17 November 2016
After three days of walking the Kumano Kodo, we planned a day of relaxation at the onsen villages of Yunomine Onsen in the morning and then transfering over to Kawayu Onsen in the afternoon for an overnight stay.
The morning started with a nice breakfast at Yoshinoya Ryokan.
On our way to the dining room, we passed the lobby of the ryokan and saw all the shoes neatly laid out, facing the right direction, for all the ryokan guests. This was typically of the excellent and thoughtful services in Japanese inns.
After breakfast, we went to try out the key attraction in Yunomine Onsen which is the Tsuboyu. Towels were not provided in the Tsuboyu, so we had to bring along the bath towels from our room. See my post on using the Tsuboyu here.
Legend has it that the hot spring was discovered 1800 years ago after hot spring water was found coming out of a hole in the body of the stone statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of Healing and Medicine. Yunomune means “hole in the chest” and that was how Yunomine Onsen got its name, from the word Yunomune.
Another legend has it that the waters from the onsen has special healing powers after a legendary warrior Hangan Oguiri who was dying from poison and was nursed back to health using the miracle water. Since then, locals flocked to the healing waters of Yunomine Onsen to get their diseases cured by soaking in the spring water.
After getting cleansed by the waters in the Tsuboyu. we went for an additional soak in the outdoor private onsen of the Yoshinoya before checking out at 10 AM. By then, almost all the shoes in the lobby entrance were gone. Their owners, most likely, already somewhere along one of the Kumano Kodo trails.
We left our backpacks at the lobby after check-out at 10 AM as we had a few more hours at Yunomine Onsen before taking the afternoon bus to Kawayu Onsen.
Across the road from Yoshinoya Ryokan is a rock with some history or legend associated with it. A flight of stone steps led up from the main road to a large 2.8m tall and 2.4m wide rock with inscriptions supposedly written by Ippen Shonin. Ippen is one of Japan’s holy figure and founder of the ‘Jishu’ School of Buddhism. What is interesting is that legend has it that he used his finger nails to etch the characters onto the rock.
Can you believe this inscriptions on the rock were written by Ippen Shonin using his finger nails?
The start of the 3.4 km Dainichi-Goe trail linking Yunomine Onsen and the Hongu Taisha Grand Shrine was just next to the Tsuboyu. We hiked up a section of the trail and came to the Yunomine-Oji.
The Oji is the starting point of the Kumano Hongu Taisha’s spring festival. On April 13th, fathers and sons wore traditional costumes, perform ancient rituals on this site and then walk the pilgrimage route to Hongu. The boys are carried on their father’s back and are not allowed to touch the ground.
We tried walking up a section of the Dainichi-Goe and it was steep and rugged. It was quite similar to the steep part of the Takijiri to Takahara trail. We could imagine the challenges these fathers would be facing on April 13th, with a load on their backs.
We had no intention or time to walk the entire Dainichi-Goe. We were soon relaxing at the Yunomine Cafe, a small store selling food and coffee on the edge of the creek and road running through the village.
Yunomine Cafe (on the left of photo) is a small store selling food and coffee on the edge of the creek and road running through the village.
Kitsune topped with deep fried tofu for 550 Yen. Came with either Udon or Soba.
Ume-Kombu topped with shaving of kelp, sliced steamed fish paste and laver. The sour plum (ume) seems to be a regional delicacy.
The food was simple but deliciously good.
One activity all visitors should do while in Yunomine Onsen was to cook and eat some eggs or sweet potatoes using the steaming 93 degrees C water at the Yuzutsu public onsen cooking basin by the creek.
The convenience store across from the road sells the complete package for cooking the eggs. The package includes eggs (or local root vegetables) that came in mesh bag and even a plastic bag to dispose of the shells and any food waste. We bought a bag with 5 eggs and a bottle of Calpis, a tasty local drink. The store also provides guidelines for cooking the eggs. 9 minutes for soft-boiled eggs, 15 minutes for hard-bolied eggs and 45 minutes for sweet potatoes.
Lowering the bag into the steaming hot water at the Yuzutsu public onsen cooking basin and hanging it using hooks attached to the wooden fencing.
We felt that the water was too hot to cook good soft-boiled eggs, so we ended up eating hard boiled eggs, washed down with Calpis. Somehow, food tasted best when cooked yourself and eaten outdoors.
Spider on a web in front of the Tokoji Temple, enjoying sauna from the steam of the onsen perhaps.
Tokoji Temple at Yunomine Onsen is dedicated to Yakushi, the Buddha of Healing and Medicine, known for his almighty healing powers.
After a morning of exploring Yunomine Onsen, we took the bus to the next onsen village called Kawayu Onsen, literally translated to mean the River Onsen. More about Kawayu Onsen in the next post.
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