'Twas I who posed the question, and, as well as 'recent' claims there was a very early candidate - if only I can remember . . .
Before we get into the bidet origin story, it’s important to note that the bidet was not the first system for washing after going to the bathroom. The ancient Greeks and Romans used what was essentially an old-school loofah for the task: they’d reach down and wipe with a sponge on a stick, which would then be cleaned in salt water or vinegar.
Thus the origin of the expression "getting hold of the sh1tty-end of the stick."
In 1710, the Ffrench royal family’s furniture-maker, Christophe des Rosiers, installed the first bidet in the palace. Not much is known about des Rosiers, but he paved the way for a tradition of refreshing cleanliness that continues to this day.
One of the bidet’s first users, Napoleon Bonaparte himself, loved his silver bidet so much that he took it around the world with him when he travelled! It was important enough to him that he specified in his will that this prized possession would go to his son when he died.
Who invented the bidet attachment? Let’s fast forward to the 1960s to get the answer.
Originally called the American Sitzbath by inventor Arnold Cohen, this type of bidet came on the scene when Cohen made it his mission to help his aging father get clean after going to the bathroom. It took two years and a bit of old-fashioned elbow grease before Cohen finally invented the bidet attachment. He even added a hose to the apparatus for “feminine douching and colonic irrigation.”
Cohen’s invention piqued the interest of a Japanese trading company, which decided to import the idea to Japan. It took a few decades to catch on—and a bit of tinkering with Cohen’s original design. The company combined the washing and drying features of the American Sitzbath with a high-tech, electronic toilet seat. By the 1980s, this cutting-edge device started making a splash in the Japanese market, and thus, the modern bidet toilet seat was born.