Hot Water Since the Age of the Manyoshu
The hot springs of Yugawara appear in the Manyoshu, Japan's oldest anthology of poetry.
It is said to be the only hot spring in the Kanto region named in the anthology, and the park here takes its name — Manyo Park — from that single poem.
Some thirteen hundred years ago, someone paused on a journey, let the water loosen their body, and walked on. The time you spend here continues from that moment.
The Revival of “Soyu”
In the Middle Ages, this land was used as a therapeutic bath for warriors and villagers.
In the Edo period (1603-1867), the place name “Yugawara” appeared and was called “Yugawara Onsen” (hot spring in Yugawara). Villagers called the communal hot springs that gushed naturally from the riverbanks “Murayu” and “Soyu,” and carefully managed them as communal hot springs for the community.
In the Meiji period (1868-1912), inns were built one after another as places for curing the body and soul. Many prominent politicians, military men, and writers and artists visited the area, and Yugawara Onsen was featured in many literary works.
Toji: A Way of Staying
Hot springs were once not places to drop by for a single night.
In the custom of toji — a stay taken for one's health — seven days made one round, and guests would stay for two rounds, or three. Bathe morning and evening; rest in the hours between. Walk, eat, sleep, and bathe again. Rather than hurrying the cure, one waited for the body to loosen through the repetition of ordinary days. That was the time of toji.
Around the bath there was a life shared by those who gathered. The smell of cooking, small talk among strangers who happened to be there, the manners of sharing the same water. The hot spring did not belong to any one person; it was something to be shared by everyone present.
The name “Soyu” says exactly this. So means “of everyone.”
An Onsen for Wounds, a Place for Recuperation
The hot spring was also known as an “onsen for wounds,” and became a place for recuperating wounded soldiers during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars. Its reputation as a famous hot spring spread throughout the country.
The area, now known as “Manyo Park,” was the villa of the Meiji-era industrialist Magobei Okura. It was opened to people undergoing medical treatment and called “Youjouen” or “Okura Park.”
Water that heals wounds, and a garden opened to the public.
Layer upon layer of time has accumulated here, in which the hot spring has been treated as something that belongs to everyone.
Toji in a Single Day
Few people today can spend seven days here.
Yugawara Soyu set out to fold the rhythm of toji into a single day. Soak in free-flowing water drawn straight from the source, eat what the season offers, open a book, and bathe again. Leave the schedule loose, and keep some time deliberately empty. That is what we mean by “a day of toji.”
Opening a book after the bath may not be so far from the way guests once passed the hours between soaks in conversation.
The “Soyu” of Tomorrow
Soyu was once protected and nurtured by the villagers as a common asset of the community. Inheriting its spirit and culture, we work with the local people to nurture it into a place where people can feel the charm of Yugawara.
The hot spring belongs to no one person.
Visitors and residents alike share the same water. We hope you will add your own day to a story thirteen centuries long.