Dogo Onsen Honkan

Built in 1894, the three-story building is a symbol of Dogo Onsen. It boasts a stately appearance in the midst of modern hotels and shopping streets.

In 1994, it became the first public bathhouse to be designated a National Important Cultural Property.
In 2009, it received the highest rating of three stars in the Michelin Green Guide Japon. In the ranking of public bathhouses, it is listed as the highest ranked yokozuna (sumo wrestling champion) in the west.

The baths are open all year round from 6:00 a.m. to the sound of taiko drums, which is also a specialty of the bathhouse.
Every morning, the first bath begins with the sound of the “Kiki-Daiko,” a drum that rings out from the Furisagikaku (a small wooden drum) in the main building. The powerful sound of the drums echoes from the main building at noon, in the evening, and at other times of the day.

Many local visitors and tourists from surrounding hotels and inns come to take a bath with a tenugui (hand towel) in hand.

The hot spring water is neither heated nor watered. It is a non-volcanic type of hot spring derived from geothermal heat, and the quality of the spring is simple hot spring. The source temperature is 42-51 degrees Celsius, and the water is supplied at 46 degrees Celsius after mixing.

There are four types of bathing courses, but the second-floor seat at Kaminoyu will take you to a 55-mat hall where you will be lent a yukata, and after bathing, you will be served tea boiled over charcoal in a Tenmoku tea bowl and served with a Tobe-yaki teacup.

Visitors can also tour the Matashinden, a bathroom reserved for the imperial family, and the Botchan-no-ma (Room of Botchan), a room associated with Soseki Natsume.

It is known throughout Japan as the setting of Soseki Natsume’s novel “Botchan” (1905), and Soseki Natsume visited the Dogo Onsen Honkan.

In Studio Ghibli’s animated film “Spirited Away” (released in 2001), it was one of the models for the “oil house” that appears in the film.

Due to conservation and repair work, the second floor and above, where rest rooms are located, will be closed from 2019, and only bathing will be available on the first floor.