Sessokyo Onsen Tabunoie

Tabunoie is a five-room family-run hot spring inn in Umeji, Kawanehon Town, Shizuoka Prefecture, standing deep in the Sessokyo Gorge along the uppermost reaches of the Oi River. This northernmost corner of Kawanehon is a thin ribbon of settlement strung along the Oigawa Railway Ikawa Line, hemmed in by steep green canyon walls and the sound of running water. Sessokyo Onsen itself is a modern spring: surveying began in September 1976, drilling started in March 1978, and at a depth of 1,300 metres a pure sodium bicarbonate spring was struck, yielding roughly 100 litres per minute. Distribution facilities and a management building followed in February 1980.

The water is a sodium bicarbonate cold mineral spring, entirely free of sulphur, weakly alkaline at pH 8.4, and emerging at about 21 degrees Celsius, so it is heated for bathing. Colourless and odourless, it has a distinctly slippery, soap-like feel on the skin; because it softens and lifts away dead skin, locals have long called it the Spring of Youth. It is recommended for neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, poor circulation, chronic digestive complaints and dry skin.

Bathing is in two family baths fed by Sessokyo Onsen, each used privately by hanging a sign on the door. The inn has five guest rooms in total, three twin rooms and two Japanese-style rooms, sleeping up to twelve guests. Meals are served around a traditional sunken hearth and feature the mountain harvest of Okuoi: wild vegetables, salt-grilled river fish, venison sashimi and wild boar hotpot. There is no day-use bathing; the baths are reserved for overnight guests. Free parking is available without reservation.