Yamagata Yonezawa City
A natural beauty onsen that doubles as a skin-toner mist, fed straight from the source
Yumori Shomian Yamakawa is an onsen inn in Onogawa Onsen, in Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture. Its celebrated water, counted among Japan’s finest “beauty baths,” can be enjoyed to the full in two bathhouses of distinctly different character. At Yoshizane-no-Yu, with its atmospheric rock-built open-air bath, and at Komachi-no-Yu, with a one-person hinoki open-air bath and a spot for drinking the spring water, natural onsen water fed straight from the source, never recirculated, gently warms the body to the core. Inside there is also a gallery set in an old storehouse and a classic-modern lounge, making for a refined stay that pairs the charm of an old-time bathing retreat with modern comfort.

A bathhouse with an atmospheric rock-built open-air bath and a stone indoor bath. The bath keeper adjusts the flow with care, so the natural onsen water, fed straight from the source and never recirculated, is always at just the right temperature, a true luxury. Once you are in, the warmth seeps slowly to the core of the body and the fatigue of everyday life gradually unwinds.

A well-appointed bathhouse with a spacious stone indoor bath, plus a one-person hinoki open-air bath, a hot-water cascade and even a spot for drinking the spring water. The celebrated water, as smooth as skin toner, leaves the skin moisturized, and after the bath you feel refreshed in body and mind, as if reborn, and can see the effect on your skin.
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Day visitors: 15:00 to 18:00 (¥1,000; closed on irregular days) Overnight guests: 15:00 to 19:00 and 20:00 to 10:00 the next morning (the men’s bath and the women’s bath swap over between 19:00 and 20:00)
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