Yunogo Sagi Onsenkan

This is the gen'yu (元湯), the original source bathhouse of Yunogo Onsen (湯郷温泉), and it still supplies the hot water used by the ryokans around town. Two indoor baths, Dou-no-yu (動の湯) built in cypress and Sei-no-yu (静の湯) built in stone, swap between the men's and women's sides every week, alongside a cave bath, a reclining bath, a jet bath, and a dry sauna with a cold plunge. The outdoor bath is a run of small tubs stepped down a rock waterfall, one flowing into the next. Upstairs, private family baths can be booked by the hour, and there is a foot bath just outside. The water runs clear and is said to leave the skin soft. There is no restaurant here, just a small corner selling local produce, drinks and snacks, but people have come to bathe since the Meiji era, when this was a toji (湯治) spot for therapeutic soaking. Legend has it a traveling monk named Ennin found the spring after watching a heron heal an injured leg in the water, which is why the spring's old name is Sagi-no-yu (鷺の湯), the heron's bath.