The road to Nagoya was one long stretch of traffic jams.
I left Seaside Hotel Maiko Villa Kobe, where I had stayed for the pre-trip night, at 7:30 in the morning. I had planned to arrive at Welby Imaike around 10:30, but I didn't actually get there until noon. There had been an accident-related traffic jam between Kyoto and Shiga. That said, since the whole purpose of this trip was the sauna, a late arrival was no problem whatsoever. The best time of my life was waiting for me.
I arrived at Welby Imaike at noon. Standing right in front of the building, I felt something close to a sense of accomplishment. That's because I was about to complete my conquest of every Welby Group sauna. Welby is one of the most famous sauna facilities in Japan, with three locations: Fukuoka, Sakae in Nagoya, and Imaike. Having already visited Welby Fukuoka and Welby Sakae, the only one left was Welby Imaike.
Grinning to myself, I checked in, stripped off my clothes at warp speed in the changing room, and headed for the main bath. Just inside the entrance, there was barley tea set out. I knocked back a glass and got in the bath.
Welby Imaike is the only facility in the Welby Group that offers a hot spring. It uses the Ikeda Sakura hot spring, which wells up in Gifu Prefecture, and it feels absolutely wonderful. The season was autumn, and the slightly chilly outside air made the pleasure of the hot spring even more exquisite. After warming up in the hot spring for a while, I finally made my way to the sauna rooms. Welby Imaike has three types of saunas: the main sauna, the forest sauna, and a single-person sauna called the karafuro.
First, I stepped into the main sauna. Wide benches lined with plush mats filled the room, and the temperature sat at around 100°C — properly hot. There's a TV in the sauna room, so you can kick back and watch something while you sweat. Looking at the walls, the wood had turned a dark, rich brown, full of character. This is a long-established sauna facility, and decades have passed since it first opened. All those accumulated years show in the color of the sauna room walls — proof that it has been healing and beloved by people for a long, long time. I felt genuinely grateful to be sitting in a sauna packed with so much history and the warmth of so many people.
After thoroughly heating up in the sauna, I plunged into the cold bath. Welby's cold bath is cold — probably around 13°C, I'd guess. My body chilled all at once. Even the air passing through my airways felt cold. From the cold bath, I moved to the outdoor area, settled into a chair, and took in the open air. I felt it right then: the journey had finally begun.
I sat in a daze for a while, unable to move, but eventually pulled myself together and started my second sauna session. This time, I headed to the forest sauna. Welby Imaike's forest sauna is inspired by the forests of Finland, and in this quiet sauna room you can enjoy self-service löyly. On top of that, there's a cold plunge bath installed right inside the sauna room — so when you hit your limit, you can cool off immediately and then go right back in for more sauna, creating an endless loop you can lose yourself in.
I enjoyed it exactly as intended. I heated myself to my limit and slipped straight into the in-room cold plunge. It's an interesting experience, but personally, I don't find the in-room cold bath all that refreshing. The room is nearly 100°C to begin with, so even when you're in the cold bath, your head and neck are still baking, and the moment you get out you're immediately heated again. For me, the most refreshing experience is always stepping out of the sauna, getting into a cold bath outside, and then moving straight to outdoor air bathing.
For my third session, I decided to savor the karafuro. The karafuro was modeled after the bathhouse at Hokke-ji temple in Nara Prefecture, a structure dating back to Japan's Tenpyo period. The concept is a meditative experience — steaming yourself in the vapor from self-service löyly and turning inward. It's a completely solo space, fully shut off from the outside world. The moment I stepped in, I had the strange sensation of crossing into another dimension. I sat down on the tatami, and slowly poured what seemed to be hojicha tea — or maybe just water? — over the sauna stove. With a long, sizzling hiss, soft steam enveloped my entire body. There was no one else in this space. Not a single sound from outside reached me. This world belonged to me alone. I spent an extraordinary stretch of time there, where a sense of comfort and a sense of liberation existed side by side. After the sauna, I snapped myself back with a 13°C cold plunge, and the morning sauna session came to an end.
After the sauna, it was time for the meal I had been waiting for. The morning traffic jam and the superb sauna had left me absolutely starving. This meal was one of the true pleasures of a sauna trip — because there are flavors you can only taste in that particular place, at that particular facility. When I stepped into the restaurant, a friendly staff member welcomed me in. I took a seat at the counter. Glancing around the dining room, I spotted a pair of men drinking beer in the middle of the day, chatting away with great enthusiasm. They looked to be about my father's generation. The sun was still high, and they already seemed thoroughly in the zone. I imagined they had been in the sauna since morning, and were now savoring that sublime post-sauna beer.
I ordered garlic fried rice and motsu nabe. Since I had no plans to meet anyone anyway, I decided to load up on garlic and recharge my energy. Having just been thoroughly steamed in one of the finest saunas in the country, the food tasted especially extraordinary. Sauna is magic that makes every meal taste better. Ideally, I'd like to do a sauna session before breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day.
After finishing my meal, I was reading a book in the retro reclining room when a sudden, overwhelming wave of drowsiness hit me. There's no fighting the urge to sleep. I closed my eyes and drifted off.
When I woke up, it was 4 p.m. — I had apparently been napping for about two hours. I tend to be the type who stays tense, so even in sauna facilities I rarely fall into a deep sleep; usually I wake up after about thirty minutes. But at Welby Imaike, I must have been able to relax completely, because I had been fully, soundly asleep. The only other facilities where I've napped for multiple hours have been Ogaki Sauna in Gifu Prefecture, Spa Alps in Toyama Prefecture, and Kobe Sauna in Hyogo Prefecture — and now Welby Imaike has joined that list as a place where I can relax to the very fullest.
Well, my energy is completely restored, so it's time to head to tonight's accommodation. I'm planning to move from Nagoya toward Gifu Prefecture and stay at a hotel near Owariسeto Station. You might wonder why I'd bother moving away from central Nagoya and out toward Gifu. It's because there was a facility I absolutely had to visit. While researching saunas in Aichi and Gifu, I came across something truly extraordinary: a super sento that offers three types of saunas and three types of cold plunge baths using groundwater, along with a free-flowing natural hot spring and one of the largest outdoor bathing spaces in Japan — all located in Tajimi City, Gifu Prefecture. That's where I'm heading now. The name of that facility is Tenko no Yu.
