Sabako-yu

Sabako-yuIizaka Onsenpublic bathBashoFukushima City

Fukushima · Fukushima City

37.8325°N, 140.4522°E

Iizaka is one of the three famous hot springs of the old Oshu road and Sabako-yu is its oldest bath. Basho is recorded as having bathed at Iizaka in 1689 on the journey that became the Narrow Road to the Deep North, and this is the spring he is said to have used.

The present building is a 1993 reconstruction of the Meiji bathhouse, with a granite tub and a plain wooden hall. What has not been modernised is the water. It comes out of the ground hot and goes into the tub without dilution, which in practice means around forty-five degrees, and there is no cold tap of any consequence. Regulars get in slowly and do not stay long. It costs ¥400, opens at six in the morning, and is closed on Mondays.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

6:00 AM – 9:00 PM | Last entry 20 minutes before closing

Closed: Closed Mondays | Open when the Monday is a public holiday

Entrance Fee

¥400 ages 12 and over | ¥200 ages 1–11

Best Season

Year-round

Visit Duration

45–60 minutes

Getting There

Access Information

32 Yuzawa, Iizaka-machi, Fukushima City, a few minutes on foot from Iizaka Onsen Station at the end of the Fukushima Kotsu Iizaka Line from Fukushima Station. Open 6:00 AM – 9:00 PM, last entry 20 minutes before closing. Closed Mondays, but open when the Monday is a public holiday. Admission ¥400 for ages 12 and over and ¥200 for ages 1 to 11. Bring your own towel and soap.

Insider Guide

Premium

**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.

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