Takinoyu Public Bath (滝の湯) 滝の湯
Three hundred yen, water at pH 2.9 in cypress tubs: it is the bath of the town's shrine.
Naruko is an onsen, that is, a spa town that grew up around hot springs: or rather five towns in a row in the north of the prefecture, with hundreds of springs and nine different types of water, and that is why Japanese people who collect baths come here specially. The Taki-no-yu is the historic public bath of the town of Naruko: the water is the 御神湯, the sacred water of the hot-spring shrine at the top of the flight of steps beside it, and it is acidic (pH 2.9), a sulphate and hydrogen sulphide water with alum, water for the skin and not for drinking, which the town has used for a thousand years. The tubs are made of boards of hiba cypress, the wood used in Japan to make baths because it stands up to boiling water.
Miyagi
Naruko-Onsen
