Ebizuru Onsen

Ebizuru Onsen is a small day-use bathhouse with just two tubs, each drawing on its own source: one kept quite hot, the other on the cooler, nuru-yu side for a longer soak. The water runs a light brown, feels smooth on the skin, and carries a faint whiff of sulfur. There is no outdoor bath, just the two indoor tubs and a washing area. The spring turned up by accident: the owners were raising tilapia and drilled for groundwater to raise the fish, and hot spring water came up instead. The owner at the time was recovering from a traffic accident that had left him barely able to move, and soaking in the new spring every day is credited with bringing his mobility back, which is how the bath came to be called Chomei-no-yu (長命の湯), the bath of long life. It is still mostly a local spot, regulars, some of them with small children, sometimes a cat, set among fields along the Mogami river.