Old Wing of Iwashita Onsen Ryokan

A Meiji Bathhouse in Yamanashi

The Old Wing of Iwashita Onsen Ryokan (岩下温泉旅館旧館) is a timber hot-spring building at Kamiiwashita, Yamanashi City, Yamanashi Prefecture, made up of a bath wing built around 1875 and an entrance wing added around 1942, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on February 25, 2016 (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Yamanashi Prefecture).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records two storeys of timber with a partial basement, a tiled roof and a building area of 159 square metres, registration number 19-0075. Yamanashi Prefecture notes that it is privately owned.

From Communal Bath to Hot-Spring Inn

According to Yamanashi Prefecture, Iwashita Onsen is said to be among the oldest hot springs in the prefecture, beside the Iwashita burial mounds and Soto Shrine on the Byodo River, a tributary of the Fuefuki. The bath wing was built around 1875 as a communal bath run in turn by local residents, at a time when several lodgings stood nearby and it was a focus of the community.

Around 1942 the owner who took over the communal bath added the entrance wing to run it as an inn. According to the prefecture's guide, a new wing was later built next door for lodging, and the Old Wing of Iwashita Onsen Ryokan was used for day bathing.

Value as a Registered Cultural Property

The Old Wing of Iwashita Onsen Ryokan was registered as a structure contributing to the historic landscape of the country. Yamanashi Prefecture notes that it keeps the original form of a Meiji communal bath, including its half-sunken spring bath, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a traditional Japanese building essential to the historic scene of the spa.

What to Look For

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes an east-west bath wing at the back and an entrance wing set at right angles in front, facing roughly south. The two-storey bath wing has the spring bath in a partial basement, and the two-storey entrance wing has an elegant tatami reception room upstairs.

The prefecture's guide illustrates the spring bath on the ground floor of the Old Wing of Iwashita Onsen Ryokan with its shrine to the hot-spring deity.

Visiting

The Old Wing of Iwashita Onsen Ryokan is a privately owned building at 1055 Kamiiwashita, Yamanashi City. A hot-spring information site reports that the inn closed at the end of October 2024, and current access has not been confirmed. If you visit, view it from outside and respect the owner's privacy.