Painting Mt. Fuji: Aspiring artist takes up dying art of bathhouse murals

As the number of traditional public bathhouses in Japan dwindles, hand-painting the gigantic murals that decorate their walls -- most often featuring the country's iconic Mt. Fuji -- has become a dying art.At age 83, Kiyoto Maruyama is one of only three bathhouse mural painting specialists left and the oldest among them. But there is hope of keeping the tradition alive, as he now has his first-ever apprentice.Maruyama’s decades-long career began when, at age 18, he landed a job at a company where a relative worked and which specializes in advertisements at public bathhouses.Back in an era …READ FULL ARTICLE