Three onsens for the keiretsu-kings under the boardroom lights,
Seven for the middle-management in their cubicle kingdoms,
Nine for the salary men doomed to meager pensions,
One for the lone ALT on his computer desk chair throne,
In the land of Kyushu where the hot springs lie.
One onsen to rule them all, one onsen too sublime, man,
One onsen to bring them all and in the soothing waters bind them
In the land where the hot springs lie.
Well I was going to write about my trip to the JSB (Japan Superbike) race at Autopolis, which has been a five-year-old dream of mine, but maybe it's a sign of my removal from motorcycle riding for the past several months that I left before the whole thing was over and moseyed down the road to that favorite onsen town of mine, Kumamoto Prefecture's Kurokawa. Well, I can actually put my finger on the reason I left early when I think about it, though it's boring and technical: worldwide production bike racing became so damn boring when the 600 and 1000cc classes got I4 engined machines' airbox restrictor regs all but tossed out, pushing v-twins almost entirely out of competition in the face of overwhelming horsepower. Since I love the sound, torque and bucking bronco feel of v-twin superbikes--enough to drop $12k on my own slice of two-wheeled, two-cylinder heaven--I'm dismayed at their exit from the racing scene.
See, didn't that put you to sleep? On to the good stuff.
A long time ago a coworker mentioned his osusume (recommended) onsen in Kurokawa as something-mizu-something. I couldn't recall it for the life of me, but I knew it had mizu (water) in the title. Entering the town I glanced up at a guide sign with twenty different onsen names and saw Yamamizuki (mountain, water, tree) by chance. Down a one-lane gravely side road I piloted the car and dodged bathers strolling between onsen until I came across yet another guide sign and another side road that finally brought me to Yamamizuki.
I had an immediate good feeling about the place thanks to it's unpretentious, natural feel aided by it being situated next to freshly planted rice terraces and oodles of bamboo and birch trees. What clinched it though were the people kicking it in the after-bath lounge/cafe--everyone, to the man, woman and child, had a big dumb grin on their face and looked so approachable. Oh yeah, they had a fat ass-but-playful cat mulling about outside too. Nice touch.
On the path down to the bath I came to a fork, to the right the women's bath, to the left is the mixed one. No men's option here. The changing "room" is just a doorless shack, really, and it leads directly to an impressive outdoor bath. Spacious and perched over a pristine and swiftly running river the bath is something else. You have to experience it in person to believe it, so I hope some of you reading this will come check it out some day. This is one of the the first onsen I've entered where the question "what do you want to do?" popped into my head. What do you want to do? It's almost deep enough for a swim, you could try that. You can recline against river-worn rocks under a canopy of leaves. You can sit on the outer edge and gaze into the river. There are two water streams shooting out of bamboo tubes extending from the wall for you to sit under for a bit of a shower. As for me, I tried those all and ended up reading a book on a rock near the center of the pool.
When I mentioned the mixed aspect of this onsen you might have immediately wondered if there were any women in the bath, and the answer is yes, there was one. Hundreds of years ago in Japan a majority of the outdoor baths were mixed like this, but then England, American and all those Puritan puke nations came in and set up trade agreements with Japan and one of the caveats was that the country do away with this sinful, sinful practice. There still aren't many, only two that I can think of in or around Oita, in fact. Nobody cared when she came in, no habits changed. I for one didn't feel self-conscious about her entering. I'm glad to see that some folks understand that the sexuality of nudity is entirely based on context.
How Yamamizuki stacks up against Kizuna in Kokonoe, which you may remember from posts of months past, is that both are in different classes. While Yamamizuki is hands down the most impressive piece of onsen real estate I've laid eyes on it's about an hour away by car, at least twice as far as Kizuna. So while conceivably I could go to Kizuna every day of the week Yamamizuki is more an out-of-the-way luxury destination. But damn...what a destination.
My camera's still on the blink (rather, I haven't bought a new one yet) so I'm afraid I'll have to let Yamamizuki's very old website give you a taste of what I was able to see. The second menu button from the top on the left will show pics of the various baths. The top one is the one I went in.
--Matt
Seven for the middle-management in their cubicle kingdoms,
Nine for the salary men doomed to meager pensions,
One for the lone ALT on his computer desk chair throne,
In the land of Kyushu where the hot springs lie.
One onsen to rule them all, one onsen too sublime, man,
One onsen to bring them all and in the soothing waters bind them
In the land where the hot springs lie.
Well I was going to write about my trip to the JSB (Japan Superbike) race at Autopolis, which has been a five-year-old dream of mine, but maybe it's a sign of my removal from motorcycle riding for the past several months that I left before the whole thing was over and moseyed down the road to that favorite onsen town of mine, Kumamoto Prefecture's Kurokawa. Well, I can actually put my finger on the reason I left early when I think about it, though it's boring and technical: worldwide production bike racing became so damn boring when the 600 and 1000cc classes got I4 engined machines' airbox restrictor regs all but tossed out, pushing v-twins almost entirely out of competition in the face of overwhelming horsepower. Since I love the sound, torque and bucking bronco feel of v-twin superbikes--enough to drop $12k on my own slice of two-wheeled, two-cylinder heaven--I'm dismayed at their exit from the racing scene.
See, didn't that put you to sleep? On to the good stuff.
A long time ago a coworker mentioned his osusume (recommended) onsen in Kurokawa as something-mizu-something. I couldn't recall it for the life of me, but I knew it had mizu (water) in the title. Entering the town I glanced up at a guide sign with twenty different onsen names and saw Yamamizuki (mountain, water, tree) by chance. Down a one-lane gravely side road I piloted the car and dodged bathers strolling between onsen until I came across yet another guide sign and another side road that finally brought me to Yamamizuki.
I had an immediate good feeling about the place thanks to it's unpretentious, natural feel aided by it being situated next to freshly planted rice terraces and oodles of bamboo and birch trees. What clinched it though were the people kicking it in the after-bath lounge/cafe--everyone, to the man, woman and child, had a big dumb grin on their face and looked so approachable. Oh yeah, they had a fat ass-but-playful cat mulling about outside too. Nice touch.
On the path down to the bath I came to a fork, to the right the women's bath, to the left is the mixed one. No men's option here. The changing "room" is just a doorless shack, really, and it leads directly to an impressive outdoor bath. Spacious and perched over a pristine and swiftly running river the bath is something else. You have to experience it in person to believe it, so I hope some of you reading this will come check it out some day. This is one of the the first onsen I've entered where the question "what do you want to do?" popped into my head. What do you want to do? It's almost deep enough for a swim, you could try that. You can recline against river-worn rocks under a canopy of leaves. You can sit on the outer edge and gaze into the river. There are two water streams shooting out of bamboo tubes extending from the wall for you to sit under for a bit of a shower. As for me, I tried those all and ended up reading a book on a rock near the center of the pool.
When I mentioned the mixed aspect of this onsen you might have immediately wondered if there were any women in the bath, and the answer is yes, there was one. Hundreds of years ago in Japan a majority of the outdoor baths were mixed like this, but then England, American and all those Puritan puke nations came in and set up trade agreements with Japan and one of the caveats was that the country do away with this sinful, sinful practice. There still aren't many, only two that I can think of in or around Oita, in fact. Nobody cared when she came in, no habits changed. I for one didn't feel self-conscious about her entering. I'm glad to see that some folks understand that the sexuality of nudity is entirely based on context.
How Yamamizuki stacks up against Kizuna in Kokonoe, which you may remember from posts of months past, is that both are in different classes. While Yamamizuki is hands down the most impressive piece of onsen real estate I've laid eyes on it's about an hour away by car, at least twice as far as Kizuna. So while conceivably I could go to Kizuna every day of the week Yamamizuki is more an out-of-the-way luxury destination. But damn...what a destination.
My camera's still on the blink (rather, I haven't bought a new one yet) so I'm afraid I'll have to let Yamamizuki's very old website give you a taste of what I was able to see. The second menu button from the top on the left will show pics of the various baths. The top one is the one I went in.
--Matt
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2 comments:
Try Shinmeikan in Kurokawa - the cave onsen.
I've been three times, but the water's always super hot and I have to search the cave for a reasonably warm spot. I do, however, like their rotenburo, and in the winter they light a fire on the approach to the caves. Get a bottle of Kurokawa suds and relax there...good times.
--Matt
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