Naruko Onsen

Introducing Naruko Onsen

Come to Naruko Onsen to hear the clip-clop of geta (Japanese clogs) as yukata-clad (Japanese robe) bathers trot from bath to bath. Stop in a shop window and see an artisan make a kokeshi doll (spindle-shaped dolls, often brightly coloured, with round heads) or purchase pottery or lacquerware. Breathe in and smell the sulphurous steam as it rises from street culverts, or stop and soak tired feet in the (free!) ashiyu (foot baths). Naruko’s charms are quiet, simple and rejuvenating. Like all onsen, these waters are said to possess distinct healing qualities. Naruko has a high sulphur count, as well as sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate, thought to be a relief for the symptoms of high blood pressure and hardened arteries.

The helpful tourist information office (83-3441; www.naruko.gr.jp; 8.30am-6pm), inside JR Naruko Onsen station, has useful English-language maps and brochures and can also help book your accommodation. It’s a dense town; you can easily walk from one end to the other in 25 minutes.

Naruko-kyō (), a scenic, 100m-deep gorge, can be reached in 20 minutes (Bashō time, that is) on foot from Naruko Onsen station. Alternatively, buses (¥200, seven minutes) run from 8.50am to 4pm. From the gorge entrance, a pleasant 4km trail leads along the river valley to Nakayama-daira. If you turn right just after the bridge, but before reaching the gorge, you’ll find the historical Shitomae checkpoint, the start of a quiet 5km country path along the route Bashō once walked. The last bus back to the station leaves at 4.29pm.

Taki-no-yu (; admission ¥150; 7.30am-10pm) is a sheer delight – a fabulously atmospheric wooden bathhouse that’s hardly changed in 150 years. Water gushes in from hinoki (Japanese cypress) channels. Bring your own towel.

The Japan Kokeshi Museum (; 83-3600; admission ¥320; 8.30am-5pm Apr-Nov, 9am-4pm Dec) features around 5000 kokeshi dolls from around the country. During the Meiji era the Tōhoku region was almost totally neglected, with the result that a flood of men and women moved south to find work. Some say that kokeshi dolls were symbolic representations of those lost girls, who were often snatched away at a young age.

Ryokan Suimei-sō (;83-2114; r for up to 2 people incl 2 meals ¥8000, each additional person ¥1000; ) has clean rooms. Walking northwest from the station, it’s five minutes down the main street on the left before the railway tracks. Functional but far from fancy, the Kokumin Shukusha Ryokan Takishima (; 83-3054; 2801 Shinyashiki; r per person incl/excl 2 meals from ¥6650/4150) is across the train tracks, about 10 minutes from the station. If you don’t feel like walking elsewhere, go for a skin-scaldingly hot dip in its own basement onsen.

Last updated: Sep 18, 2008