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With the owner Hiroyuki Arioka, on a bench in the lounge — With the owner *Hiroyuki Arioka*, on a bench in the lounge

We visited “Yunotani Onsen” in Takaokachō Oyamada, Miyazaki, Miyazaki, which opened in 1792 and has more than 200 years of history. Yunotani Onsen is a kósen using a cool spring source. A chimney, which is used for heating up cool water for bathing, indicates that.

This stone monument was established in 1817 telling the origin of the cool spring here, it says “Cool fragrant water always gushes out from the middle of the rice field. Thanks to the water, the field has not been suffered with droughts even though it doesn’t rain for a long period.” After that, people made a bathhouse using the water, and the water treated skin diseases well. This cool spring has been reputed for its medicinal benefits since that age.

This is the reception, the owner Hiroyuki generally works here, if he isn’t, you can call him.

The dressing room is very simple. As there are no lockers, we recommend you to leave your valuables in your car.

The bathroom is nicely and attractively aged. The tub is four or five people wide. And the touch of the cool spring water is soft and gentle to your skin.

There are two faucets, one serves heated water and the other serves not-heated water (as is the original cool spring). You can adjust the temperature if the bath is not moderate.

Naoyuki (the name of the man in the bath) has been coming to Yunotani Onsen for five years. As written in the stone monument, he also says the water is good for skin diseases, and many visitors come here for that medicinal benefits.

During our interview, Hiroyuki showed us the cool spring source. Although the location changed several times due to natural disasters such as volcano eruption, a rich amount of the water naturally rises up from the ground without any artificial devices.

This is the original cool spring water. It has a subtle sulphur fragrance and gentle touch, and is a little bit carbonated.

He is the owner Hiroyuki who is 79 years old and loves watching NBA. He says “As long as I can do, I will operate Yunotani Onsen for visitors who love bathing here.” On the other hand, he is researching the way to preserve Yunotani Onsen in the future because he is not young. We hope Yunotani Onsen, which is an onsen legacy, won’t disappear in the future.