This week, I'm on a sauna trip in Osaka. I drove out early on a Saturday morning and made my way to Habikino City in Osaka Prefecture. My destination: Nobaha no Yu Main Branch — one of Osaka's top super sentō facilities and a place that sauna enthusiasts from all over Japan make the pilgrimage to visit. I stepped inside and was immediately struck by the atmospheric interior.
One hour later, a small incident would unfold inside the sauna room.
The main bath area has a dark, modern feel that almost makes you forget it's still morning. The lighting has clearly been carefully considered to help guests unwind. I warmed up in the indoor natural hot spring bath, then moved out to the outdoor baths. The open-air section makes luxurious use of natural hot spring water, with multiple tubs that could easily accommodate a large crowd. I settled into the free-flowing source water and gazed up at the sky — not a single cloud. The perfect weather only amplified the sense of bliss. Time to head to the sauna.
Nobaha no Yu Main Branch has two types of sauna. The first is the main sauna, called Neppu Mushiya. It runs two stoves — an IKI stove and a Rocky stove — and is spacious enough to hold more than 20 people. The lights are dimmed, and signs ask guests to keep conversation to a minimum. The second sauna is called Netsu no Muro, a self-löyly sauna. It fits around 10 people, has no television, and talking is prohibited. It's a space for each person to sit with themselves.
For my first set, I headed to the main sauna. About ten people were already there, each lost in their own world. The only sound was the television. Honestly, if you're going to ban talking, I'd just as soon lose the TV too — but that's a minor gripe. Heat radiated from the two stoves, and my body gradually grew warmer. My heart rate climbed. A sure sign that the blood was flowing.
When I hit my limit, I slipped into the cold plunge bath. Nobaha no Yu uses groundwater for theirs. It may not be a free-flow setup, but you can still sense the soft, gentle quality that groundwater has. I cooled down slowly and thoroughly. Afterward, during the outdoor air bath, I filled my lungs with the crisp morning air through my nose and let it out slowly through my mouth. It felt like ventilating every corner of my body, and my whole mood refreshed along with it.
Onto the second set — the self-löyly sauna. This is where the incident happened. The room was dim enough to evoke a meditation chamber, and a few guests were already visibly deep in a meditative state. I took a seat on the upper bench, closed my eyes, and let the heat wash over me pleasantly.
The quality of this self-löyly sauna is genuinely outstanding.
The dimmed lights and no-talking rule make it remarkably easy to slip into a meditative state. The cold plunge bath is right outside the sauna door, so the flow is seamless. And the spacious outdoor area has plenty of chairs, making the air bath after the cold plunge wonderfully comfortable. After the air bath, you can warm back up in the prized natural hot spring, head straight back into the sauna, or do something else entirely — having that freedom is a real luxury.
In the end, I completed four sets of sauna → cold plunge → outdoor air bath that day. An absolutely great way to spend a morning. And now it was time for the meal I'd been looking forward to.
On a sauna trip, I eat whatever I want without holding back — that's my rule. I was absolutely starving, so at the restaurant inside the facility I ordered a set of soba, tempura, and sushi, plus a miso katsu on top of that. Every single dish soaked right into my post-sauna body in the best possible way.
I already felt like a champion, and it wasn't even noon yet. Which meant I could relive this incredible feeling all over again in the evening. The question was: where? During my research beforehand, one facility had caught my eye as potentially exceptional. That facility was Sayama-go Onsen Nijinoyu, located in Osakasayama City.
