Shuzenji Onsen

The tourism association calls Shuzenji one of the oldest hot spring towns in Izu, and the story starts with the monk Kukai, who is said to have founded Shuzen-ji temple in 807. The ryokan line the Shuzenji River, which most people call the Katsura, and the Bamboo Grove Path follows the water upstream from Tokko-no-yu past an old fire lookout. After dark the path stays lit until 23:00.

Seven communal baths once stood along the river. In the decade after the war only Tokko-no-yu was left, and in 2002 the town opened Hako-yu, a timber bathhouse with a 12-metre lookout tower beside it, so visitors could bathe without staying at a ryokan. Two free foot baths sit by the river at Kawara-yu and the River Terrace Sugi-no-yu.

Riders reach Shuzenji from Mishima on the Izuhakone Railway, and the Japan Cycle Sports Center sits on the hills north-east of town. That puts a ryokan bath within half an hour of the Shinkansen for a winter ride in Izu.