?

The same as it does today. Theres a sunken pot in the ground. Someone comes and empties it when its full. Despite modernization and technology in Japan some things have not changed. Local government would rather build a new airport than get everyone on the sewer system. Its only since the war than human sewage has not been used so much as a fertilizer.

They range from a large earthenware pot to a plastic septic tank. In the coutry few are on the sewer system. There is a time limit to getting connected "if" they lay a sewer in your area. The thing is cesspit emptying is still still more than half the price of sewerage rates and does not encourage people to get on it. Also people in rented property are not going to foot the bill of a connection.

Why bother with toilets? Three thousand bars in my area all with toilets of various types, but men still relieve themselves in the street rather than ask if they can use one.

[mingshi]

Why bother with toilets? Three thousand bars in my area all with toilets of various types, but men still relieve themselves in the street rather than ask if they can use one.

Well... Where can the "Bigger business" go then?

[Wes Nazo]

Hmm... How does one urinate while in hakama? Lift one pant leg or take the whole thing off?

[KhawMengLee]

The same as it does today. Theres a sunken pot in the ground. Someone comes and empties it when its full. Despite modernization and technology in Japan some things have not changed. Local government would rather build a new airport than get everyone on the sewer system. Its only since the war than human sewage has not been used so much as a fertilizer.

They range from a large earthenware pot to a plastic septic tank. In the coutry few are on the sewer system. There is a time limit to getting connected "if" they lay a sewer in your area. The thing is cesspit emptying is still still more than half the price of sewerage rates and does not encourage people to get on it. Also people in rented property are not going to foot the bill of a connection.

OMG...I actually read about that in Confessions of a Yakuza: A Life in Japan's Underworld by Junichi Saga. He mentioned how people used to come around iwith carts to collect your crap and then use it out in the fields as fertilizer...

Why bother with toilets? Three thousand bars in my area all with toilets of various types, but men still relieve themselves in the street rather than ask if they can use one

Sounds like a typical night out in London...hahaha

Hmm... How does one urinate while in hakama? Lift one pant leg or take the whole thing off?

You drink 15 pints of Hoegarden and do 5 flamings, pass out on the the street and let onlookers stare is horror at the growing wet patch running down your hakama leg...

But seriously, well...for guys, you can just lift up one pant leg and pee carefully. For No2, well...sorry, you got to take the whole thing off...

[h2o]

For No2, well...sorry, you got to take the whole thing off...

Not tried it myself but several people I know tell me "no 2" can be done by merely untying the back of the hakama and keeping the front on.

Btw, interesting thread

[KhawMengLee]

Not tried it myself but several people I know tell me "no 2" can be done by merely untying the back of the hakama and keeping the front on.

Btw, interesting thread

Yeah..but then you get a stinky hakama that smells of poo.

[Hyaku]

Hmm... How does one urinate while in hakama? Lift one pant leg or take the whole thing off?

You can do the whole tiolet routine without actualy taking it off. I'm not going to tell you how though. Its okuden waza!

[Jacynth]

It does'nt take that long to take of a Hakama. It should'nt be that much trouble.

[Mugu]

you dig a hole in the ground, wipe your ass with dry, or even better, a fresh leaf. after that, you cover the hole.

~taganahan

ROFLMAO Very detailed explanation, ROFLOL

[Pokie]

what i dun like is when gota pee, there's pee all over the floor and shoes are outside the door. so what happens is you stand back..next person stand further back..then back..then you have a little pee spray pool. but yeh good idea the poo pots..atleast it's not poison and cancer causing if used on veges, might have to wash veges really really well though.

[Stimpson J. Cat]

good idea the poo pots..atleast it's not poison and cancer causing if used on veges, might have to wash veges really really well though.

It's still an issue sometimes today, a dirty little secret of organic vegtables is that it's fairly common for them to be completely loaded with bacteria, why you ask? Because they're fertilized with cow sh*t, which they are also sometimes loaded with, so yes, you do want to wash veges, especially organic ones, really really well.