Daianji Onsen Bansyoukaku

Bansyoukaku is the closest natural hot spring ryokan to central Fukui City, standing in the quiet hamlet of Shijutani-cho with Mount Bansho to the west and the Hino and Kuzuryu rivers to the east. Hot water has been known in the Daianji district for centuries. A shogunal document of 1690 preserved by the Ogi family of Amasugo records that because hot water rose there and benefited samurai and townspeople of the Fukui domain, part of the village tax was waived. Family records also relate that in the era of Matsudaira Tadamasa, third lord of Fukui, an attempt was made to dig deeper for hotter water but failed. By the early Meiji period several inns drew the water through bamboo pipes, and boatmen working the Kuzuryu River trade between Mikuni and Fukui stopped here for the night. The name Daianji Onsen was formally given in 1963, when Fukui City funded a proper drilling.

The inn describes its water as a simple alkaline spring rich in sodium and bicarbonate ions, colorless, odorless and tasteless, leaving the skin smooth and the body warm long after bathing. It comes from the inn's own well at a depth of 310 metres and emerges at 25 degrees Celsius, just at the legal threshold for a hot spring, so it is heated before entering the baths. Whether the baths are free-flowing or recirculated is not disclosed by the inn or any other primary source. The water is also drinkable, and chilled spring water is kept on hand for guests throughout their stay. It is credited with helping digestive complaints, rheumatism, neuralgia, fatigue and skin condition.

Bathing is limited to one indoor bath each for men and women; there is no open-air bath, sauna or private bath. Overnight guests may bathe from 6:30 to 9:00 and 16:00 to 23:00. Day-use bathing is offered only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 15:00 to 21:00, with last entry at 20:30, for 600 yen per adult and 300 yen per child. There are fifteen rooms in total, thirteen Japanese-style and two Western twins. A 120-mat banquet hall, a tennis court and a covered barbecue area make the inn a common choice for training camps and company retreats. Meals centre on seafood from the Sea of Japan, snow crab in winter and sweetfish from the Kuzuryu River, with Fukui Koshihikari rice cooked in the spring water. Free parking holds twenty cars and can take a large coach.