Once Upon a Time In Gajoen

Enjoy the hot spring of Myoken Onsen

”Gajoen means the land for forgetting about yesterday and tomorrow”
As the above quote from the Japanese website of the inn says, a short 15-minute drive from the Kagoshima Airport takes you to the location where thatched roofs dot the mountains, conveying a nostalgic atmosphere. The rooms are divided into five types, largely those with ”irori” (fireplace) and those with ”engawa” (a veranda). Eight of the ten rooms have an open-bath. Each of the buildings is luxuriously isolated from any other.

In Myoken Onsen, all water directly flows from the hot spring source. As it is also well-known for the abundant volume of its hot water, you can look forward to using the “common baths”. Three of the baths can be exclusively reserved by hanging a wooden tag on the entrance. You will want to try all of them, not only the open-air bath in your guestroom. The co-ed bath along the river has a rustic atmosphere. ”Utase-yu/ramune-yu”, a carbonated spring, is lukewarm and makes the skin feel nice. ”Takeru-yu” involves the use of a hand-carved large monolith. “Takeru” is said to be the honorific title of a king of the Kumaso family in Japanese mythology. As the story goes, the bath looks strong and dynamic in structure.
The food served at the inn is prepared with local ingredients only. It mainly consists of vegetables and is prepared in a seasonal manner. Rice is cooked with firewood. After supper and as wood is added to the ”irori”, the inn’s staff beat wooden clappers to gather guests. They celebrate the once-in-a-lifetime meeting drinking ”kappozake”, local ”shochu” heated with bamboo.