Ushio Onsen Iwami Winery Hotel Misato

Ushio Onsen is the hot spring of the Iwami Winery Hotel Misato, standing on the Gonokawa River in Misato Town, Shimane Prefecture. Legend says a hunter found a fox soothing an injured leg in the spring, and the water has long been known as a beauty bath and as the bath that lets you leave your cane behind. Despite the mountain setting, the water is salty like seawater, which is how it got its name.

The spring is a sodium bicarbonate-chloride type with a neutral pH of 6.5. The source temperature is a low 18.7 C, so the water is heated before it is supplied to the baths. It contains metasilicic acid and is valued for leaving the skin moisturized. The indoor baths use free-flowing, non-recirculated source water.

The baths are separated by gender and include indoor baths, outdoor baths and saunas. The outdoor baths are built around a Japanese and a Western garden, and men and women switch sides on a schedule. Day-trip bathing is available from 13:00 to 19:00 (last entry 18:00), closed Mondays and Tuesdays except on public holidays, at 1,200 yen for adults. Overnight stays start at 17,200 yen with two meals, and every room overlooks the river.