わ・ぬ as signs for open / closed

Japanese Language Questions
1

In the movie 湯道 (The Way of the Bath) on JFF (YUDO | JFF Theater) they use a flip sign with the characters わ and ぬ to indicate that the public bath is opened or closed. Where does this come from?

2

OK, Google A.I. found the answer:

AI Overview

In traditional Japanese public bathhouses (sento), the hiragana characters 「わ」 (wa) and 「ぬ" (nu) are used on a double-sided wooden hanging sign to show if the bath is open or closed. [1, 2]

  • 「わ」 (Wa) means Opened / Business Open
  • 「ぬ」 (Nu) means Closed / Preparation or Closed [1, 2]

The Wordplay (Goroawase)

This custom relies on a clever Edo-period style Japanese pun based on what happens to the hot bath water:

  • 「わ」 (Wa): Stands for yu ga waita (湯が沸いた), meaning “the hot water has boiled/heated up,” so customers can come in. [1, 2]
  • 「ぬ」 (Nu): Stands for yu o nuita (湯を抜いた), meaning “the hot water has been drained,” indicating the bathhouse is closed for the day or cleaning. [1, 2]
3

Interesting that the AI calls it this, and then … just gives two completely standard modern Japanese sentences that don’t sound at all punny to me?

Ahh, in the link [1] in the AI post, if you open it in 日本語 it points out that the sign is on a small board, and that わ＋板いた＝湧わいた and that ぬ＋板いた＝抜ぬいた. Sure, I’ll allow that as being a little punny

4

here is the picture from the movie (unfortunately I can’t stop the movie without getting the ‘>’ symbol in the center of the picture).

image
image260×326 24.7 KB

She is just flipping it over to 湧いた.

5

When I continued watching the movie, I saw that the explanation is right there:

image
image621×404 66.9 KB

6

Ha, because of your thread I started watching as well and just came across the scene and wanted to post it myself :smiley:

Though to be honest I don’t appreciate the “foreigner” depiction of the movie. The guy actually speaks excellent Japanese and they try so hard to make him an idiot :frowning: Kinda hard to watch.

7

I’ve gotta find the time to watch some of these films - I’ve missed a bunch because I just plain never got around to it…

This one in particular I saw in the cinema, though. :slightly_smiling_face: