Sabako-yu

**The water is genuinely hot.** Undiluted source water in the mid-forties. Ease in, sit still, and get out before you think you need to. This is not a spa. **Bring a towel and soap.** It is a neighbourhood bathhouse, not a facility. Nothing is provided and nothing is sold inside. **Six in the morning.** Early bathing is the local habit and the quietest hour by a wide margin. Evenings after work are the busiest. **Basho bathed at Iizaka.** In 1689, on the journey that became Oku no Hosomichi. There is a monument nearby and the town makes a good deal of it. **There are several other public baths in Iizaka.** Hakoyu and others are within walking distance on the same ticket price bracket, and a bath crawl is the normal way to spend an afternoon here.