Echizen Tamagawa Onsen Iwamotoya

Iwamotoya is a small four-room hot spring inn standing beside Tamagawa fishing harbour on the Echizen coast in Echizen Town, Fukui Prefecture. Echizen Tamagawa Onsen was tapped by drilling in 1965, and Iwamotoya is one of the inns drawing on that source. Run by a fishing family that owns its own boat, it is known locally as a fisherman's hot spring inn, and its position on National Route 305 just south of Cape Echizen makes it a favoured spot for watching the sun set into the Sea of Japan.

The water is an alkaline simple spring of low osmotic pressure. Because the source emerges at about 27 degrees Celsius, it is warmed before being sent to the baths, but the inn advertises undiluted, one-hundred-percent source water rather than recirculated water. Colourless and clear, it has a soft, silky feel that is said to leave the skin smooth, and it is recommended for stiffness of movement, poor circulation, rheumatism and neuralgia.

The bath is a view bath overlooking the Sea of Japan, now operated on a private, reserved basis so that families and couples can bathe undisturbed. Bathing is available around the clock for staying guests. Rates start from roughly 19,000 yen per person with two meals, rising to the 39,000 yen range for a full Echizen crab course; meals of squid, turban shell and other fish landed by the family boat are served in the guest rooms. Free parking for eight cars. Day-trip bathing is not advertised.