Yugano Onsen Fukudaya

Fukudaya is a hot spring inn along the Kawazu River at the southern foot of Mount Amagi, in Yugano, Kawazu Town, Kamo District, Shizuoka Prefecture. Founded in 1879 (Meiji 12), it is famous nationwide as the inn where the young writer Kawabata Yasunari, then a first-year high school student, stayed after crossing the Amagi Pass and wrote his masterpiece The Izu Dancer. The second-floor Odoriko no Ma room overlooking the bridge on the Kawazu River, where Kawabata lodged, is still preserved, and the inn upholds the simple charm of a traditional hot spring lodging as a member of the Japan Association of Secluded Hot Spring Inns.

The spring is a calcium sodium sulfate spring, with a source temperature of about 59 degrees Celsius and a weakly alkaline pH of around 8. The colorless, transparent, and soft water is served as free-flowing spring water with no added water, no heating, no circulation, and no chlorination. Carrying a faint hint of hot spring aroma, it is said to relieve neuralgia and muscle pain and aid recovery from fatigue.

The inn's signature is the Kaya-buro, an indoor bath built of kaya (Japanese nutmeg) wood that has scarcely changed since the inn's founding and is constantly fed by fresh spring water. There are also an open-air bath and a rock bath, and after 7 p.m. the bathing areas may be reserved for private use free of charge. Day-trip bathing is available for 990 yen for adults and 550 yen for children from 10:30 to 15:00 (advance inquiry recommended), and overnight stays with two meals start from about 12,750 yen.