Muranoyu Hot Spring

Muranoyu is a small, old-fashioned communal bathhouse in Ibusuki with just two indoor tubs, one hot and one very hot, the water rising quietly through the floor of the tub itself. There is no rotenburo, sauna or private bath here, and no rental towels or shampoo either, so come prepared. A drinking fountain by the baths lets you try the source water straight, hot and faintly salty. The bathhouse began in 1863 as the village's shared bath and was running under the name Muranoyu by the early 1880s. During the Second World War, sailors from the nearby Ibusuki naval air base bathed here to purify themselves before flying out on their final missions.