Nagano Chino City
An extraordinary alternating bath experience with a miraculous iron-carbonated cold mineral spring that glows orange, accompanied by the sound of a waterfall
"Yamano-yado Meiji Onsen" is a secluded single-inn hot spring lodge in the Okutateshina Onsen area of Chino City, Nagano Prefecture, boasting more than 130 years of history. Its iron-carbonated spring, cherished since the mid-Edo period as a spring that seems to clearly heal, emerges colorless and transparent, then glows orange when it comes into contact with the air. In addition to a large bath and an open-air bath, the inn also features a cold-water waterfall bath using its private spring water at around 24 degrees. Alternating between the warm hot spring and the cold spring bath provides excellent circulation-boosting benefits.
A panoramic large bath where the iron-carbonated spring, boasting an acidity level of pH3.8, is heated and poured in. The cloudy orange water, retaining the spring’s natural minerals, is said to be especially beneficial for neuralgia and sensitivity to cold. While gazing out at the ancient forests of Okutateshina spread beyond the windows, you can luxuriate in this famous historic therapeutic hot spring.
Open the windows and it becomes like an open-air bath, allowing you to soak while hearing the roaring sounds of the Shibukawa Gorge’s deep wilderness and the famous Oshi-dori Kakushi no Taki waterfall close at hand. This bath uses heated source water. With a slightly lukewarm temperature setting, it is ideal for long, relaxing soaks, surrounded by the murmuring of the river and the sound of trees swaying in the wind.
A cold-spring waterfall bath using private spring water at around 24 degrees, drawn directly from the source with free-flowing circulation. Alternating between a warm hot spring (heated water) and this cold spring bath is a traditional therapeutic bathing method long practiced for centuries, stimulating the capillaries and leaving your body deeply and pleasantly warm.
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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.
