Oshio Onsen Public Bathhouse

The village bathhouse of Oshio, rebuilt in 2015 on the bank of the Tadami River, holding one of the most heavily carbonated springs in Japan, a sodium chloride, bicarbonate water charged with carbon dioxide. It comes up at 38 °C, cool enough to sit in for an hour and heated through the cold months, clouding tea-brown to blue-grey, faintly salty, with fine bubbles settling on the skin. Drinking is allowed; a local saying sends stomach complaints to Oshio and haemorrhoids to Yukura, the next bath up the valley. Entry is by a small cooperation fee.