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フィンランドでは包み隠さず
この夏、筆者はフィンランドに住む友人を訪ねた。
8年ぶりの再会だった。
本場のサウナで文字通り「裸」の付き合いをし、積もる話で2時間があっという間に過ぎてしまった。
サウナのやさしく心地よい煙霧に、心まで「裸」にされてしまったのだそうだ。
Nothing to hide in Finland
Over summer, I spent a glorious week visiting a friend in Finland. It had been about eight years since we last hung out, so I couldn't wait to see her. In fact, when we spent an evening at a smoke sauna, I ended up literally seeing more of her than I had initially planned.
Finnish saunas are generally done "in the buff," but I wasn't at all fazed, having bathed naked with complete strangers in various parts of Japan before. I've also run naked into the ocean at night with a bunch of friends in Okinawa (only later realizing that we were in front of a hilltop church). So I figured that I was now ready to take the next step — stripping off and entering a small, dark, smoky hut with my friend and her boyfriend.
In the company of friends and family, Finnish saunas are rarely single-sex locations. Which may explain why Finnish women rarely get wolf-whistled at. Perhaps exposed flesh is no longer a taboo when you've grown up seeing all sorts of people naked, in all shapes and sizes.
As I ventured into the darkened room, I waited for that wall of heat that usually hits you in the face when you enter saunas. But it never came. Instead I was washed over by a very gentle, soothing haze. I sat down next to my friends and as we looked out the small window, I realized that this view, and this feeling, must be what chickens experience when you put them into the oven to roast.
In between our long, catch-up chats, we would step outside to plunge ourselves into the pond, before hopping back into the sauna. Before I knew it, a whole two hours had passed.
My confident approach to trying this blissful Finnish ritual can only be attributed to my very first host mother in Osaka, who introduced me to the joys of public nudity. She took me to the Minoh hot springs during my first week in Japan. In the changing rooms, I followed her lead, foolishly clinging to the hope that my "modesty towel" would miraculously grow bigger. She never laughed at the multiple times I asked her "Everything? All? Off? Here?" and even made a point of pointing out the large glass window from which everyone in the ladies' bathing area could see the men bathing below.
I am proud to say that I am no longer the girl who sheepishly oversubmerged herself in the hot pool, giving herself heatstroke later that evening.
I used to question how anyone could find the act of sitting around naked, hot and sweating a relaxing thing to do. But now I see what the appeal is. Although I'm not going to be joining any nudist clubs anytime soon, when you strip off with friends, you're not just removing clothes, you're removing barriers between you. And I think my ideal barrier-free friendship might be one that's spent at a Finnish summer cottage.
- glorious
- 愉快な、素晴らしい
- hung out
- 遊んだ、出歩いた
- smoke sauna
- スモークサウナ(→煙突のない古式のサウナ)
- literally
- 文字通り
- initially
- 当初
- in the buff
- 素っ裸で
- (wasn't)fazed
- 気後れしなかった
- naked
- 裸で
- a bunch of 〜
- 大勢の〜
- hilltop
- 丘の頂上の
- figured that 〜
- 〜だと考えた
- stripping off
- 衣服を脱ぐ、裸になる
- In the company of 〜
- 〜と一緒に入るので
- single-sex
- 男女どちらかのための
- get wolf-whistled at
- 魅力的ゆえに男性に口笛を吹かれる
- exposed
- 露出された、むき出しの
- flesh
- 肉体
- ventured into 〜
- 思い切って〜に入った
- was washed over by 〜
- 〜に襲われた
- soothing
- 心地よい、落ち着かせる
- haze
- 煙霧
- catch-up chats
- 積もる話
- step outside
- 外へ出る
- plunge ourselves into 〜
- 〜に飛び込む
- hopping back into 〜
- 〜に跳んで戻る
- blissful
- 最高に幸せな
- ritual
- 儀式
- be attributed to 〜
- 〜のおかげである
- public nudity
- 公衆の面前で裸になること
- followed her lead
- 彼女のするとおりにした
- clinging to 〜
- 〜にしがみついて
- modesty towel
- 体を隠すためのタオルのこと
- made a point of 〜
- わざわざ〜した
- sheepishly
- 恥ずかしがって
- oversubmerged herself
- どっぷり浸かり過ぎた
- heatstroke
- 湯あたり
- appeal
- 魅力
- nudist
- ヌーディスト、裸体主義者