Saginoyusou

Saginoyusou is a ryokan a minute's walk from the Adachi Museum of Art, in the Saginoyu hot spring area of Yasugi, Shimane. Guests can use the indoor bath and the outdoor rotenburo at any hour, from check-in until the following morning, and day-use bathing is available too, in separate sessions. Two reservable private baths, an indoor tub called Shiratsuyu and an outdoor rock bath called Iwatsuyu, can be booked at the front desk, and some rooms come with their own open-air bath fed straight from the source. There's a foot bath on the grounds as well. The name comes from a local legend: a white heron (sagi) is said to have healed an injured leg bathing here, giving the spring its name, Sagi no Yu, heron's hot spring. Tradition holds the water was found in the Nara period (8th century), and from the Sengoku period into the Edo era it served as a private bath for the local lords, until a flood destroyed it in 1667. The current inn traces back to 1909, when the founder's father rediscovered the source on the same ground.