Motoyu Sarukura Onsen

Motoyu Sarukura Onsen is a single secluded inn nestled in the deep forest of the southern Hakkoda mountains at roughly 900 meters above sea level, in the Okuse district of Towada City, Aomori. It sits along National Route 103, the Hakkoda-Towada Gold Line, midway between Aomori City and Lake Towada. Rather than beginning as a commercial ryokan, it long served as a communal bathing spot that anyone could visit freely, its name kept alive by local people over the generations.

The spring is a simple sulfur spring of the hydrogen-sulfide type, roughly pH 6.2 and neutral, with a source temperature of 62.9 degrees Celsius. Its greatest pride is the sheer volume of water, gushing at about one ton per minute, a portion of which is even piped to Yakeyama Onsen in the Lake Towada hot spring area. The soft, bluish milky-white water fills the baths as free-flowing hot spring water, without heating or recirculation.

Besides indoor and open-air baths, the facility offers a steam bath fed by sulfurous vapor as well as a sauna. Day-trip bathing is available only on weekends and holidays from 9:00 to 15:00 (last entry 14:30), costing 500 yen for adults and 300 yen for children. Overnight stays in rooms with private open-air baths overlooking Hakkoda are also possible. The inn closes from mid-November until early spring, when Route 103 is shut for winter.