Takenoyu Jigokudani Onsen Yuka

Yuka is a day-use hot spring facility in Kitazato, Oguni Town, Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture, in the Takenoyu district of the Waita Onsen area on the western flank of Mount Waita. According to the Aso Oguni Tourism Association, Takenoyu sits on a plateau around 760 metres above sea level, where geothermal steam rises from vents all through the hamlet. Yuka occupies a wooded corner of it, a main building surrounded by detached bath cottages. The name reads Takenoyu Jigokudani Onsen Yuka. It is not an inn; the whole place is built around day bathing and private baths.

The official website gives the water as a sodium chloride spring with a source temperature of 98 degrees Celsius. The open-air bath is fed by more than 400 litres per minute and the water is notable for containing 623 milligrams of metasilicic acid. The site explains that the water turns cloudy white after long exposure to air, but because both the open-air bath and the private baths are drained and refilled daily for hygiene, it is served clear. Every tub is free-flowing spring water. Listed benefits include cuts, burns, skin complaints, gynaecological conditions, diabetes, neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, bruising, poor circulation and general fatigue. The pH has not been published.

Bathing is split between a large open-air bath for men and women separately, six detached private baths (two hinoki, two rock, two cut-stone, each 50 minutes for up to four people), and three larger premium private baths named Kodachi-no-yu, Yama-no-yu and Nagi-no-yu (60 minutes, up to four people). The private baths are emptied and refilled for each party rather than run on a coin timer, and are paid for at the reception desk. The open-air bath costs 700 yen for adults and 500 yen for elementary-school children; private baths run from 1,500 to 2,500 yen and premium private baths from 3,300 to 4,500 yen. Hours are 8:00 to 22:00 with last admission at 21:00, closed Wednesdays, though the site is inconsistent as to whether that means every Wednesday or only the third, so it is worth confirming. There is parking for 70 cars, and a steam kettle on the grounds lets visitors cook vegetables and eggs in the natural geothermal steam.