Ginzan Onsen Spa

On the sixth day of our trip to Japan we had the opportunity to visit the Ginzan Onsen in Obanazawa.  Ginzan Onsen is a hot spring, with wooden traditional inns and many bridges along the Ginzan River. The town was beautiful, In addition to the many inns; there were restaurants, bakeries selling interesting pastries, and gift shops selling beautiful traditional goods. We walked down the street and fed the fish in the river, taking it all in.

Next, we walked up the path that lead upstream; across bridges, past small waterfalls, across a rocky face were there was a small cave with cool air (it was a really hot day), up to a clearing where there was a small outcropping with a pond (we fed some fish again) and some places to sit down. We continued up farther to an entrance at the face of a mountain. This was the entrance to the old silver mine, a huge cavernous tunnel. Ginzan actually means ‘’silver mountain’’ named for the mine discovered there 500 years ago.

After coming back down stream we soaked out feet in a very hot spring and ate some fabulous tofu. The entire atmosphere was amazing, it actually felt like we had gone back in time.