Several years ago, during one of my periodic trips to Japan, my friend and I were taken to Sukayu onsen in Aomori-ken for a dip into the "Sennin Buro".

This is nominally a mixed bath. At the particular time we entered the bath, what was striking was how little of the space in the room and bath was used by the women present. The men were using one whole end of the bath, and also enjoying the separate streams of hot water falling down to pummel sore backs and necks. The women were packed into one small corner of the bath, which had a small wooden screen placed for modesty. A few women were not hidden by the screen, but without my eyeglasses, I couldn't say whether they were wizened country grandmothers or beauteous Tokyo OL's. The end of the room that the women were in had no obvious added amenities, while the end that the men were in had the streams of falling water, and other amenities which I can no longer remember in detail.

One could only hope that there were times where the women had an opportunity to take over the whole bath, so they could enjoy the other amenities in the wonderful bath space.

Thanks for this post! I visited Sukayu Onsen twice, last time being in January this year. This is a great onsen which I like a lot.

Nowadays, the two large baths are officially "separated" by a virtual line, men being asked to stay on the left side, while women can enjoy the right one. The bathing area is thus equivalent for both genders.

Here is a picture of the main bath house, taken from the official web site of the onsen :




By the way, there are other baths in the hotel, but they are normally only for people staying overnight. There, more amenities like showers and shampoo are available.

There are also some detailed information on Sukayu Onsen on the Secret Onsen web site.

sanji