There's one place I always visit whenever I return home: Iyadani Onsen Daishi no Yu in Mitoyo City, Kagawa Prefecture. I first visited this facility a year ago when my father said he'd found a great hot spring and brought me along. It's a hot spring facility located at the foot of Iyadaniji Temple, known as the 71st sacred site of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage. The building itself is old but quite spacious. It's attached to a roadside station and accommodation facilities, functioning as a hotel as well. The large bathhouse is incredibly spacious, with the luxury of natural hot spring water flowing through every bath. The sauna runs at nearly 100°C, the cold bath stays at 18°C and is large enough for over 10 people. I remember thinking, "Wow, there was such a great facility nearby all along." Since then, visiting Iyadani Onsen Daishi no Yu has become our family tradition whenever I come home. This homecoming was no exception. In the morning, I'd done four sauna-cold bath sets at Golden Time Takamatsu and achieved totonou through some truly perverse open-air bathing. But by evening, I was completely reset and thinking "I want to hit the sauna again." "About time to head out," my father announced like a commanding officer. My mother was already ready to go. Since I'm the driver, they were basically telling me to hurry up. We chat as a family while driving to our destination. This too is precious time. My parents being healthy isn't something to take for granted, and I don't know how long these moments will last. I'm grateful that we can talk openly as parent and child. We check in as usual and head inside. After agreeing on a meeting time, my father and I enter the men's bath together. Being a smoker, he immediately drops his stuff in a locker and dashes off for a cigarette. I strip at light speed as always and enter the large bathhouse. The spacious bath area welcomes me. At the same time, the scent of hot springs wafts over. That familiar, comforting smell. It feels like coming home. After washing up, I soak in the natural hot spring bath as always. Iyadani Onsen Daishi no Yu has an impressive variety of baths: herbal bath, lying bath, bubble bath, two regular baths, and an outdoor bath—all using natural hot spring water. The water quality has a slightly slippery, smooth feel to it. This makes the bathhouse floor quite slippery, and small children often slip and fall. Actually, even my mother, a full-grown adult, apparently took a spectacular tumble once, emerging from the bath looking thoroughly embarrassed. But I digress—this really is excellent water. Despite only soaking for a short time, my body warms up rapidly. I feel like I could go straight from the hot spring to the cold bath without even hitting the sauna. Before entering the sauna, I do a quick rinse in the cold bath. Time for the sauna. Iyadani Onsen Daishi no Yu has a Rocky sauna running at 95°C. With periodic auto-löyly keeping the humidity high, you work up a great sweat. Just five minutes in and I'm dripping. After the sauna, I rinse off and head to the 18°C cold bath. This cold bath is wonderfully spacious with room for about 10 people, so you can really relax while soaking. The temperature isn't too cold either, allowing time to properly cool your body down. After the cold bath, I'd love to do some outdoor air bathing, but unfortunately the outdoor space is cramped with only two chairs. There are only two chairs inside as well, so when they're occupied, I often end up sitting on the edge of a bath. Well, you don't really need a rest area to achieve totonou anyway. Case in point: Ogaki Sauna, which I consider the best sauna experience of my life, has no outdoor air bathing space or chairs. You can achieve ultimate totonou sitting on wash stools or bath edges. As long as you heat your body in the sauna and properly cool it in the cold bath, outdoor air bathing isn't strictly necessary. You just need somewhere to sit.

I did two more sauna-cold bath sets before calling it a night. Moving to the lounge to relax with some juice, my mother emerged looking incredibly refreshed. She said it had been quite empty, so she'd had the sauna and cold bath all to herself. She seemed thoroughly satisfied, which was great. My father came out shortly after, so we piled into the car and headed home. On the drive back, we talked about the hot springs and sauna as a family. We're all sauna lovers. Looking back, perhaps it was inevitable that I became a sauna enthusiast. Being born into this family meant going to saunas was normal from an early age. By elementary school, doing three sauna-cold bath sets was already routine for me. Why? Because my sauna-loving father trained me that way. I felt the benefits myself too. I played baseball from elementary school onwards, and there was a huge difference in next-day fatigue depending on whether I hit the sauna after games. Going to the sauna usually meant I wasn't tired the next day. Why was it so effective for recovery? I didn't understand then, but I do now. Increased blood circulation flushes out fatigue compounds. Being raised with a sauna habit from childhood was perhaps a blessing. Even as an adult, whenever time and money permitted, I'd go to the sauna and come away feeling refreshed. Even when work or personal life got frustrating, by the time I left after the sauna and cold bath, it all seemed trivial. Whatever disappears after a sauna session wasn't that important anyway. Saunas were effective for clearing away meaningless concerns. Now that I sauna daily, I feel like life is at its peak. End each day with a sauna, feeling refreshed before bed. Wake up the next morning. If I could die somewhere in that cycle, I'd be happy. These thoughts ran through my mind as I drove my parents back home.