Akita Kazuno City
A therapeutic bathing experience of old, with the "box steam bath" and mud bath wrapped in natural steam
"Goshougake Onsen" is a single-inn hot spring lodge in Hachimantai National Park in Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture, with a history dating back over 300 years since its opening. It is known for a wide variety of bathing experiences that make use of natural geothermal heat and hot spring steam. Its signature "box steam bath" is a unique style in which you sit in a wooden box with only your head sticking out while being steamed. The "steam sauna," filled with such dense steam that it obscures your view, lets you feel the blessing of the natural hot spring with your whole body. After the sauna, refresh yourself with a pour of cool natural water drawn from Mosen Pass. There are also exceptional therapeutic bathing experiences you can only enjoy here, such as the "mud bath," where you immerse yourself in rich mud, and the "volcanic bath," with pleasantly bubbling water.
A natural hot spring with a simple sulfur spring quality. The cloudy white water carries a sulfur aroma, allowing you to fully enjoy the atmosphere of an authentic hot spring. It features a variety of baths, including a mud bath, volcanic bath, and waterfall bath, each offering different stimulation and relaxation. It has long been known as a famous hot spring so effective that people used to say they came on horseback and went home in geta sandals.
A luxurious steam sauna that uses natural hot spring steam exactly as it is. The room is filled with thick, billowing steam, letting you enjoy deep sweating while bathing your whole body in the components of the hot spring. It is a sauna experience unique to Goshougake, where you can feel the energy of nature directly.
A traditional bathing method in which you sit inside a wooden box and are steamed with only your head sticking out. Because your head remains outside, it is less likely to make you feel overheated, allowing you to warm up slowly and deeply from the core of your body. The gentle heat wraps around your whole body and brings a pleasant sense of relaxation.
A refreshing pour of natural water drawn from Mosen Pass. By pouring crisp, cold water over your body heated by the sauna or box steam bath, you can instantly refresh yourself. This high-quality natural water is even said to be drinkable, offering an invigorating cool-down experience.
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Akita
Surrounded by a beech forest, soak in two natural hot springs flowing directly from the source
Akita
A top-floor natural hot spring observatory public bath overlooking the nightscape and mountain ridges of Odate City
Akita
A stay with an overwhelmingly spacious open-air rock bath and a private spring, one of Oga's finest
JAPAN'S FINEST ONSEN & SAUNA
The Finest Onsen & Sauna in Japan
61 SELECTIONS
Most of what we surveyed never even made it onto this site. This book is a further cut from what did. Our editor bathed in every onsen and sauna in it, and wrote only what they confirmed on the ground.
