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<\/a>Yunotsu Onsen (pronounced “Yu-no-tsu”) is a quiet, rustic hot spring town tucked away along a single road leading inland from Yunotsu Port, which once flourished as the export hub for silver from the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine. There are two communal baths here, and one of them is Motoyu Senyakutou. Legend has it that a traveling monk discovered an old tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) healing its wounds here, giving the spring a deep sense of history. A charmingly retro dressing room greets you, perfectly matching the town’s nostalgic atmosphere. It was lovely to see the little cubbies where locals keep their own bathing sets; it adds a really nice local touch.<\/p>\n
The water is a brownish-red color and feels slightly astringent on the skin. I heard it\u2019s incredibly therapeutic, even for conditions like radiation sickness. You can also drink the water; it has a savory, salty flavor, almost like a dashi-based soup, and it’s actually quite tasty. At the entrance, a mosquito coil was burning, its smoke drifting faintly. This is a wonderful hot spring that maintains the atmosphere of a traditional therapeutic bathhouse while offering exceptional water quality. I\u2019d love to visit again whenever I get the chance.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yunotsu Onsen (pronounced “Yu-no-tsu”) is a quiet, rustic hot spring town tucked away along a single road leading from the port\u2014once a shipping hub for Iwami Ginzan’s silver. Motoyu Senyakutou is one of its two communal baths. Legend has it that a traveling monk discovered an old tanuki healing its wounds here, giving the spring a long and storied history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/?p=648","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chugoku","en-US"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_wp_geo_latitude":"35.096525","_wp_geo_longitude":"132.3499","_wp_geo_map_settings":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5129,"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5126\/revisions\/5129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onsen.thmiyake.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a> <\/a>
The baths are divided into three sections: a hot pool where the nearly 50\u00b0C source water flows in directly, a slightly cooler pool a short distance away, and a shallower one. The locals usually soak in the middle, slightly cooler pool for a while, and then alternate in and out of the hot pool. An old man who struck up a conversation with me said, “It might be too hot for visitors, but this is the way we like it!” I found it quite interesting to rub my feet against the floor, which was covered in thick, rough mineral deposits formed by the overflowing water\u2014it felt like a natural pumice stone.<\/p>\n