Suishun is, to me, like an oasis. I've been going there since my student days, wandering in whenever fatigue piled up, entrusting my body to its hot springs and sauna countless times. Being able to hop between two facilities of this beloved brand in a single day feels like quite the luxury, doesn't it?
After thoroughly enjoying the Hattori Ryokuchi branch of Suishun, I checked into my hotel and decided to take a nap for a while. Rest is the lifeline of a successful sauna trip. Whether or not you get a good quality nap after a morning sauna session determines the entire quality of the night's experience. This day's nap was perfect. I collapsed onto the bed the moment I checked in and slept deeply for about two hours. When I woke up at 5 PM, my condition was flawless, as if a whole new day had begun. Now, tonight's destination is Tsurumiryokuchi Yumoto Suishun.
I parked my car and stepped inside the building. In addition to the bathing facility, there's a fitness gym called B-fit attached to the building, and apparently members can use the large communal bath at no extra charge. What an enviable arrangement. The Hyogo and Osaka region is remarkably rich in these kinds of collaborations between bathing facilities and gyms. If I lived in this area, I would have become a member without hesitation. At facilities I've visited before, like SPA Kisera Kawanishi, one of the finest in Hyogo Prefecture, and Sanda Natural Hot Spring Kotobuki no Yu, I heard that gym members could use the large bath for free, and I found myself casting envious glances at the members sweating it out. But enough of that, let's start by checking out the large communal bath.
The facilities were, as expected, wonderful. A wide variety of baths, a natural hot spring drawn straight from the source, and three saunas. The cold plunge bath is positioned right next to the sauna, and more than twenty chairs line the outdoor area. I'm impressed every single time by how thorough this setup is.
I cleansed myself and soaked in the outdoor natural hot spring. It happened to be that time of evening when the sunset paints the sky beautifully, and as I soaked in the water gazing at the sky burning red, I nearly forgot I was in the middle of the metropolis of Osaka.
Once I finished warming up in the hot spring, it was finally time for the sauna.
During my initial check of the facility, the meditation sauna had struck right at my preferences, so I decided to start there without hesitation. This sauna, newly built in April 2026, greets you the moment you enter with dim lighting, a pleasant scent of wood, and a gentle heat. True to its name, meditation sauna, the other guests also had their eyes closed, seemingly absorbed in meditation. The atmosphere was utterly complete. Riding that wave, I too sat cross-legged, crossed my index finger and thumb, and settled into a meditative posture. I have no idea if this is the correct technique, but as long as I could focus on my own breathing and achieve a sense of immersion, that's the right answer.
A sauna with no TV, lights dimmed low. This is, after all, my preference. Open, spacious saunas with televisions, or saunas where you can enjoy aufguss with a large crowd, aren't bad either, but a sauna where you can maintain yourself in silence suits me better. From there I cooled my body in the cold plunge bath, and as I gazed at the Osaka sky while air bathing, the moment of totonou gradually arrived.
For the second round too, I headed straight for the meditation sauna without hesitation. Ideally I'd want to enjoy a good balance of the main far-infrared sauna and the herbal medicine salt sauna as well, but thoroughly enjoying your favorite sauna once in a while isn't bad either. There's no single correct answer in a sauna trip. Toward the end of the second round, a group of young people entered while chatting. An act deserving of a thousand deaths, utterly disregarding the sauna's concept. Thanks to them, my meditative state was instantly shattered. It seems the meditation sauna is still too advanced for them. Perhaps once they've gained a bit more experience and come to understand the true value of sauna, they'll realize their own foolishness.
For the third round, I returned to the meditation sauna once again. The atmosphere of this sauna room is simply outstanding. Dark tones built mainly from near-black wood, comfortable heat, a space not too cramped that fits around ten people, humidity managed through an automatic löyly activated by a button and airflow from a pankal louver (with self-service löyly there's a risk of humidity rising too much, or conversely of dryness if you do nothing at all), and a pleasant fragrance. It satisfied my preferred conditions so thoroughly that I completely lost any option of entering another sauna. Still, I was able to achieve an unparalleled sense of satisfaction. Savoring everything isn't necessarily the right answer. Deeply savoring just one thing is also part of the true pleasure of a journey.
I can say today was a perfect day. Suishun truly is a wonderful facility. Beyond Hattori Ryokuchi and Tsurumi Ryokuchi that I visited today, they apparently also have branches in Minoh, Higashikoori, Shiga, and even Kumamoto. Someday, I'd love to achieve complete conquest of Suishun.
Now then, I haven't decided which facility to visit tomorrow yet.
Let's decide the destination tomorrow morning based on how I'm feeling when I wake up.
As long as the destination is a sauna, there's no such thing as a bad ending.
