On a sauna trip, the unexpected is just part of everyday life.
That morning I rolled up to Natural Onsen Nobuta-no-Yu Tsuruhashi in high spirits, only to find it was closed for the day. Talk about an anticlimax. But for a sauna fanatic like me, this was no reason to stop. My strength is that a list of backup options pops into my head instantly. Five seconds. That’s how long it took me to decide on my next destination. I headed for Hanazono Onsen sauna kukka in Higashiosaka.
Hanazono Onsen sauna kukka has a main sauna and a sauna where you pour löyly yourself in the main bathhouse on the second floor. On top of that, OMA, the mixed-gender area on the third floor, comes fully equipped with the enormous Sauna Kukka that holds 80 people, a wood-fired sauna and even private saunas. I was itching to try them all, but this time I deliberately stuck to the main bathhouse. For a long, quiet session alone with myself, a calm bathhouse is the best place there is.
I stepped into the bath, washed up and kicked off my first set in the main sauna, Sauna Hanazono. The moment I walked in, it was hot, just like on my last visit. The thermometer read 85°C (185°F), which isn’t exactly blistering. But the high humidity and the good heat circulation work together to make it feel ferociously hot. The sauna room is spacious and the benches are deep, so you can sit with your legs stretched out. Very comfortable indeed. A faint sweet-and-sour aroma, something like acerola, hung in the air. I sweated it out while watching a TV show projected on the wall, my heart rate climbing little by little until I hit my limit.
I left the sauna room and headed for the cold plunge. The biggest draw here, without a doubt, is that the cold plunge uses natural onsen water. The instant I rinsed off my sweat and jumped in, I nodded deeply at how soft it felt on the skin. It has an almost slightly silky texture, and the cold doesn’t sting your skin at all. It’s also plenty wide and deep, with room for a good ten people, and standing up you’re submerged to your shoulders.
“A good bathhouse, after all, is one with a great cold plunge.”
No matter how well kitted out the sauna rooms are, if the cold plunge, the true main course, is weak, the whole sauna experience ends up disappointing. The sauna is merely the appetizer. The cold plunge is where the real magic happens.
A few steps from the cold plunge and you’re already in the space for cooling off in the open air. In the wide open-air bath area, about 20 chairs are lined up. I let the perfect flow from the cold plunge carry me along and sank into a chair, feeling the Higashiosaka breeze. Even on the first set, I could feel my cells cheering.
For my second set, I went into the sauna where you pour löyly yourself. It’s set to 85°C (185°F) like the main sauna, and it feels pretty hot. I wasn’t confident I could take it with löyly, so I resolved to leave the löyly alone. Right at that moment, someone asked me, “Mind if I pour some löyly?”
As a sauna lover, there was no way I could say no. Before I knew it, I’d answered, “Oh, sure, go right ahead…”
In an instant, a fierce cloud of steam rose from the sauna stones and the heat took over the room. I’d only been inside about two minutes, and sweat was already pouring off me like a waterfall. I was sweating, but my heart rate still hadn’t gone up much. All I could do was sit tight and wait for it to rise. The sauna is a battle with yourself.
After enduring that ferocious heat, the cold plunge was pure bliss. I sank my whole body into the deep tub and chilled myself ice-cold from head to toe. Then I practically collapsed into an open-air chair and stayed in a daze for a while.
“Man, that feels bloody amazing!”
A booming voice right next to me yanked me back to the real world. I turned, thinking someone was talking to me, but it seemed he was just talking to himself. I know exactly how good it feels, believe me, but I did wish he’d keep it down a little.
After that, I enjoyed one more set each in the main sauna and the sauna where you pour löyly yourself, for four sets in total. And that wrapped up my sauna session at Hanazono Onsen sauna kukka.
Over a meal at the restaurant there, I mulled over what to do next. It was only just past noon. A bit early to head home. Still, I didn’t have the energy left to hop to yet another sauna, so I figured I needed a few hours’ rest. I reclined my car seat and took a nap.
I slept for about 30 minutes, but my thoughts still wouldn’t come together. For the time being, I decided to drive toward home in Tokushima and stop somewhere if the mood struck.
I kept going on the expressway, and before I knew it I was back on Awaji Island. That’s when an idea suddenly came to me.
“Let’s soak in an onsen on Awaji Island before heading home.”
I’d been on so many trips, but I always drove straight past Awaji Island, and it had been nagging at me. Awaji Island has plenty of well-known onsen spots, like Sumoto Onsen and the Minami-Awaji onsen area.
Then a memory of one place came back to me. A place I’d once visited with my family, where you can enjoy onsen water so silky and slippery it feels like bathing in lotion. And it was right on my way home.
Stop there and close out this trip with a top-quality natural onsen. That would be the most beautiful ending. It was the moment the last piece of the trip clicked into place.
Next stop: Minami-Awaji Kur Spa Sanyukan.
