4567 1 2 3Sun, Sea, and SkyVolcanically active Japan has countless onsen, or hot-spring destinations, and visiting one ranks high on the wish list of most travelers. Fukushima Prefecture alone offers nearly 130 to choose from. Once you have eased your travel-weary body into the outdoor bath of a classic onsen inn, complete with its view of a Japanese garden, and been pampered by the hospitality of such a stay, it’s easy to see the appeal. Yumoto Onsen in Iwaki, with a 1,300-year history, is the best-known hot-spring town in the Hamadori coastal area. Its streets are lined with inns, each one run by an okami, or proprietress. The okami of Yumoto Onsen are formida-ble powerhouses who manage their establishments with a deft hand. Some band together as self-proclaimed “hula okami”—a nod to Spa Resort Hawaiians, a Polynesian-themed water park and entertainment facility that opened to much fanfare in Iwaki back in the 1960s. Dressed in their elegant kimono, these okami diplomats dance the hula at local events, a kind of promotional outreach they started after the Tohoku disasters, when leisure travel to the area had plummeted. Fortunately, the effects of the nuclear-power-plant acci-dent did not reach as far as Yumoto Onsen. Except for the absence of tourists, life in the hot-spring town remained just as it always had been. Even so, rumors spread that it was deserted. Residents, familiar with the coal-mining his-tory of boom and bust that had shaped Iwaki’s fortunes in the past, knew that they had to do something to keep their resort industry alive. A number of okami who had taken hula lessons back in the day struck on a plan. “We put our heads together to find ways to promote the high-quality spa waters here,” recalls Fumie Koito of Koito Ryokan. “That’s how we came up with the idea to draw on Iwaki’s history as the first center for hula dance appreciation in Japan.” The therapeutic benefits of hot springs vary depending on the particular composition of elements and minerals at the source. This, in turn, influences why people seek out one onsen destination over another. Iwaki’s springs have high sulfur, sodium, and chloride content, a trifecta that is said to improve skin quality, improve circulation, lower blood pressure, and yield lasting warming effects. What’s more, the water feels soft and velvety on the skin. It is, in short, what onsen aficionados deem “good water.”There are public baths that are open to day visitors at Yumoto Onsen, among them Sahakonoyu and another that is just for soaking the feet, but for the full onsen expe-rience you’ll want to have a proper stay at an inn. Not only will you get to soak luxuriously several times a day, you’ll also enjoy traditional Japanese meals and the heartwarm-ing “aloha” hospitality for which Yumoto Onsen is famous.1 At Onsen Shrine in Iwaki, the hula-dancing proprietresses of Yumoto Onsen pose for a photo after paying their respects to the deity who protects the hot springs. Behind them is the main sanctuary. 2, 3 A guest room and one of the three outdoor baths at Ujo no Yado Shintsuta, an inn steeped in atmo-sphere. 4 Yumoto Onsen. Quiet spots can be found here and there in the bus-tling hot-spring town. 5 Hula-dancing proprietresses grace the label of Kizuna, a junmai sake made by local brewer Taihei-zakura.6 Each and every one of the hors d’oeuvres at Ujo no Yado Shintsuta reflects the season. 7 Day visitors are welcome at the Sahakonoyu public bath. Iwaki Yumoto OnsenAlight at Yumoto Station on the Joban Line and you’ll find yourself in the hot-spring town of Yumoto Onsen, where five tons of thermal waters gush forth from the source springs every minute. The mineral composition of the geothermal waters is considered especially favorable to the skin. Along with Arima Onsen in the Kansai area and Dogo Onsen in Shikoku, Yumoto ranks among the oldest hot springs in Japan. Day visitors can avail them-selves of three different public baths. Onsen ShrineEstablished in the seventh century, this historical shrine has presided at its current site in Yumoto Onsen since the eighteenth century. It enshrines the tutelary god of the town and its hot springs, a locally beloved deity also identified with Mt. Yunodake. Sahakonoyu Public BathThe classic architecture of this public bath suggests a time slip to the past. Inside, a rock bath and a wooden bath of fragrant hinoki cypress alter-nate each day as the designated facil-ities for men or women. The sulfuric waters here flow naturally from the source, 24–7, all year round.The Distinctive Hospitality of an Onsen Inn23Soothing Hot Springs
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