11/5 - the baths at Taketoritei Maruyama

After settling into our hotel room, we decided to wander around Taketoritei Maruyama.  The ryokan was only 6 stories tall and each floor only had a handful of rooms.  We went back into the lobby to see what was happening.  However, we soon discovered that everyone had changed into the yukata provided by the hotel.  Meanwhile, we, the newbie visitors to a ryokan onsen, were still in our shirts and jeans.  Oh did we ever stick out of the crowd.  We quickly went back up to our room and got changed into the clothing provided.

First order of the day after familiarizing ourselves with our room and exploring the hotel lobby, it was time to try out the many baths of Taketoritei Maruyama.  The baths at the onsen could basically be divided into two types of spring water spread across many different locations.  The two types were Ginsen (silver spring) and Kinsen (gold spring).  The Ginsen is a clear spring water that is purportedly rich with radium and carbonate.  Kinsen is a rich milky and silky looking water that is almost gold in colour.  Your hand literally disappears once it's an inch below the surface of the water.  Both have their reported health benefits for a variety of chronic ailments.

We tried the "public bath" in the hotel first.  The public bath is not really open to the outside public, but is accessible to all hotel guests at almost any time of the day.  This bath is set up like a sento that you would find outside, but it was fancier inside.  Like a sento, the baths were split between men and women.  There was a washing area to cleanse your body before dipping oneself in the very, very hot water.  There were two indoor bathing pools - one Ginsen and one Kinsen.  Then there was one outdoor pool - a Ginsen pool.  When I went into my side, I was initially by myself.  So I just enjoyed the whole place to myself.  Eventually, a large group of men joined me and it wasn't so quiet anymore.  That's roughly when I decided to go back to our room.

N was still enjoying her side of the "public bath" when I had gone back to our room.  I think this was the day I could really feel the jet lag set in.  It didn't matter that I had taken the melatonin to help the previous nights.  I was really exhausted now.  I tried to crash and rest before going to our designated time for our "private onsen."

I had to run back down to the lobby and get the key for our private onsen time.  Taketoritei Maruyama has four of these private onsens.  We were a little disappointed with our onsen only because the baths were the same as the ones in the public area, but the tubs were smaller to accommodate couples or small groups.  However, it was still very comfortable to soak in the oh-so-hot baths.  N couldn't help but take a few pot shots at me after I immersed myself in the Kinsen and the water overflowed over the side.

Then there was our personal onsen attached to our hotel room.  I didn't get to enjoy it until early the next morning.  I was just so exhausted and jet lagged at night that I didn't want to bathe.  N was definitely not happy that I passed on the personal onsen at night because she didn't want to go out there alone.  The personal onsen was Ginsen water, but was also very, very hot and oh-so-comfy.  You just had to watch out when stepping out because there were some pine needles scattered on the ground.  Poke!