Onsen OniOnsen Oni

Search Onsen Oni

Search onsen, areas, prefectures and pages.

Takahan

雪国の宿 高半ゆきぐにのやど こうなかば

The Echigo-Yuzawa ryokan where Kawabata wrote Snow Country

Lodging

Day Use

Yes

Bathing & Water

Natural onsen water

Uses natural hot spring water

Outdoor BathYes

Open-air outdoor bath

Indoor BathYes

Enclosed indoor bathing area

Bathing Arrangements

Private BathNo

A private bath you can reserve for yourself or your group

Mixed BathingNo

Shared bathing area for all genders

湯沢温泉 (湯元)

Yuzawa Onsen (Yumoto)
Sulfur

Sodium Chloride-Sulfate spring

Hot source · 44°C
Composition fingerprint0.3 g/kg dissolved · Hypotonic
Na⁺90
Cl⁻53
SO₄²⁻25
CationsAnions
Sodium Na⁺
salt's cation — pairs with chloride to make the water salty.
Chloride Cl⁻
table-salt anion — coats the skin and holds heat in.
Known good for
  • Skin conditionsatopic skin, eczema
  • Circulationtired legs
  • Aches & jointsstiff shoulders
  • Sensitive-skin cautionbroken or dry skin

A simple sulfur spring known as the wellhead (yumoto) of Yuzawa Onsen — alkaline, hypotonic, and hot (44.3 °C at the source). Mineralization is light at about 330 mg/kg, but the sulfur character carries a faint rotten-egg note, and the alkaline pH gives the soft, slippery feel of a Japanese 'beauty-water' spring.

Analyzed Nov 21, 2013·一般財団法人 新潟県環境分析センター·Cert no. 新潟県(登)環企第4号

Explore the water

Views

City
Mountains

About

Takahan sits on a rise above Echigo-Yuzawa, with indoor and open-air baths filled with faintly sulfurous spring water that's easy to sit in for a long soak. Both the men's and women's bathing areas add a sauna and a cold bath fed by mountain spring water, which staff hike up to tend once a month outside winter. From the baths, and from the upper floors, the view opens over the town and the shinkansen station below, with the hills around turning to ink-wash silhouettes after dark. The inn's best known guest was the novelist Kawabata Yasunari, who stayed here between 1934 and 1937 and wrote part of Snow Country (雪国) during his time at Takahan. The room he used, Kasumi-no-ma (かすみの間), is preserved today.

Loading map…

No reviews yet

Be the first to share your experience!

Onsen Oni

Last updated September 19, 2026