Shibu Gotenyu

Shibu Gotenyu is a lone mountain inn at an altitude of about 1,880 meters in Shibunoyu, the Tengudake trailhead of the northern Yatsugatake range, in the Okutateshina hot spring district of Chino, Nagano. Tradition says Takeda Shingen healed wounded soldiers here, and the name Gotenyu is linked to a bath loved by a lord of the Suwa domain. The newer spring, Shibu Chojuyu, was tapped in 1953 and wells up from beneath the bathers' feet.

The water is a simple acidic sulfur spring (hydrogen sulfide type) with a distinct rotten-egg scent. The Shibu Gotenyu source is a cold 27 C at pH 2.7, and the Shibu Chojuyu source is a lukewarm 31 C. The source baths are free-flowing, with no added water, heating or chlorine, while the West bath has a heated natural-water tub and the East bath has a tub of Gotenyu water heated to 42 C, so the inn as a whole offers partly free-flowing baths.

The baths are indoor cypress tubs in a wooden bathhouse, with no outdoor bath. Day visitors use the West bath only: 1,100 yen for adults, 880 yen for elementary school children and 550 yen for toddlers, from 10:00 to 15:00, closed on Wednesdays. The East bath is reserved for overnight guests and room-rest users. Rooms start from 12,100 yen per person with two meals.