Two days ago Kyoko and I took the drive west out to Onikobe, an area near the Akita/Yamagata/Miyagi border.  Probably known best for its terrible ski hill, Onikobe is also home to many hot springs (onsen).  While nearby Naruko Onsen gets most of the hype, being accessible by train and a popular place to view the autumn leaves, there are some great hidden spots along northwestern Miyagi’s  winding backwoods roads.  On Monday we visited Hounkaku Onsen.

Although we’d been to this region before this was my first time driving there, so I punched in our destination into my iPhone, letting Google Maps plot our course for us.  My company car has no navigation system, so the iPhone has been an absolute godsend in helping me not get lost driving around rural Japan.  However, it definitely does NOT account for road conditions, weather, time of year, etc.  I had already narrowly averted a near disaster back in January, when my phone told me to drive through the still earthquake-damaged Kurikoma region through a blizzard on a one-lane road into uninhabited rural Yamagata in the dead of night on my way up to Akita City.

This time wasn’t nearly as perilous, just a small snow-covered country road heading up into the hills.  It was right near the end of the trip so I thought we’d give Google the benefit of the doubt and see if we could make it, in our little Nissan March.  The snow became deeper and deeper, and about half a click up the road we came to a stop, unable to make any more forward progress up the hill.  “This is why we have to drive backwards in a straight line on our driving test.” I told Kyoko, as we slowly made our way down the winding road in reverse.  Strike two Google, strike two…  We found a better route to take to the onsen, the turnoff being about 100 meters after our deadend.

Eventually we reached Hounkaku Onsen.  I smiled to myself as we parked in the empty lot.  One of the best things about having Mondays off is that you can go to most recreation places (onsens, driving ranges, game centers) and they’ll be nearly or completely empty.  Kyoko and I try to go to mixed onsens (where the outdoor bath is for men and women, together) if we can.  Going to non-mixed onsens, while relaxing, can be pretty boring.  Sure, I could strike up a conversation with some random naked dude, but I’d much rather hang out with Kyoko or my friends.

Paying our 500 yen fee we walked through the quiet inn to get to the change rooms.  Empty.  I quickly showered and then headed outside (The change rooms and indoor baths are segregated).  Empty.  We had the whole place to ourselves.

As you can see from the photos there is a large rotenburo (open-air bath), and a natural bath complete with a waterfall.  The Okami-san (hostess of the inn) warned us that the natural bath would probably be a little chilly, as it had snowed the night before.  It doesn’t really start to get nice and hot until June or July.  The rotenburo is temperature-controlled, and also features a small cave.  It isn’t really a steam room or sauna, but an “Ashi-yu” instead (Ashi = foot or leg, Yu = bath or hot spring).  One end of the rotenburo is hotter than the other so you can get warmer or cooler as you please.

Perhaps the only negative was the quality of the water itself.  The scent wasn’t filled with sulphur and didn’t make your skin feel soft and slimy, meaning the water was probably low in minerals and chemicals.

The natural bath was a little cool, but nothing like surfing off the coast of Vancouver Island in summer.  Kyoko snapped a few photos of me unsuccessfully trying to climb up the waterfall, then we headed back into the heated pool.

The atmosphere was amazing.  The splashing of the waterfall, the occasional chirping of the birds (cicadas perhaps?), the sound of snow melting and sliding off the roof… bliss.

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