Day 16 - Nyuto Onsen 乳頭温泉

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 16

Today no bicycle touring, just soaking in a traditional onsen in the mountains of Nyuto onsen. Very relaxing!

Bicycle: 0 km

Bus:  10 km
Route: Hotel to onsen and back
Weather: rain, 11C

Today a day dedicated to water. Hot water, due to the rain coming from above for the entire day.

Close to where I am staying a courtesy bus brought me to Tsuru no yu onsen 鶴の湯温泉. The most famous onsen here in this valley, dating back to the early Edo period (17th century). It looks a little bit like a village with small huts that are the guest rooms, which seemed to be very basic, but highly sought after, and then more huts for a cafeteria and obviously all the hot springs. 

In total for women there are 3 indoor onsen pools and 3 rotenburo (one is really small), plus one mixed rotenburo. The water is quite whitish and not too hot but also not too lukewarm. Actually quite a nice temperature. 

It is a popular destination for day-trip onsening. I had the impression that some small tour buses were there, plus a number of Taiwanese. But overall not too many people. I soaked for all morning trying out all the different pools. In the largest female rotenburo there were also some penis statues and a small shrine to pray for fertility. 

I also had lunch over there and then took a bus back to my hotel where I have spent my afternoon lazy-productively, e.g. buying a ticket for Sumo in Fukuoka at end of November!

Although it seems hard to imagine, as it is still raining and gray outside, the weather forecast for tomorrow is perfect sunshine.