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Joshin’etsukogen NP, Niigata
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A soak at Akayu comes after a 2-hour hike from the road end. The inn sits on Naeba’s fifth station, and local guides recommend mountain gear—it’s a mountain refuge with hot water, not a roadside spa.
Akayu has 3 riverside outdoor baths with vivid names: Aoyu (“Blue”), Tamago-yu (“Egg”), and Yakushi-yu (“Medicine Buddha”). Yuzawa’s tourism association describes them as 3 kinds of hot spring.
At the 8-room mountain inn, night lighting is lamps alone—a charming detail behind its “lamp inn” nickname. A local profile says the soft light helps guests enjoy the mountain’s quiet.
Meals at this walk-in lodge may feature seasonal sansai (wild mountain vegetables) and mushrooms, alongside vegetables and rice from nearby Minamiuonuma. Even dinner is rooted in the surrounding region.
Akayu’s inn opened in 1897 as a summer retreat for therapeutic bathing. A Japanese encyclopedia traces the spring’s discovery to mid-Meiji hunters; today, the riverside lodge is better known as a base for Naeba climbers.
Akayu means “red hot spring,” and Yuzawa Town describes its water as reddish brown. An encyclopedia classifies the spring as iron-bearing; iron in spring water can turn rusty red when it meets the air.
