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A dip in the UNESCO World Heritage Tsuboyu at Yunomine Onsen

17 November 2016

The Tsuboyu is the only hot spring that you can bathe in that is registered as UNESCO World Heritage. The hot spring pool is inside a small cabin located by a creek that runs through Yunomine Onsen.

The onsen was discovered 1800 years ago and is thought to be the oldest hot spring in Japan. The water is said to change its colours seven times over the day and there is a famous legend that talked about its healing powers. This bath was used by pilgrims in the past to purify themselves with the hot water.

This bath is private use for 1~2 people for 30 minutes. Usage is based on a first-come first-serve bath basis with no reservations. We bought our tickets from a vending machine next to a booth by the village’s temple and cost 770 yen/pax. 

Yunomine Onsen

The place to buy the tickets and get the wooden number tag before using the Tsuboyu.


After buying the tickets, we handed them to the attendant at the booth to exchange for a wooden number tag. We were given the Number 1 tag, indicating that we were the first persons to be using the Tsuboyu on this day. We were also given certificates to proof that we had bathed in the World Heritage Tsuboyu. Nice souvenirs.

 Yunomine Onsen

 

 

World Heritage Tsuboyu onsen information board next to the Dainichi-Goe trailhead (a section of the Kumano Kodo route).


Footwear were to be removed and left outside in a shed by the entrance of the onsen before entering the onsen. We hung the number tab on a hook by the door, entered the onsen, latched the door and walked down a few  stone steps to a natural rock pool as shown in the photo below.

There were baskets provided for us to place our clothes and bath towels (not provided and to be brought from our ryokan). Like all Japanese onsen, no underwear or clothes were to be worn into the bath.

 

The size of the pool is about right for two persons. The natural spring water in Yunomine Onsen could reach a temperature of up to 93 deg C when it rises to the surface, hot enough to boil eggs at the creek just a few meters away from the Tsuboyu. In the Tsuboyu, the milky mineral water was definitely colder than 93 degrees C but still very, very hot.

A pipe with cold water was provided and we spend a few minutes adding cold water into the bath before getting in…. slowly, to allow the body to acclimatise. There was even a long wooden stirrer provided for us to mix the water with. I was trying to figure out the source of the hot spring water in the pool but could not find it. I guess it was coming from the bottom of the pool, percolating through the hundreds of small river rocks that I was sitting on.

Time passed by quickly. There was even a large clock provided inside the wooden hut to remind guests to keep to the allocated 30 minutes.


Finished with the Tsuboyu, face all flushed and skin all cleansed. 


While the onsen was not the best that I had experienced in Japan, it was certainly quite an interesting and something not to miss when doing the Kumano Kodo.

We returned the Number 1 wooden tab to the booth by the ticket machine. There are two other public baths in the Yunomine Onsen village besides the Tsuboyu, i.e the Kusuri Medicine Bath and the Public bath near the ticket booth. Our tickets for the Tsuboyu also entitled us to use these two public baths but we preferred to use our ryokan’s private outdoor onsen. So we spent the time soaking at Yoshinoya Ryokan’s onsen until check out time at 10 AM.

 

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