Sugatani Onsen

Sugatani Onsen is a single-inn hot spring at the foot of Mount Odani in northern Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture. It is known as a hidden hot spring of the Sengoku era: Azai Nagamasa, lord of Odani Castle, and his wife Oichi are said to have come here to treat battle wounds and illness. The inn sits among rice fields and wooded hills, close to the ruins of Odani Castle and the Anegawa battlefield.

The water is an iron-bearing calcium-magnesium bicarbonate spring, posted at the inn under its traditional name hydro-carbonate iron spring. The source emerges at roughly 15 degrees Celsius, so the water is heated, yet the inn is recognised as the first in Shiga Prefecture to serve its baths on a free-flowing basis. Clear when it emerges, the water turns a distinctive reddish-brown as the iron oxidises on contact with air. It is said to help with neuralgia, muscle pain, poor circulation, digestive complaints and fatigue.

The separate mens and womens bathhouses each hold two indoor tubs, one hot and one lukewarm, alongside an open-air bath filled with the rust-coloured water. Day-trip bathing runs from 11:00 to 15:00 at 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for children, with a separate bathing tax. Overnight stays start at 19,800 yen with two meals. Free parking accommodates about 40 cars and three coaches, and a free shuttle runs from JR Kawake Station.