One of “Three major onsen in Bungo”
It took about one hour from Yufuin Onsen. Finally, I got to Amagase station.
いつも旅の予定は適当ですが、今回は天ケ瀬への電車の本数が少ないため、きっちり予定を立てて、予定どおり、到着（飛行機の遅れで、もともとの予定よりは１時間遅れましたが）
Amagase onsen is said that 1300 years have passed since the onsen was found for the first time.
And it is called “three major onsen in Bungo” with Yufuin and Beppu.
Because I was late for the scheduled check-in time, the ryokan’s staff waited for me at the station and took me to the house.
That day’s accommodation was Ryokan Hitaya. Though it is old ryokan, it is comfortatble house.
About 10 minutes walk from the station.
この日の宿、日田屋さん。駅まで迎えにきてくれました。
なかなか古めかしい宿ですが、なんか落ち着きます。
My room. There isn’t toilet in the room.
The toilet is outside. The tatami is old, I could see Kusu river and green out of the window.
畳がむにょむにょしてますがなかなか快適。トイレが外の共同だったのでちょっとめんどくさかったけど。
After I took a rest for a while, I got out of the house and explored the onsen town !
By the way, many accommodations in this Amagase Onsen town have onsen bath outside and we can use it freely even if we don’t stay at the accommodations . Also this Hitaya have. But it was really hot bacause no one used it for a while.
天ケ瀬温泉街の旅館の多くは外に足湯をつくっています。こちら日田屋でもありました。
There are many open-air bathes along Kusu river. Most of those bathes are mixed bathing and can be seen very well.
Jinden-yu (神田湯)
It was in front of my ryokan, so I thought I try to go there at night, but young people fussed at night, so I gave up 😛
宿の目の前にある、共同の混浴露天風呂。昼間はさすがに入ってる人ほとんどいませんでしたが夜はにぎわってました。
Tsurumai-no-yu (鶴舞の湯). Also it cost you 100 yen. It is for female only. But !
こちらは女性専用の露天風呂。
It can be seen very well 😛
被眺望抜群(^Д^)
It is open until 10 p.m., so I intended to go there at night, but because I was really tired, I felt asleep before 8 p.m and woke up past 11 p.m.
Suspension bridge for Seitenkaku hotel (成天閣ホテル) that I had scheduled to stay at first.
(I changed the visiting day to Amagase, and reservation of the day was full. So I reserved another hotel, Hitaya)
当初、泊まる予定だった成天閣に通じるつり橋です。
Korean tourists group crossed the bridge with their large suitcases for Seitenkaku.
Only looking them made me scary.
But this suspension bridge is tough and not shook violently.
They have no way to enter the hotel because large bus can’t stop along the alley of the hotel side.
The suspension bridge had good view.
頑丈なつり橋で、ツアー団体がガラガラスーツケースひっぱってもそんなに揺れてませんでした。
Of course, Seitenkaku have free foot bath 🙂
もちろん成天閣も無料の足湯を解放しています。
Amagase onsen town along Kusu river. There are lots of ryokans and hotels, but I didn’t meet much people.
玖珠川を挟んで旅館がびっしりと並んでいる天ケ瀬温泉街。夏にはホタルが舞い、カジカの鳴き声が聞こえるとか。
開湯1300年、別府・由布院と並んで豊後３名泉のひとつ。ですが、山の中のせいか、あんまりお客さんは多くありません（いや、少ないです）
Then I went back to Hitaya and took onsen bath there.
The bathroom is on the under ground.
宿に戻り早速、お風呂へ。お風呂は地下です。
Bathroom. There is another bathroom that have fish tank and we can reserve both.
Though the bathroom is old and small, the onsen spring was good 🙂 Though they didn’t say it is sulfur spring, it contains sulfur.
もう１個、水槽のある浴室があります。基本貸し切りです。
Dinner at my room.
I added Grilled Bungo beef (+1500 yen), but it was hard to grill well by myself…
But another grilled sweet fish, horse meat sashimi, tempura, chawanmushi, sashimi was good.
豊後牛の陶板焼きを1500円くらい追加でやってもらいましたが･･･あんまりおいしくなかった。後は良かったです。
After that I took bath again. And then I felt like sleeping and felt asleep. it was still before 8 p.m. !
I think I was exhausted !
The next day, My breakfast was prepared another room. It was light breakfast and just for me.
朝食。軽めで、私にはちょうど良かったです。
After we checked out, I had a little time, so I went to Sakura-daki falls (桜滝) near the station.
翌朝、チェックアウトした後、少しだけ電車まで時間があったんで駅近くの桜滝へ。
“Sakura” means cherry blossom in Japanese, so, I expected it is small and cute falls. But it was overwhelming falls because of the water amounts, though it was not big ! It is said to be the most beautiful falls in Oita prefecture.
15 meters high and 10 meters width.
I saw it for 5 minutes sharp so that I won’t miss the scheduled train for Hita station and went back to the station.
I heard that we can fireflya glowfly and Kajika frog in summer, so I want to visit there again in the best season 🙂
About Ryokan Hitaya (旅館 日田屋)
Address / 362-1 Sakura-Dake, Amagase-machi, Hita-shi, Oita
Station / Amagase station (JR Kyudai main line)
Price / 9000 yen (dinner and breakfast included)
Official website of ryokan association / http://www.amagase-spa.com/(in Japanese only)