Gohoku Musasabi Onsen

Gohoku Musasabi Onsen is a day-use hot spring in the mountainous heart of Kochi Prefecture, standing on the bank of the Kamiyakawa River, a tributary of the celebrated Niyodo River. Its address is Ogawa-Higashitsugasai in Ino Town, Agawa District, an area that was the independent village of Gohoku until the municipal mergers of 2004. Officially registered as the Gohoku Sanson Development Centre, the facility was built by the municipality as a place for local residents to keep healthy and socialise, but it welcomes visitors from outside just as readily. The name musasabi refers to the Japanese giant flying squirrel that inhabits the surrounding forests.

The spring is classified as an iron-bearing sodium chloride and bicarbonate spring with a pH of 7.1, placing it in the neutral range. Its defining characteristic is colour: the water emerges clear, but on contact with air the dissolved iron oxidises and the bath turns a cloudy madder red-brown. Listed indications include neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, frozen shoulder, bruises, sprains, chronic digestive complaints, poor circulation, convalescence and general fatigue, and the water is also said to suit cuts and burns. No official notice states whether the water is heated, diluted, recirculated or chlorinated.

The bathhouse centres on a single large indoor pool fitted with jets, accompanied by a hot sauna running at 90 to 100 degrees Celsius and a cold plunge bath. The windows look out over the Kamiyakawa gorge, and an outdoor cooling-off area lets bathers rest to the sound of the river. Admission is 800 yen for adults, 400 yen for children and 600 yen for those aged 70 and over, following a price revision on 1 June 2025. Opening hours are 11:00 to 21:00 with last admission at 20:00, and the facility closes on Thursdays. Bathers may use the training room at no extra charge, and there is a tatami rest room, an attached cafe and coin-operated massage chairs. There is no accommodation on site.