Sauna Day in Japan Date in the current year: March 7, 2026

A sauna is a small, heated room designed for bathing by exposure to dry or wet heat. It can also refer to a bathhouse that has such a room alongside other bathing facilities. The word “sauna” is Finnish and, in the narrow sense, refers to a Finnish sauna. However, in everyday speech, it is used for the many types of traditional steam rooms and bathhouses that exist in different parts of the world.

Japan has long-standing traditions of communal bathing that are associated not only with cleanliness and relaxation, but also with social connection. The two main types of traditional communal bathing facilities in Japan are onsen and sentō. Onsen utilize natural hot springs in resort towns, while sentō are public bathhouses in urban areas.

Both types of facilities often have saunas combined with mizuburo, which are bathtubs filled with relatively cold water (around 17 degrees Celsius) located directly outside the sauna for cooling down. Additionally, there are bathing facilities where the main attraction is the sauna rather than the baths or hot springs. These facilities are relatively new compared to onsen and sentō.

Interestingly, the European-style sauna became popular in Japan thanks to the Olympics. In 1956, Japanese sports shooter Ujitoshi Konomi was introduced to the sauna by Finnish athletes at the Melbourne Olympics. Upon returning to Japan, Konomi installed the country’s first dry sauna at his sentō in Ginza, Tokyo.

However, saunas didn’t become widespread in Japan until 1964, once again thanks to Finnish athletes who brought sauna equipment to the Olympic Village at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, all-in-one, family-oriented spa centers that combined traditional sentō with separate saunas for men and women, as well as restaurants and other facilities, helped popularize saunas among the Japanese.

Japan Sauna Spa Association (JSSP) was founded in 1990 to develop and promote the country’s sauna spa industry. The association aims to establish industry standards and enhance the quality of individual businesses nationwide, as well as to provide accurate information about sauna spas and combat misconceptions. The organization established Sauna Day to promote the health benefits of saunas. March 7 was chosen as the date because the Japanese numbers three (“san”) and seven (“nana”) sound similar to “sauna” when said together.

In addition to promoting saunas, JSSP has teamed up with the Japanese Red Cross Society to carry out a nationwide blood donation campaign. However, note that you should avoid going to a sauna for at least 24 hours after donating blood to prevent dizziness, fainting, and low blood pressure. Therefore, if you decide to celebrate Sauna Day by going to a sauna, you should abstain from donating blood, and vice versa.