Yumori Hot Spring and Hotel Suginoyu

Yumori Hot Spring is a relatively new riverside hot spring with a long history. The spring was found (or, more accurately, rediscovered) in 1988, during the construction of Hotel Suginoyu. Kawakami was building a new, upscale hotel, and town planners needed a water source for the hotel’s hot spring baths. They unearthed old records of the area and found mention of a tree called the Yumori Plentiful Hot Water Cedar (yumori sugi). The records described how a spring near the tree had once been used by residents for food preparation and medicinal purposes. Eager to revive the buried spring, the construction team excavated until they uncovered the lost water source.

Today, lodgers and day-use guests can enjoy the cold bicarbonate spring waters of Yumori by soaking in any of the many baths at Hotel Suginoyu. There are tubs made of natural stone, hinoki cypress, and even the wood of a 300-year-old Japanese umbrella pine (kōyamaki). The hotel’s outdoor baths overlook the nearby gorge, and the guest rooms are richly appointed with Yoshino cedar wood.

For dinner, the hotel offers a summer course of sweetfish (ayu), which includes fish individually caught by the hotel staff. The hotel is also conveniently located near restaurants, souvenir shops, and the Kawakami Genryū Tourism Office, which can provide tourist information.