Onsen Hot Springs
From uniquely quaint onsen resort towns to remote mountain and highland spas … 19 hot-water spas offer total refreshment for body and soul.
Yamanouchi Town is home to 19 spas. Besides Yudanaka/Shibu Onsen resort with its 1,300-year history, hot-spring bathing can also be enjoyed in Shiga Heights and Kita-Shiga Heights to your heart’s content amid great natural surroundings.
Hot-spring baths in ryokan (Japanese-style inns) and hotels are readily available. The town is also dotted with public bathhouses where one can casually drop in. In addition, foot baths are available free of charge.
Making a round of hot-spring baths that offer varying waters and efficacious qualities is also popular. While visiting baths, bring with you an onsen tegata (or a traveler’s passport stemming from the feudal era) and receive a stamped record of each bath visited -- a fun way to make your tour of baths. There is another tour of public baths which is believed to ward off evil spirits and to bring divine favor for good health.
A refreshing soak in a Shiga or Kita-Shiga Heights hot-spring bath is a must especially after being pleasantly tired from all your outdoor activities.
Yudanaka Onsen Tourist Association
http://www15.ocn.ne.jp/~yudanaka/(Japanese)
Shibu Onsen Tourist Association
http://www.shibuonsen.net/(Japanese)
- MANNERS IN HOT SPRINGS
- 1: First, to accustom your body to hot water, rinse your body outside the bathtub with some water from a tap or the bathtub using a washbowl.
- 2: Clean your whole body with soap.
- 3: After rinsing all the soap off your body, tidy up your place and enter the tub and soak for a while.
- 4: After you finished soaking, do not rinse your body with tap water, for the spring minerals to improve full benefits on your body.
- NOTES
- Note that the bath water can be very hot. If you it feels too hot, you might add some cold water, but only after consulting others.
- You can bring a small towel into the bathing area. But once you enter the bathtub, keep the towel out of the water.
- Swimming suits are not allowed.