Arashi no Yu Toji no Yakata

Arashi no Yu's main draw isn't a bathing pool: it's a steam bed of fifteen kinds of heated medicinal mineral stones that turn real onsen water to steam, where you lie in a yukata on a mat laid over the stones and alternate short sessions with rest breaks. The operator is explicit that this isn't an ordinary ganbanyoku or sauna. Afterward there's a small indoor bath, kept separate for men and women, to rinse the sweat off. The inn calls itself a toji (湯治) lodge, meant for slow, repeat-visit healing stays rather than a quick soak. Plain tatami rooms upstairs, smoking and non-smoking, look out over the Kawazu river and surrounding hills and share washroom facilities down the hall; simpler Western-style rooms are also available. It's a short walk to Kawazu beach, and divers and surfers often stop in after the water.