My pilgrimage to the sacred sites of sauna began right as Typhoon No. 18 made landfall.
My sauna trips always kick off the moment I clock out on a weekday. That evening, a pretty heavy rain was already falling by the time I finished work, but I boarded the highway bus as planned. I arrived at Kobe Sannomiya Station at 7:45 p.m. and walked straight past the temptations of the entertainment district toward my destination. Izakayas and hostess bars hold no interest for me. A few minutes on foot, and Kobe Sauna & Spa came into view — the first sacred site on my itinerary. I had visited Kobe Sauna just last Sunday, so this was my first time back in four days, but this visit was different: I was staying the night. It had been a while since I'd slept in a capsule, and the prospect of having 24 hours of sauna access got me strangely excited.
After checking in, I headed straight for the large bath. I stripped off the paper shorts, grabbed a towel, and made my way to the washing area. Being a weeknight and a typhoon evening, the place was remarkably empty — practically a private rental. So that's the trick: target bad weather for a supremely comfortable experience.
Since this was a pilgrimage, I cleansed myself with even more care than usual. Then I sank into the natural spring bath at the heart of the large bath area. The sauna tends to get all the attention, but Kobe Sauna's Kaminoyu Onsen is genuinely wonderful. Apparently, they use natural hot spring water drawn from 1,004 meters beneath the facility. Once my body was thoroughly warmed, I did a quick cold rinse in the 23°C cold plunge bath before heading to the Finnish sauna. As I wrote in my last post, Kobe Sauna's Finnish sauna is number one in my personal rankings. A faint light filters through a small window into the dim cabin; there's no TV, no background music. The scent of kelo wood and vihta, imported directly from Finland, drifts through the air. Step inside and you're instantly transported to another world. After a while, another guest who had entered at the same time performed a self-löyly. The humidity surged in an instant, warming me from the very core of my body.
Feeling I was approaching my limit, I rinsed off and slipped into the 11.7°C cold plunge bath. Then I stretched out on a nearby bench for some outdoor air bathing. It was raining hard that day. The cold water had chilled my body, and now the rain was hitting my skin — a natural rain massage — and I fell into a state of supreme relaxation from the very first set. For the second set I went straight back to the Finnish sauna, into the 11.7°C cold plunge again, then lay in the rain for outdoor air bathing. By the second set, my consciousness had completely checked out.
A staff member's loud voice eventually pulled me back to reality. Apparently, a Finnish-style löyly was about to take place in the main sauna. Kobe Sauna offers a staff-led löyly once every thirty minutes. I decided to wrap up my third set with it. I took a seat on the top bench of the main sauna. The staff finished their greeting; I applauded, and aromatic water was dripped onto the sauna stones. In an instant, the delightful scent of lemongrass filled my nostrils, and a wave of heat followed right behind it. Sweat burst from every single pore. The löyly at Kobe Sauna is hot, but there's a pleasure to it — you're wrapped in a gentle, mellow heat wave. I wanted to get to the cold plunge, yet I also wanted just a little more. I received five additional waves of heat before the löyly ended. I made a beeline for the cold plunge, cooled down, and finished my third set.
When I stepped out of the sauna it was already past 9 p.m. Normally I'd be getting ready for bed, but this was the first night of the trip and I still wanted to enjoy myself. Besides, I was hungry. Time for a sauna meal. I wrapped myself in the facility's loungewear and headed up to the 8th-floor lounge.
The food at Kobe Sauna is delicious, too.
Since it was already past 9 p.m., I decided to keep it on the healthier side and ordered an oyakodon. While waiting for it to arrive, I picked up a sauna magazine. Japan truly has an incredible number of outstanding sauna facilities, and the list of places I want to visit just keeps growing — a wonderfully overwhelming problem to have. Before long, my oyakodon was ready. I closed my eyes first and just breathed in the aroma, taking a deep lungful of that wonderful charcoal-grilled scent. I probably looked like an odd person to anyone watching, but I couldn't care less — there wasn't a single soul there who knew me. I savored the first bite slowly. Had oyakodon always been this delicious? Here I was, eating it at an hour when I'd normally be fast asleep. That sense of breaking from routine is itself one of the great joys of travel. After all, the typhoon was going to make a direct hit in the morning. A little extra time staying up wasn't going to hurt.
Full and satisfied, I moved to the reclining room to read. I picked up a sauna-related book and read for about an hour before drowsiness started creeping in. Time to sleep. I moved to the capsule room and fell into a deep slumber. It was past 11 p.m.
I woke up feeling completely refreshed. How many hours had I slept? It was a wonderfully pleasant awakening. I glanced at the clock: 4 a.m. Five hours of sleep. I thought about going back to sleep, but I was fully awake — too excited about the trip to drift off again. For reference, my average sleep is seven to eight hours, so this was shorter than usual, yet I felt clearer-headed than normal. Which naturally led to one conclusion: time for a morning sauna session. When I went to the large bath at 4:30 a.m., there were only two people there, including me. I washed up and sank deep into the Kaminoyu Onsen. With no one around, I stretched out in a wide-open position and relaxed completely. A quiet sense of superiority washed over me — I had this sacred site of Kobe all to myself. Once my body was warm, I stepped into the 23°C cold plunge and headed to the Finnish sauna. Morning sauna has a different feel from nighttime. As the sweat starts to come, it feels like every single cell is waking up. For me, sweat comes relatively quickly at night, but in the morning it takes longer. I did a self-löyly in the sauna I had entirely to myself and took my time warming up thoroughly.
I got into the 11.7°C cold plunge bath and did my outdoor air bathing while being pelted by the heavy rain. Wrapped in an immense sense of happiness, I finished three sets. By the time I left the large bath, it was just before 6 a.m. Kobe Sauna's breakfast buffet starts at 6 a.m. I was hungry after the sauna, so I decided to go straight for breakfast. Unlimited access to first-class sauna for 24 hours, with a delicious breakfast included — to put it modestly, it was the best. After breakfast, I lounged around in the reclining room until the drowsiness hit again. I headed back to the capsule room for a second sleep.
When I woke again, it was past 9 a.m. I had slept about two more hours and felt remarkably refreshed. I turned on the TV to check the typhoon updates. It seemed to be moving faster than expected, and the rain was forecast to stop before noon. In that case, I should get ready and head to Ogaki City in Gifu Prefecture. My next destination: Ogaki Sauna.
To be continued.
