Today I've already done 9 sets of sauna and cold plunge, and strangely, I'm not tired at all. Three sets at Kobe Sauna starting at 2 a.m., three more sets starting at 8 a.m., then three sets at Rumor Plaza in Kyoto starting at noon. And now I've moved on to Tsuruhashi, about to jump into the sauna again. I've been soaking in baths all day, so my skin is silky smooth.
I step inside, check in at the front desk, and head straight to the main bath area. I rinse off, soak in the indoor natural hot spring, then slowly warm up while taking in the view of the garden-style outdoor bath. Warm-up complete — time for the sauna.
Nobaha no Yu Tsuruhashi has two saunas. The first is the main sauna, where aufguss and other events are held every 30 minutes. The second is a quieter sauna where you can do self-service löyly.
I head to the main sauna first, but there's a sign blocking the entrance — an aufguss session is apparently in progress. I wait outside for a bit. After a while, a crowd of people emerges looking absolutely destroyed by the heat, faces saying it was unbearable. They flow right into the cold plunge, looking blissfully relieved.
I enter the main sauna after the aufguss, and the heat is so overwhelming it's hard to breathe. The humidity is insane. You can visibly see white steam rising inside the room. Just how intense was that aufguss session? Within a minute of sitting on the bench, sweat is already pouring out of me. Between doing so many sets today and the intense conditions in this sauna room, the sweat won't stop. My heart rate hit its limit in about five minutes.
Out of the sauna and into the cold plunge. It's spacious and deep enough to fully submerge — designed for exactly that. I rinse off the sweat and slowly cool my whole body down. Apparently it uses groundwater, and the soft water wraps around you gently.
The outdoor relaxation area is well-equipped with plenty of chairs. I sit in one and reflect on the day. Whenever I do a sauna session at night, I always make it a point to look back on the day. When that's done, I either go completely blank or start thinking about challenges I'm dealing with. I think sauna is a great place for thinking things through — ideas that come to me in the sauna tend to push things in a positive direction when I act on them. In that sense, you could say sauna has saved my life. I can't imagine a life without it.
For my second set, I go into the self-löyly sauna. This one also has plenty of humidity and feels amazing. The sauna stove is positioned below the level of the bench, so the steam from the löyly rises and hits you directly. All that exists in there is heat, air, a bench, and people. No blue light. The other guests seem focused entirely on themselves, sitting with eyes closed in meditation. I've visited all kinds of sauna facilities, and each one brings a new encounter with a different kind of sauna. No two are ever the same — every one is original. That's one of the great things about sauna. And once again, I've found a truly wonderful one.
As I sat in the cold plunge after the sauna, my body told me that two sets was enough for today. More sets doesn't always mean better. What matters in sauna is listening to your body. And with that, today's sauna adventures are officially over.
I have dinner at the restaurant inside the facility and start planning for tomorrow. My sauna trips come in two styles: one where I plan out every facility in advance, and one where I bolt out the door with no plan at all. This trip is the latter, so I'm deciding where to go and where to stay in real time. I love this way of traveling. With no plan, unexpected things naturally happen, and without thorough research, I sometimes end up at a place that's completely different from what I imagined. But that's exactly what life is — unpredictable, and all the more interesting for it.
So, thinking about where to go tomorrow, I remembered something. There was a recently renovated hot spring facility in Osaka, wasn't there? A pretty massive renovation, supposedly costing over a billion yen. I also recall seeing something about a new sauna built to accommodate 140 people — one of the largest in Japan. Looking into it a bit more, it's near Shin-Imamiya Station. Easy access from Tsuruhashi via the Osaka Loop Line. Tomorrow's destination is set: SPAWORLD HOTEL & RESORT, first thing in the morning.
