Seiryu Shimanto no Sato Towa Onsen

Towa Onsen is a small hot spring inn on the banks of the Shimanto River in Towakawaguchi, Shimanto Town, western Kochi Prefecture. The area was the independent village of Towa until the municipal merger of 2006, and the inn sits along National Route 381 where the road and the Yodo rail line follow the river through steep forested hills. The eight-room inn draws on a cold mineral spring that seeps up beside the Shimanto River, and both the guest rooms and the bathhouse look out over the water and the ridges on the far bank.

The water is classified as a sodium chloride and bicarbonate mineral spring, designated a therapeutic spring by Shimanto Town. Because the source emerges at roughly 16.5C, it is heated before use. The water is clear and colourless, and the bicarbonate content gives it a soft, slippery feel that has earned it a local reputation as a beauty bath. Listed indications include neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, frozen shoulder, bruises, sprains, chronic digestive complaints and poor circulation. The inn does not publish whether the baths are free-flowing or recirculated.

Bathing is in separate mens and womens indoor baths, each with a tiled stone-rimmed tub seating about four people and five shower stalls. The open-air bath is closed for renovation with no announced reopening date. Day visitors may bathe from noon to 7pm, closed Mondays, for 700 yen for adults and 300 yen for children, with towels at 100 yen. Overnight stays start at 16,500 yen with two meals, featuring wild ayu and eel from the Shimanto River, river fish dishes and wild boar hotpot.