What kind of hot springs does the Emperor enjoy, as the national symbol of Japan?
There are three resort villas that imperial families use.
Out of them, Nasu Villa in Tochigi Prefecture has hot spring in it.
In fact, the water is piped from a certain inn, and anyone can enjoy soaking.
High Quality Inn in the Mountains
Omaru Onsen Ryokan is located in the remotest part of Nasu Hot Springs.
You need to climb up a steep hill from the spa town, and will reach 4,200 feet up in the mountain.
Even in March, it was snowing.
The inn is over 200 years old, but beautifully renovated.
The lobby has elegance in the style of old folk houses.
Walk-ins are available from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, and the fee is 1,000 yen.
Let us go to the bathroom.
The indoor baths directly beside the dressing rooms are gender-separated.
It is impressive to see gallons of hot water without color, smell or taste, is being poured into tubs.
River of plenty of hot water
Open-air baths beside the indoor baths are mixed baths, which are specialties of the inn.
I think it noteworthy that the inn that has the source of the emperor’s spring provides mixed baths…
Directly beside men’s indoor bath, there is an open-air tub, named “Shirakaba No Yu,” where is downstream of the Shiratsuchi River.
When you look in the direction of upstream, you will see other tubs named “Ajisai No Yu,” and “Azami No Yu,” and all of them are mixed bath (you can use complementary bath towels in the water.)
Unfortunately, it was unable to use tubs above Azami No Yu, because of the heavy snow when I visited.
Looking into downstream from Ajisai No Yu
About 160 degrees of hot springs are poured into the river all over the place, and you can find your favorite temperatures.
The nature of the spring lacks distinction, but massive amount of hot water completely washed out my gloomy feelings.
Summary
😆 Pros
Plenty amount of water with gentle nature
😥 Cons
Lack of a sense of openness at open-air baths between buildings and cliff
| Omaru Onsen Ryokan, Okunasu Onsen, Tochigi, Japan | |
|---|---|
| Rating |  |
| Walk-ins | YES |
| Lodging | YES |
| Official Website | YES |
Related hot spring
It is only one-mile distance in a straight line.
Oruri Sanso, Nasu-takao Onsen, Tochigi, Japan
There is milky-white water with many mineral deposits and hydrogen sulfide.
Actually, the main nature of springs around here is like this.
Indeed it is attractive, but you may get dizzy from the too concentrated water,
Then, please remember in which spring the national symbol of Japan enjoys soaking.
Japanese
