村杉温泉 共同浴場 薬師の湯

This is the communal bathhouse of Murasugi Onsen, a small hot-spring village in the Gozu Onsenkyo area of Agano, Niigata. Inside is a single indoor bathing room with one good-sized tub; the water is clear and colorless with no strong smell, kept at an easy temperature for a long soak. The spring is a low-temperature radium (radon-bearing) source, and Murasugi is counted as one of Japan's three great radium springs. The building keeps the feel of an older neighborhood sento, with an attendant's counter (bandai) just past the entrance. The spring here has centuries of history: local legend traces it to 1335, when a wandering retainer named Araki Masataka (荒木正高) was led to the water in a dream of the healing buddha Yakushi Nyorai (薬師如来) and built the small hall Yakushido (薬師堂) beside the spring after it eased his wounds. It later drew hot-spring cure visitors for generations, and in the Taisho era a medical survey found the water unusually rich in radium, which is how the spring got its present-day reputation. Bring your own soap and shampoo, the washing stations have showers but no toiletries.