Kirizumi Onsen Kintokan

"Mom, what happened to my straw hat?" I remembered a line from Seiichi Morimura's Proof of Man as I headed there from Karuizawa. Day-trippers need to walk for nearly 30 minutes from the parking lot. (Guests staying overnight are picked up at the parking lot.) Taking a bath after walking a long mountain path feels special. It would be even better if there was an open-air bath! It's perfect for those who want to experience the nostalgic atmosphere of a hidden hot spring. Those looking for comfortable service shouldn't go. It is said that Ito Hirobumi and others gathered here and drafted the Japanese Constitution.

After driving along the national and prefectural roads for just over 30 minutes from Yokokawa Station at the Usui Pass Railway Cultural Park, we arrived at a parking lot with a sign that read "Welcome to Kinyukan." We then got into the hotel's shuttle and drove up a steep mountain path for about 20 minutes to arrive at the hotel, which is located along a mountain stream. We could see an impressive red bridge and the entrance to Kinyukan, and the main building on the other side of the bridge is made entirely of zelkova wood and has been there since the hotel was founded in 1883. There are two guest rooms: the main building and the annex, and this time we stayed in Room 1 in the main building. This room is separated from the next room by a sliding door and has thick zelkova beams on the ceiling. Furthermore, this room is where 30 people, including Hirobumi Ito, visited and drafted the Meiji Constitution. The hot spring is in a separate building, and when you open the bathroom, you can smell the characteristic sulfur spring, and the spring quality is said to be a colorless and transparent calcium sulfate hot spring. You can enjoy the warm water for a long time, and when you soak in it, fine bubbles will stick to your skin. In addition to cuts and burns, it is also said to be effective for frozen shoulders. After getting out of the bath, dinner was prepared. Breakfast and dinner are served in the room at Kinyukan, and this time the room was connected to another room, so the living room and the bedroom were separated. Dinner was centered around the famous mountain vegetable tempura, which included Japanese knotweed, mugwort, kogomi, and taros. In addition to this, there was konnyaku sashimi, grilled salted sweetfish, and pork soup with plenty of vegetables, so you can order plenty of vegetables. At night, I was able to sleep soundly, lulled by the sounds of the animals and the river, which are unique to mountain lodges. There were martens and civets running around on the ceiling every now and then, but this was also fun. The next morning, I woke up to the sounds of birds singing, took a bath, and then it was time for breakfast. Just like dinner, the meal was decorated with mountain delicacies, and I was able to enjoy delicious ingredients that were good for my body, such as mountain vegetable side dishes, grated yam, and mushroom miso soup.