How many times in a lifetime can a person experience that feeling of being utterly emptied out?
After an overwhelming sauna session embraced by the sweeping ocean views at Kita Kobushi Shiretoko Hotel & Resort, I started the engine and pointed the car toward my next destination. From the sea, I was now heading to the forest. Nestled quietly in the old-growth forests of Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido, Yuyado Daiichi is a celebrated hot spring inn. In recent years it has poured serious effort into its sauna offerings, and has become a place that sauna enthusiasts across Japan dream of visiting at least once.
I drove over Shiretoko Pass and came out at Rausu. Ahead of me lay Kunashiri Island, stretched across the horizon. On a map it looks narrow and small, but seeing it in person, the sheer presence of it is commanding. I headed south from Rausu to Shibetsu, then turned inland toward Nakashibetsu. Gradually the feel of the town faded, and the magnificent scenery that defines eastern Hokkaido began to dominate the view. Countless cattle grazed across vast pastures. It was a sight I rarely encounter in everyday life, and I found myself pulling the car over without thinking, just sitting there watching the cows go about their peaceful business. Even a small detour like this is a spice that stirs the soul of a traveler. As Yuyado Daiichi drew closer, the forest grew steadily deeper and denser. Then, in an instant after passing through the untouched old-growth trees, the view opened up and the inn appeared before me.
A staff member came all the way out to the parking lot to welcome me — a thoughtful touch. As we went through the check-in process, the conversation naturally drifted to sauna. When I mentioned that I would like to photograph the main bathhouse the following morning, the staff member — apparently sensing my deep passion for sauna — shared all sorts of ways to enjoy the facilities. As it turned out, staff at Yuyado Daiichi can use the main bathhouse free of charge, and he himself was quite the hot spring and sauna devotee, coming in even on his days off. And just before he left, he said something that burned itself into my memory.
"We have many guests who love hot springs, but we often hear that the experience here was the best of their lives. Honestly, I feel the same way."
What a remarkable thing to say. The people who work here are genuinely convinced that their facility is the finest in Japan, and they love it from the bottom of their hearts. Well then — I intended to enjoy every bit of what it had to offer.
I walked down a long corridor and stepped into the main bathhouse. The cleaning was immaculate — not a single piece of dirt anywhere. Reining in my excitement, I changed and opened the entrance door, and in an instant a solemn, magnificent space unfolded before me, the kind that embodies the soul of a traditional hot spring inn. Into a grand hinoki cypress bathtub, the celebrated waters flowed endlessly. A true free-flowing source.
Stepping out into the open-air bath, I found a world that truly deserved the word breathtaking. The view of a mountain stream running through old-growth forest was stunning enough to stop the breath, and the air was thick with negative ions. The design places you practically at the water's edge, able to enjoy the hot spring just inches from the river. I soaked in the water, absorbing the sound of the stream, the scent of earth and green, every sensation carried through my whole body. It was less a feeling of becoming one with nature and more of dissolving into it — as though I was melting out into the natural world.
There are four types of sauna available, along with a deep cold plunge bath cooled from the hot spring water and a wonderfully wild option: diving directly into the stream at around 13°C. Lounge chairs line the stream bank, promising the ultimate outdoor rest. Just looking around the facility, I was certain: the best experience of my life was going to happen here.
First, I eased slowly into the open-air rock bath overlooking the stream. The muscles stiffened by the long drive from Shiretoko gradually loosened and softened. The spring is a sodium-calcium chloride sulfate spring. The source temperature exceeds 80°C, but it is adjusted to a perfectly comfortable temperature and flows freely. The soft, skin-embracing quality of the water was irresistible.
My body sufficiently warmed, I decided to cool off briefly before heading to the sauna. But at that moment I was seized by an intense urge — not to use the cold plunge bath, but to get into the river. I changed course and made my way to the stream, dipping one foot in gently. Cold. Around 13°C by feel, I guessed. As I slowly submerged my body, a sensation like an electric current shot from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. A wild, primal pleasure impossible to find in any neatly maintained cold plunge bath. I climbed out of the river and dropped into a chair that was right there. I closed my eyes, tuned my ears to the sound of the river and the rustle of the forest, and felt the breeze gently stroking my flushed skin. I was dissolving into this great, wild nature. My senses sharpened to a razor's edge — I could almost feel the pulse of the earth itself. And I hadn't even set foot in a sauna yet. The depth of satisfaction was astonishing.
At last, the sauna began. The men's bathing area at Yuyado Daiichi has four wonderfully distinctive saunas. There is the Seiryu no Sasayaki Sauna (Murmur of the Clear Stream Sauna), where spring water cascades like a waterfall and continuously generates steam; the Shimafukuro no Yamiyoru Sauna (Blakiston's Fish Owl Dark Night Sauna), a meditative space named after the Blakiston's fish owl; the wood-burning sauna, where you enjoy the crackling of firewood and fierce, rugged heat; and the Kiri no Iyashi Mist Sauna (Healing Mist Sauna), filled with hot spring vapor.
For my first set I chose the Seiryu no Sasayaki Sauna. The moment I entered, I was struck simultaneously by the powerful beauty of the space and by an intense wall of heat. The thermometer read around 70°C, but with humidity close to 60%, the perceived temperature was extraordinary. The heat of the hot spring rises directly as steam, maintaining a state of constant, superb löyly. As my body gradually adjusted, I found the space to look around. A robust construction of logs and thick timber. A large window cut into the front wall let me watch the stream flowing just outside while I steamed. Each tier of seating was wide enough to sit cross-legged, and wooden pillows for lying down had even been provided. And luxuriously, this entire space was mine alone. I stretched out without reservation, letting the heat warm my body evenly. I noticed that the breath I exhaled had grown hot as fire.
When I reached my limit, I staggered out of the sauna. There was an inviting cold plunge bath cooled from hot spring water right nearby, but my feet carried themselves toward the river on their own. My body was craving that wild exhilaration. I descended into the river and submerged in the cold clear current. Because the water was moving, the thin insulating layer that would normally form on the skin's surface was instantly swept away, and a piercing coldness shot through my whole body. From the middle of the river I could see all the way downstream, and the beautiful green curtain of trees lining both banks captured my heart. But the overwhelming cold prevailed, and I hauled myself out of the river. Then I settled into a riverside chair, and an outdoor rest in the middle of wild nature began.
When I next became aware of myself, the color of the sky had deepened slightly. How long had I been lying there, staring blankly up at the sky as if unconscious? No matter. Time does not exist here.
For my second set I headed to the trailer-style wood-burning sauna set up outdoors — compact enough for three or four people. There was already one person inside, who had just done a self-service löyly. In that tight space, the sizzle of the water hitting the stones sent the perceived temperature surging instantly.
"Hot, isn't it!"
Two strangers, dripping with sweat, laughed together. From there, the conversation naturally flowed into talking about what makes Yuyado Daiichi so wonderful. He mentioned he lived in Hokkaido, but this was already his third visit.
"I live right here in Hokkaido, but I keep wanting to come back again and again."
I understood that feeling completely — it was exactly what I had been thinking. In fact, if I could live in Hokkaido, work at Yuyado Daiichi, and enjoy this hot spring and sauna every single day, that alone would be enough to guarantee a happy life.
We left the sauna at the same time. Without saying a word to each other about it, we both found ourselves heading for the river. And there in the cold clear water we exchanged a "This is incredible!" and laughed again with a "Of course we ended up in the river again (laughs)." Then we both collapsed into the riverside chairs, and gradually the supreme waves of totonou washed over me. When I returned to awareness, the other guest was nowhere to be seen.
For my third set, I went to the Shimafukuro no Yamiyoru Sauna inside the main bathhouse. A compact three-tiered bench where one or two people can sit on each level. An iki stove laden with a large mass of sauna stones presides over the room, with automatic löyly every fifteen minutes. Because the space is small, the convection of steam is ferocious, and a wall of heat hits you with a heavy thud. True to its name, the Dark Night Sauna, the interior is pitch black — only the faint glow around the sauna stove dimly illuminates your feet. This sauna is perfect for turning inward and sinking into deep meditation. I closed my eyes, endured wave after wave of heat, and pushed my body to its limit.
A few steps outside the sauna room is the deep indoor cold plunge bath. The water, cooled from hot spring water, sits at 15°C. The depth — enough to submerge your head completely — is a delight. The soft, gentle texture unique to hot spring water creates a tenderness within the cold, amplifying the pleasure to an extreme.
The sauna leads directly to the cold plunge bath, and if you feel like it, the river is another option. And zero distance from the cold plunge bath, rest chairs are waiting. What is this impossibly perfect flow? All I can do is take my hat off in admiration.
Before the time came to check out the following day, I bathed a total of four times — in the late afternoon, at night, in the morning, and just before noon. I wanted to stay in this space as long as possible, even one minute more. That longing kept sending me back to the main bathhouse again and again.
Among the sessions, the atmosphere at night was in a class of its own. The illuminated open-air bath radiated a dreamlike beauty, and the sound of the stream and the calls of insects reached my ears with perfect, soothing clarity. But just beyond the reach of the light lay absolute darkness. The bottomless, unknowable threat of nature — utterly different from its gentle daytime face — was there. I even felt a primal fear that a brown bear might come crashing out of that pitch-black dark at any moment. It was not simply about feeling good. The fact that genuine fear — the kind that makes you feel your life might be in danger — coexists right alongside that pleasure: this is a sensation available only because of the wild, nature-merging quality of this place. Fear, in that sense, is synonymous with feeling truly alive. In that light, this is perhaps less a hot spring inn and more a place where you can feel the outline of your own existence as a human being with startling intensity.
The sauna experience this time was something the word totonou cannot begin to capture. Melted is the only word that fits. Enveloped in overwhelming heat and cold and the embrace of wild nature, every trace of ego and thought inside me was completely emptied out. So this is what it means to be emptied. A primordial nature that lets you reclaim your most fundamental human state and reset yourself entirely. And within it: superb hot springs, four saunas, a perfect cold plunge bath, and outdoor rest.
If you want to reboot your life, come to Yuyado Daiichi. It is difficult to put into words, but there is an absolute truth here that only those who have experienced it can understand.
The Hokkaido sauna journey is now approaching its final stretch. Saying goodbye to Yuyado Daiichi, I head for the last destination of the trip: Lake Akan. The stage shifts from forest to lake. I will soak slowly in the hot spring while taking in the spectacular view of Lake Akan. The next destination is New Akan Hotel on the shores of Lake Akan. The journey is not over yet.
