Willow-lined street of Kinosaki Onsen with wooden bathhouses and a stone bridge

Kinosaki Onsen Sato no Yu

A willow-lined onsen town on the Sea of Japan coast where guests move between seven public bathhouses in yukata and wooden geta.

Drivephotographer / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

源泉温度: 72°C
入浴温度: 42°C
入浴: 内湯 / 露天
宿泊: 併設ホテルあり

Kinosaki Onsen is a hot-spring town in Toyooka, Hyōgo Prefecture, built along the willow-shaded Ōtani River. Its defining custom is soto-yu meguri — bathhouse hopping — in which visitors walk between seven public baths, of which Sato no Yu, beside the station, is the largest and most modern.

Balnevia の視点

訪ねる理由

Few thermal places in Japan are so completely organised around walking. Ryokan act as changing rooms, the street is the corridor, and the seven bathhouses each have their own character, from the cave-like Ichi no Yu to the rooftop pools of Sato no Yu.

Hotels nearby

Kinosaki Onsen Sato no Yu周辺の宿泊先を探す。

湯について

温泉水

源泉: Kinosaki hot springs
溶存成分: Sodium-calcium chloride
湯の性質: Clear, saline water distributed from municipal source wells to all seven public bathhouses

歴史

Bathing at Kinosaki is documented for well over a thousand years, and the town's literary reputation was secured by Naoya Shiga's 1917 story At Kinosaki. The present townscape of wooden inns and stone bridges largely dates from reconstruction after the 1925 North Tajima earthquake.

実用情報

A single pass sold by the ryokan covers all seven bathhouses. Each bathhouse closes on a different day of the week, so at least six are open at any time. Tattoo policies are relatively relaxed compared with much of Japan.

公式サイト

アクセス

Kinosaki-Onsen Station is served by direct limited express trains from Kyoto and Osaka in around two and a half hours; the bathhouses begin a few minutes' walk from the station.