Somehow I made it back to the hotel. Somehow I fell asleep. And somehow I woke up.
My memory of last night at Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel Rakan-no-Yu cuts off at the flames of the bonfire. I remember booking a slot for the next morning in the parking lot, but everything after that is lost in fog. When I woke, I had the strange feeling that I was still in the middle of cooling off in the open air. Staring up at the ceiling, I realized I was starting to slip into totonou, that state of deep, blissful relaxation, all over again, right there on the hotel bed.
The Nagasaki–Saga sauna trip had finally reached its last day. And this morning, too, I had a day-use booking at Rakan-no-Yu.
I made quick work of breakfast and headed out for a morning walk. Breathing in the cool air as I walked, I could feel the blood slowly start moving through my still-groggy body. Back in my room, I did a yoga session, stretching out every last corner of my body. I was getting myself dialed in for the 8:00 check-in. Reaching the ultimate totonou isn’t just a matter of getting into the baths and the sauna. Tune up your body before you bathe, and the totonou you feel goes that much deeper.
I checked out of the hotel, drove about 10 minutes, and arrived at Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel. Mount Mifune, sunk in darkness last night, now showed off its rugged rock face and deep greenery in sharp relief in the morning light. Still riding last night’s afterglow, I pushed open the entrance doors once again. I checked in and headed for Rakan-no-Yu.
At Rakan-no-Yu, the men’s and women’s sides swap for the morning session. Last night I was on the men’s side, but this morning I got to use the bathing area that’s normally the women’s. Two completely different worlds in one place. And to enjoy both without staying the night, I was coming here twice, once at night and once in the morning.
When I stepped into the main bathhouse, a world completely different from last night opened up before me.
The morning sun lit up Mount Mifune, and the forest’s plants and creatures were waking up, keeping their morning rhythm. Birds were singing. Leaves shimmered and swayed as they caught the light. Last night’s secret world of nothing but darkness and flames felt like it had never happened. I could probably reach totonou just by forest bathing here, without even getting in the water.
First, I sank into the open-air bath of Takeo Onsen water. The silky, soft water met the clear morning air. Feeling myself warm slowly from the core, I gazed out at the morning forest for a while.
For my first set, I headed to the dry sauna, where you can do löyly with kugel.
The instant I opened the door, a room with walls of pure white greeted me. It was like wandering into a kamakura snow hut. Beautiful from every angle. I stopped dead in the doorway without meaning to.
Looking closely, the white walls were astonishingly well kept. White shows every mark. Without meticulous care, its beauty fades by half in no time. This sauna must have been built quite a few years ago. And yet it’s still this white. Someone must be tending to these walls every single day. Picturing that, I couldn’t help but feel humbled.
Just outside the sauna room, they have kugel, balls of frozen aroma water. There are several scents, and I picked rose and mint. You set the kugel on the central stove and pour water over it for löyly. The heat and steam from the stove slowly melt the kugel, and a scent blending the lushness of rose with the cool bite of mint spreads through the whole sauna room. A beautiful sauna and a rich, heady aroma. The very first set of the morning, and I already felt fantastic.
Right outside the dry sauna is the cold plunge. It’s Takeo Onsen water, chilled, and it feels wonderfully soft on the skin. Cold, yet somehow gentle. My morning body cooled down, slowly and deeply.
Out of the cold plunge, I went back outside and sat down on a bench around the bonfire to cool off in the open air. The bonfire that had blazed fiercely in the dark last night now flickered gently in the morning light. Its smoky scent and soft warmth soothed me, and the air and sounds of the Takeo forest gave me back my rhythm as a human being. Just being here, my body and mind, and even my life, fall into balance. That’s the kind of place Rakan-no-Yu is.
After cooling off, I took a short break in the tea room. Dried mikan from Saga Prefecture, pudding, tama-yokan, karinto, detox water. I worked my way through the lineup in order, like a full-course meal. Biting into the dried mikan, a concentrated sweet-tartness filled my mouth. A bit too luxurious a spread for snacking between sauna sessions.
For my second set, I went into the wood-fired sauna. I had it all to myself again.
Admiring the beautiful shape of the wood-fired sauna, I sloshed water onto the huge stove to crank up the humidity. The wood-fired sauna on the women’s side has a glass ceiling. Lying back on the bench and looking up, I saw the green of the trees catching the morning sun beyond the glass. Looking up at a forest from inside a sauna isn’t something you get to do every day. Soothed by the crackle of burning firewood and the smoky scent of charring wood, I took my time warming up.
There’s a cold plunge right outside the wood-fired sauna, too. I sank into it and cooled down thoroughly.
After the cold plunge came time to cool off in the open air, but since there weren’t many people around, I decided to lie down on the bench beside the wood-fired sauna. The area around the wood-fired sauna is the spot closest to the forest in the whole bathing area. Cooling off in the open air here, you truly become part of the forest. I listened closely to the sounds of the forest, filled my lungs with fresh air, and gazed blankly at the beautiful green.
I have no idea how long I stayed like that. When I came to, the sun seemed to have climbed a little higher.
After that, I did the kugel dry sauna for my third set and the wood-fired sauna for my fourth. Between sets, I cooled off in the open air around the bonfire and nibbled on delicious snacks in the tea room. I soaked up this top-quality experience, the kind you can’t get anywhere else, for all it was worth.
I hated to leave, but the time to say goodbye always comes.
Savoring the joy of having made it back here, and swearing to myself that I’ll return, I left Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel behind.
Now, today is the last day of the trip. But there’s still time before my evening flight. I already feel like I’ve hit the peak-end, but if time allows, I’d love to squeeze in one more place. Should I end on the best possible experience, or get greedy? This time I went with greedy (which turned out to be a mistake...) and headed into Nagasaki city.
Back to Nagasaki, where this trip began.
The final destination: ONSEN&SAUNA YUKULU.
