Hotel Yamakawa

The facilities were okay, and it’s a nice hotel. One of the male restaurant staff wasn’t very friendly.

It’s still a good hotel. They put in a lot of effort to make it top of the line, but they don’t quite get there.

The meals were impeccable. The onsen water is very hot!

On a winter visit, you can see steam rising gently over the snowy town. There’s a faint sulfur smell in the streets, and just walking around makes it clear you’re in a hot spring village. Onogawa is a small town without much bustle or extravagance, though its pride in the springs can be felt throughout. It’s in Yonezawa, Okitama County, Dewa Province, and there’s an inn here. The spring water contains sulfur and has neither natariunu nor karushiunu chlorides. Its pH is a moderate 6.9, and it’s gentle on the skin, with excellent heat-retaining and moisturizing properties. It also contains over 240g of silica, which is why it’s known as the "beauty hot spring." The water feels smooth and mild, not harsh, but a longer soak warms you from deep within. It isn’t flashy, yet its warmth builds quietly and powerfully. It’s a genuine hot spring. Traveling across mountains and rivers to seek out distant hot springs is part of the fun, but it’s also a blessing to have a hot spring village like this close to home. Southern Tohoku already has plenty of hot springs. Comfortably close matters more than extravagance, and Onogawa is a place that fits how people think of hot spring villages. All things are impermanent. Still, steam rises over the snowy town, and today people are immersing themselves in the water once again.