Yakuoji Onsen

The bath is a single indoor tub with a jet-bath fitting, alongside a dry sauna and a cold plunge to alternate with. The water is clear and colorless with just a faint whiff of sulfur, was shown to be a hydrogen sulfide spring in tests in the early Taisho era, and was formally certified as a hot spring by the Tokushima Prefecture hygiene laboratory, becoming the first hot spring developed in the prefecture. Washing stations line the room with shampoo and body soap provided, and towels can be rented at the front desk. The building sits right next to Yakuoji Temple (薬王寺), the 23rd stop on the Shikoku pilgrimage, and pilgrims washing off the road are as much a part of the place as day visitors. A restaurant on site serves simple set meals, there's a coin laundry, and parking runs to 500 cars, useful for anyone passing through on the henro route. The temple's founding legend, of Kobo Daishi (弘法大師) finding a healing spring on the mountainside in 815, is what gave this hot spring its name.