Is Kinugawa Onsen worth visiting?

Kinugawa Onsen, once a lively resort in the 1970s, attracted visitors seeking luxury and relaxation amidst nature. The area was known for its numerous ryokans and hotels, each featuring its own onsen (hot spring), with many including dinner and breakfast. Today, however, most of the hotels that line the river the town is named for sit abandoned, concrete relics that show the area is far past its hay-day. Despite this, when we discovered that Sunshine Kinugawa offered a night's stay, including all meals, for just £175 per night - much cheaper than other ryokens we’d seen - it peaked our curiosity. What does Kinugawa Onsen have left to offer? 

It took us a bus and a few trains to get from the town of Nikko to the Kinugawaonsen train station. There was only a handful of people on the final train with us and all of them had gotten off at the previous stop, the one that led to Tobu world, the area's still popular theme park. We stepped off the quiet train onto the even quieter platform. Then out of nowhere, a steam train pulled up to the station and with it, a small crowd of people formed. A handful of these people were actually getting on the train, but the others were just there to wave it off. Once the train, belching a steady stream of black smoke, trundled its way down the tracks, everyone seemed to quickly disappear again. The excitement was over, so we donned our backpacks and started the walk to our hotel.

With time to kill before we could check in, we took a slightly longer route to get there. It was only a fifteen minute walk all in all, but even had we wanted to get a taxi or bus there were none to be found. The overcast sky combined with the number of abandoned and derelict buildings gave the town an eerie vibe. Thankfully, the closer we got to our destination, the more signs of life there were with a few people wandering past and the welcoming sight of shops and restaurants. Leaving our bags with the helpful hotel staff, we set out to explore the area. 

Next to our hotel was a suspension bridge that spanned the Kinugawa river and led to a walking track on the other side. We followed the route along to the south, ignoring the vibrant 'watch out for bears' signs we passed. After about 10 minutes we came across a small bridge that linked our footpath with the road, here was the waterfall we were looking for. Furukama Falls was certainly pretty, it was a tiered waterfall with two distinct falls and accompanying pools, surrounded by lush vegetation. It was also next to a road, and I always find this jars with the tranquility i'm hoping to find. As this was where the walking track ended, we turned around and headed back along it in the other direction. 

Eventually, after braving a dimly lit man-made tunnel, we reached the footpath's other end and a set of steep stairs that led to a viewpoint over the area. Before we headed up the stairs, we went to admire the statue of Kinuta, an angry river demon that’s one of the town's mascots.... for some reason. On the other side of the steps was a simple shinto shrine. We continued up the many, many steps (we hadn't been putting the climb off at all) finding a prayer bell next to the summit's viewpoint. With nowhere official to tie omikuji (good fortunes written on paper), visitors had taken to attaching them along with special coins to the tree branches within reach of the summit's platform, stripping the trees of their leaves.

From the viewpoint, the line of high profile hotels following along the river bank was clear to see, a stark contrast to the flatter architecture of the town behind it. It was strange to think how most of those hotel were now abandoned. In some areas, we could see that demolition work was under way a hopeful sign that the area's fortunes might one day turn around again. 

omikuji tied onto tree branches

When we arrived back at the hotel we noticed a peculiar sight that it’s strange to think we missed on first glance. For some reason, alongside the chairs and tables that dotted the lobby and a disconcerting amount of gaudy halloween decorations, was a taxidermy polar bear inhabiting a glass container. After scouring the internet I can't find anything at all to explain it's presence. In fact, not a single review for the hotel mentions the polar bear at all and had we not taken a photo of us with it, I might have been convinced i'd hallucinated the whole thing.

Mystery left unsolved we headed to the reception desk to collect our room key, and while we were there, we booked a spot in their private open-air onsen (¥2750 for 1 hour) for later that afternoon. Although one of the main draws of Hotel Sunshine Kinugawa was their four different hot-springs that were free for hotel guests to use, they are also traditional meaning that I couldn’t use them due to my tattoos. I knew this before we arrived and had checked that we could use the private baths instead. 

Keys collected, we squeezed into the lift with all our belongings and headed up to our room on the 14th floor. I don’t know what sort of room we thought we were getting, but this blew all of our expectations away. The front door led to a small hallway, this is where we were to leave our bags and to change our footwear to the socks and sandals provided so we didn’t damage the tatami matting in the following rooms. To our left was the ablutions area, a rarity in traditional Japanese rooms that we were more that happy to have - outside the toilet door was a pair of flip-flops to change into whilst using that room… I guess when you sit and sleep on the floor it’s sensible to have separate footwear to keep it extra sanitary. Then we had two rooms, a smaller room that contained wardrobes and some rather nice yukata to sleep in and a larger room which would later be converted into our sleeping area. Past another set of shoji (paper screen walls), was another small sitting area - this one with a view over the forest covered landscape beyond. The icing on the cake, was a balcony that we could use - with no where on it to sit we didn’t actually use it much, but it was a brilliant spot to get some photos from when the weather cleared the next morning. 

Wanting to make the most of the hotels facilities, we headed to "Espo" a cafe on the ground floor. While we wouldn't normally get that excited about a hotel cafe, this one was special in that some seats came with a foot-bath, meaning we could soak our feet while we soaked in the ambience. We walked in and ordered our drinks, a mango yoghurt drink for me and whiskey for Ben and settled into some seats in the waiting area. It was about twenty minutes until the staff told us seats for the foot-baths had become available. We quickly hurried over, taking off our socks and shoes before dipping our feet into the scalding hot water. I don't know if everyone else just had tougher feet than us, or if we were just closer to the vent pumping out hot water but I could only keep my feet in for a few minutes at a time before it just became far too hot. Luckily, the area smelled faintly like herbs instead of steaming feet due to fragrance bags dotting the water. Initially, I thought the cafe was expensive and maybe my drink was, but as Ben's whiskey filled an entire tumbler he was certainly happy with his choice.

Feeling relaxed, it was time to really lean into the experience and submerge our whole bodies in the steamy onsen waters. We quickly headed back to our room to drop off the rest of our belongings before heading to the private onsen rooms on the second floor. We arrived a few minutes before our time slot and an elderly onsen attendant showed us in and asked if we knew the rules. Once we confirmed that we knew what to do, she handed us our towels and left us to it. The area was spilt into two main areas, a small dressing room inside where we could get nude and leave our belongings and the pool room outside which was built out of rough hewn rocks. The area was simple with just a single shower head to one side and with the pool dominating most of the space. The hour flew by, between ritually washing ourselves, relaxing in the pool and then throwing buckets of cold water on ourselves to cool back down.

The only thing left to do that evening was enjoy dinner, which was curiously “viking” style. When we perused the buffet tables, we were happy to note that all the fare on offer was Japanese as we’d hoped rather than Scandinavian… so I had to do some research to find what exactly was viking about it.  Turns out the manager of the first hotel to do buffets in Japan (The Imperial Hotel in 1958), got his inspiration from smorgasbord restaurants he visited in Sweden. As smorgasbord is almost utterly unpronounceable for a native Japanese speaker, they decided on the slightly easier to pronounce word Viking instead… and it stuck. Although, thinking about it I’m not sure if “viking”  really was that much easier to say as the current Japanese pronunciation is “baikingu” anyhow. 

So the viking dinner was good, there was plenty of options and all of it was yummy enough.  I wouldn’t have said that the sushi and sashimi was of the highest quality, but I don’t think that a buffet dinner would really be where I would find that anyway. I helped myself several times, grabbing a new tray and filling up the small compartments with different things on offer… trying to make a cohesive meal. Ben had a slightly different approach and each tray ranged from savoury to sweet, with steak, grapes and mochi all somehow making an appearance together. 

When we got back to our room, the lovely hotel staff had been in to set it up for sleep. The table in the main sitting room had been pushed to the side to be replaced with separate futons, and a small treat had been left behind for us. Not quite ready for sleep, we headed got dressed in our snazzy pyjamas and headed to the other sitting area to play cards... not before posing dramatically for a photo. As we were sitting there, the few items dotted around the room started to gentle rattle. Being on the 13th floor, we probably felt the earthquake more than we would have closer to the ground, but luckily after a few minutes the world went back to normal and we could continue with our night.

As much as I romanticise the aesthetic of Japanese style rooms, I had to admit that I don’t find futons the most comfortable. Perhaps I’m just used to more wiggle room, as I often find myself waking during the night to recenter myself on the futon or to recapture my pillow that I’ve managed to push off the mat. So it wasn’t the best of nights sleep, but I can happily sacrifice some shut-eye for a novel experience. The last thing to do before leaving the hotel the next day was to head to our viking breakfast.

So was Kinugawa Onsen worth visiting? I think so, yes. For one, we were able to secure a pretty great deal on what turned out to be a very luxurious room, which was a surprise. The price we paid for our traditional 3 room accommodation was almost comparable to what we had spent for a shoebox-sized room in Tokyo. The picturesque views of the mountains from our hotel balcony were also hard to beat. Even without the allure of the fancy room, we enjoyed the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a traditional Japanese getaway. The onsen, the viking diner, wandering amongst the trees along a riverside pathway - it all gave us a chance to truly unwind and soak in some tranquility, a contrast to the bustling nature of most Japanese destinations. Besides, we only explored the smallest part of the area, leaving so much more to be discovered. So not only do I think Kinugawa Onsen is worth visiting, I would also happily go back.