Extreme Sauna Trip to Tohoku in search of a spectacular outdoor air bath. Sauna Trip 2021 Autumn Vol.1

The last sauna with a spectacular view is located in Sugawa Kogen, a hot spring resort on top of a mountain that is reached at the end of a winding mountain road.

The sauna at Sugawa Kogen Onsen is neither dry nor Finnish. It is a natural sauna called a "steam bath," a "Japanese classic sauna" that utilizes steam from the earth.

Only guests can use the sauna. Moreover, due to space limitations, it is limited to four people. In addition, to get to the sauna, one must reach a hut about 10 minutes up the mountain from the lodge. If you feel that this is a hurdle, remember that the more you endure in the sauna room, the more intense the state of "TOTONOU（revitalize）" that follows.

Passing by people coming down from the mountain, we walked up the trail and arrived at the Oiranburo hut. The inside is divided by a wall into four private rooms. Each room has a fist-sized hole in the ground from which warm steam gushes out. You lay down on a mat and lay down so that your waist or stomach is right next to the steam vent, then cover yourself with a plastic sheet and a bath towel to steam your body. This is the unique way to enter the natural sauna here. The entire body stays in the sauna until it becomes sweaty.

As I lay there, I honestly don't think I want people to see me in this state. Good thing it was a private room.

When exposed to the steam, you will start to sweat within a few minutes. Unlike a typical sauna room, it warms you gently and slowly. If you sit outside on a bench, the mountain breeze at an altitude of 1126 meters cools you down instead of a water bath. Of course, the surrounding scenery is outstanding.

If you consider a typical sauna, water bath, and outdoor air bath to be a "perfect sauna," this sauna is a bit gentler. In fact, some people in the area stay at the inn for a long time, say a month, to get in shape, so to speak, as a kind of hot-spring cure.

When you take a bath in the steam bath (natural sauna) here, you will be reminded of the history of the facility, combined with the nostalgic atmosphere with a sense of time travel unique to "Sugawa Kogen Onsen. In the early Taisho era (1912-1926), there were about 20 steam baths in this neighborhood alone, but due to natural disasters and aging, all but this one have been closed down. According to the director of a national TV station who once visited here, this is probably the only steam bath surrounded by nature in Japan.

Tohoku indeed. I can't believe that the one and only sauna that exists here is still in existence.

As I was leaving, the facility staff asked me what my plans were for the rest of the day. When I replied, "I'm just heading back to the hotel," he asked, "Well, how about a soak in the open-air bath?" I replied, "I'm just heading back to the hotel. My body was in shambles from the double whammy of lack of sleep and long-distance driving that day. I answered, "Sure! By all means!