Now, my Hyogo sauna journey has reached its final destination. Despite the tight schedule of two days, I managed to visit four facilities. It was a simple trip of just enjoying hot springs and saunas, but I encountered four new worlds and spent an exquisite time, which I am greatly satisfied with. I arrived at the final destination, "Koino Onsen Uhara no Yu," at 6 PM. There was a line of cars in front of the facility, and the parking lot seemed to be full. After waiting for a few minutes, I parked my car in an available space. I passed through the stylish concrete entrance and headed to the reception. After receiving a towel, I explored the facility. In addition to the large public bath, there were reclining rooms and a restaurant, making it quite a large-scale super sento. "Koino Onsen Uhara no Yu" offers hot spring water that gushes out from 1,089 meters underground in a "kakenagashi" style. Additionally, there is a large sauna room that can accommodate more than 20 people and a cold plunge bath using spring water (groundwater). For hot spring and sauna enthusiasts, it is a place worth drooling over. I immediately undressed in the bathhouse locker and entered the large public bath. A quick glance at the entire indoor bath revealed that the color of the bathtub had changed. This is due to the hot spring components of the kakenagashi source. Hyogo Prefecture has a famous hot spring called "Arima Onsen," which has a similar discoloration. There's no doubt it's a very good hot spring. First, to fully enjoy the natural hot spring, I entered the open-air bath. The blessings of the earth gently enveloped my body, providing healing from within. Furthermore, the chilly outside air accentuated the warmth of the hot spring. With this situation on my side, I found myself in a daze in the hot spring for a while. Having sufficiently warmed my body, I headed to the sauna for the first set. The sauna room is a double configuration with a far-infrared heater and a convection stove stacked with sauna stones, with a temperature of about 75°C. Eavesdropping on the conversations of regular customers, I learned that the temperature is very low today. It seems that it is usually higher. I sat on the top tier of the sauna room and took my time warming my body. A sauna with a low temperature is also quite wonderful. In other words, a higher temperature isn't always better. What's important when entering a sauna is to relax the mind and body and increase blood flow by raising the pulse. A lower temperature increases relaxation, and in terms of blood flow, staying in longer than usual can increase it similarly. The sauna room was almost full and very lively. Such a vibrant sauna isn't bad at all. After the sauna, it's time for the cold plunge bath. I entered the cold plunge bath labeled "Rokko Spring Water Bath." It was comfortable in both size and depth. The slight smell of chlorine suggests that it's provided through circulation filtration rather than kakenagashi. Even so, the unique softness of the groundwater allowed me to pleasantly cool down my body heated by the hot spring and sauna. After the cold plunge bath, I moved to the open-air bath for an outdoor air bath. I enjoyed the scent of the natural hot spring while gazing at the Kobe night sky. For me, the most relaxing time in life is when I'm in a hot spring or sauna. There is no other time in the day when I feel so liberated and relaxed. Daily life is hectic, busy, and stressful. However, if I can have even an hour to reset in the 24 hours of a day, I won't carry the day's fatigue into the next, and I can end each day feeling "It's the best!" Feeling "It's the best!" at this moment is proof of happiness. With such thoughts, I added three more sets. I repeated the loop of hot spring → sauna → cold plunge bath. If I didn't impose limits on myself, I might continue this loop forever, but since I have to return, I ended it here.

I usually eat within the facility, but since I had to return to my home in Tokushima on this day, I decided to have dinner on the way back. On the way from Kobe City towards the Akashi Strait, I found a sushi restaurant. It's my usual practice to enter a restaurant I happen to find by chance. This time it was sushi, but it will surely taste even more delicious after a sauna. As expected, the sushi was very delicious. Feeling good from the hot spring and sauna and eating delicious food puts me in a positive mood, thinking, "Ah, another day has ended. Thank you for today," and allows me to sleep soundly. Since I have to return to Tokushima today, I'll push myself a little more and work hard for the next sauna trip. Where should I go next? There are countless facilities I want to visit. The journey continues.