Ushuji no Yado Ainori

Ushuji no Yado Ainori is a small onsen inn in the Ikarigaseki district of Hirakawa, Aomori Prefecture. It stands along National Route 7, close to the Akita prefectural border. Ikarigaseki was a post town with a Tsugaru domain checkpoint in the Edo period, and the Ainori Onsen here once operated as a large hot spring hotel before it closed. It reopened in 2004 as the compact inn that welcomes guests today.

The inn draws on four sources, which supply two quite different waters. The signature Aka-yu (red bath) comes from Source No. 1, a sodium chloride spring containing carbon dioxide and iron that bubbles audibly from the spout and turns reddish as it oxidizes in the air. The indoor bath and the large open-air bath use a blend of Sources No. 2, 3 and 4, a clear, odorless, mildly alkaline simple spring.

Baths are separated by gender and include a spacious indoor bath, a small tub for the red spring, and a large open-air bath facing primeval forest. Four of the ten guest rooms have their own open-air bath. Day-trip bathing costs 350 yen for adults and 150 yen for elementary school children, with free entry for infants, from 7:00 to 20:00 (last entry 19:30). Day-trip bathing is closed on the second Wednesday of each month (the third Wednesday in February and August).