Dogo Onsen
Dogo Onsen Honkan Is An Important Cultural Property; One Of Japan'S Oldest Hot Springs · Matsuyama, Ehime
A hot-spring district on the edge of Matsuyama, the largest city on Shikoku, and one of the oldest onsen in Japan, with legends and records reaching back well over a thousand years. Its centre is the Dogo Onsen Honkan, a rambling three-storey wooden bathhouse built in 1894 and topped by a small drum tower, the Shinrokaku, from which a drum is beaten at set times of day. The Honkan is an Important Cultural Property and has been under long phased restoration while staying partly open, so check which floors and baths are in use. Beside it, the Asuka-no-Yu annex of 2017 recreates ancient palace styles, and Tsubaki-no-Yu is the everyday bath of local people. The novelist Natsume Soseki taught in Matsuyama and put Dogo into his novel Botchan, and the Honkan is often said to have inspired the bathhouse in Spirited Away. A covered shopping arcade runs from the old tram station, where the Botchan train stops, and Matsuyama Castle, with one of the twelve original keeps, is a short tram ride away.
5-6 Dogoyunomachi, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-0842, Japan
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the Honkan opens at about 6 am, marked by the drum, and closes around 11 pm, with last entry about 30 minutes to an hour before closing and upstairs rest-room courses ending earlier. Asuka-no-Yu and Tsubaki-no-Yu keep similar long hours. The Honkan has had changing hours, closed floors and occasional full closure days during its restoration, and there are periodic cleaning days. Confirm current hours, courses and closure days before relying on them.