Hontani Onsen

Hondani Onsen is a day-use bathing complex up a mountain road in Saijo, Ehime, not a place to stay overnight. Two large baths, each with its own sauna, cold plunge and open-air rotenburo, alternate between men's and women's use on a rotating schedule, so the two sides feel different depending on the day. The water is soft and mild, gentle enough on the skin that visitors describe it as easy to sit in for a long soak. One bath, Iyo no Yu (伊予温湯), is named for a Nihon Shoki tale about Emperor Jomei bathing here in the 7th century, and the other, Ishi-yu (石湯), for a legend about a stone deity said to have founded hot springs across Japan. The onsen is counted, along with Dogo Onsen and Nibukawa Onsen, among the old three springs of Iyo. Beyond the baths there is a restaurant, free massage chairs, a single reservable family bath, and enough extras (a self-care room, karaoke rooms, arcade games for kids) that it feels more like a small spa complex than a plain public bath.