Hacco, the art of bathing naked in decomposing wood chips, has ancient Japanese roots but has been reimagined by Michael Stusser at Osmosis Day Spa offering therapeutic ‘Cedar Enzyme Baths’ since 1985.
An enzyme bath is a bathing ritual that involves immersing your entire body in a mixture of soft and fragrant ground cedar and rice bran with living fungal enzymes. The fungi ferment the wood chips, generating temperatures over 40°, releasing cedar oil vapours that flow into your body through your pores which are dilated by the heat.
In its contemporary form, the Cedar Enzyme Bath received international attention in 1972 when it was offered at the Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan as an opportunity for athletes to quickly recover from the stress of exertion.
Hacco Enzyme Baths like Haccola in Japan, Osmose in California, and Ikoi in New Zealand, Aotearoa are popping up around the world, interweaving traditional arts and modern microbial sciences.
The gentle art of bathing has been central to many cultures around the world, from ice baths, steam baths, flower baths, volcanic sand baths, enzyme baths, and more. It’s amazing how the invisible, transformative powers of fungi have been helping humans and ecosystems to maintain healthy, balanced lifestyles for millennia. Whether by offering staple foods, breaking down waste streams, or luring us into microbial decomposition baths… let’s not let them be unseen :)
Check out these beautiful fermentation baths at:
https://haccola-spa.jp/en/
📸 Osmose Day Spa
📸 Ikoi Day Spa
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