「Sauna Shikiji」 - A Visit

The morning after the exquisite experience at Ogaki Sauna the previous day, I woke up at 5 AM. I had gone to bed at 10 PM the night before. With seven hours of sleep, my physical condition was perfect. When I went outside for my morning walk, the temperature was 25°C. I could feel the hint of autumn. Healed by that coolness, I switched on my body through walking. After walking for about an hour, I returned to the hotel, took a shower, and headed to the breakfast venue. I recharged my energy with a breakfast that luxuriously used ingredients from Gifu Prefecture. After all, the place I was heading to was "Sauna Shikiji." I had to prepare myself in perfect condition and head there with the best preparation possible. After the perfect sleep and quality breakfast, I checked out of the hotel. I boarded a train bound for Nagoya from Ogaki Station. Being Saturday, there were quite a lot of people. I arrived at Nagoya Station in about 30 minutes. I immediately boarded the Hikari shinkansen and arrived at Shizuoka Station an hour later. Then I went straight to the taxi stand and told the driver, "Please take me to Sauna Shikiji." I wanted to get there quickly. I couldn't wait. I felt like an elementary school student on a field trip. After a while, that building I had seen so many times in magazines came into view. Just like yesterday at Ogaki Sauna, when I come to places I've seen in dramas and magazines, my excitement goes through the roof. I got out of the taxi feeling like I had become the protagonist of a drama. First, I took a photo of the building's exterior (thumbnail) and went to the reception. I had studied the reception system in the drama "Sauna Dou." If I were to panic here, I couldn't call myself a first-class saunner. I received the packaged towel and facility clothing and headed to the locker. I stripped off my clothes at lightning speed and headed to the large public bath. The exact same scenery I had seen in the drama "Sauna Dou" jumped into view. There were already many people there, but everyone's eyes were sparkling. They were probably feeling the same way I was. Having set foot in the holy land, they were completely intoxicated by the fact that they were enjoying sauna there. I wanted to jump into the cold plunge immediately, but I restrained myself and started by cleansing my body as usual. After that, I went to the herbal bath and slowly warmed my body. Shikiji tends to be focused on sauna and cold plunge, but they're quite particular about herbs as well. They apparently go all the way to Korea to source them and blend them with domestic herbs for serving. The combination of smooth groundwater and herbs felt incredibly good, and I was immediately baptized by the holy land. Although my body had warmed up sufficiently in the herbal bath, I resisted the cold plunge and headed to the high-temperature sauna. Upon entering the sauna, the thermometer read 110°C. Quite hot. However, there was no pain at all. Being a Finnish-style sauna with löyly capability, the humidity was high and it was comfortable. That said, within five minutes, beads of sweat appeared and my heart rate increased. I was reaching my limit, so I decided to enter the cold plunge. I took a deep breath and gave thanks for being able to savor the miraculous cold plunge. I slowly immersed myself from my feet to my shoulders. What incredible softness! I had seen reviews in magazines many times saying "You can stay in Shikiji's cold plunge forever," and I felt like I understood why. After soaking for about two minutes, my body was starting to get cold, so I decided to perform the long-awaited ritual. The rare experience of "drinking the cold plunge water." I scooped up the water overflowing from the spout with my hands, put it in my mouth, and drank it all at once. I couldn't help but say out loud, "This is seriously delicious..." I felt like the inside of my body was being purified, starting from my throat. I made eye contact with a guy about my age next to me, so I shared my feelings: "This is seriously amazing." For the second set, I decided to challenge the herbal sauna. I had studied this sauna too. The steam was apparently so hot that it was better to cover your face. Looking from outside, most people were covering everything except their eyes with towels. I prepared in the same style and entered. Intense herbal scent attacked along with the hot steam. When I brought my nose close to the herbal bag, I felt a curry-like fragrance. I wanted to breathe in the healthy herbal steam with all my might, but it was really hot, so I inhaled little by little. I reached my limit in about five minutes. The miraculous cold plunge oasis was waiting right in front of me. I rinsed off the sweat and surrendered everything to the cold plunge. It felt so good I almost lost consciousness in the cold plunge. Just like the first set, I gulped down water while cooling my body. This time I muttered, "Shaa, amazing." When I listened carefully, I could hear the word "amazing" coming from here and there. I felt that this atmosphere was also part of what made it a holy land. After that, I did one more set each of high-temperature sauna & cold plunge and steam sauna & cold plunge. My sauna activities at the holy land ended with a total of 4 sets. I relaxed in the reclining area for a while, and then it was time for the long-awaited meal. Let's have Shikiji's famous ginger-grilled set meal. I've been eating nothing but ginger-grilled set meals, but...

Shikiji's ginger-grilled pork was also exquisite. The moment I took a bite, I thought it was good to be alive. As always, I enter the sauna and cold plunge, get my body in the best condition, and enjoy delicious food. Honestly, if life has this, everything goes well. I was able to do that supreme routine at the holy land too. There's no greater satisfaction than this. After the meal, I took a nap for about an hour. Sauna uses quite a bit of energy. Therefore, at facilities with reclining rooms, I try to take naps to recover as much as possible. Besides, on this day, there was another place I wanted to go. When I was making travel plans, I had been researching sauna facilities in Shizuoka Prefecture. I discovered that there was a facility accessible from JR Fuji Station where you could enjoy flowing Mount Fuji natural water. That facility was "Mount Fuji Natural Water SPA Sauna Taka-no-Yu." After changing clothes, I bowed to "Sauna Shikiji" and got in a taxi heading to my next destination. To be continued.