A glance into the past

One thing I was most excited about, whilst planning my travels, was the idea of visiting Ginzan Onsen. My main objective for this trip was to visit places off the beaten track and I remember feeling giddy and extremely lucky to have stumbled across this small village, in my search for unique destinations to visit.

Ginzan Onsen is a hot spring village located in Obanazawa, Yamagata prefecture and was made famous as the setting of the television drama, Oshin. The spring was first discovered by a group of miners searching for silver, hence the name Ginzan, meaning silver mountain.

I got up early and caught the train to Oishida, a half hour ride from Yamagata. I remember being entranced by the passing landscape, as we fled by field after field of white- occassionally broken by the odd house and the scatter of crows; and the mountains in the distance, snow capped and barely moving. As I got off the train it started to rain, but it didn't dampen my spirits in the slightest. The bus that ran between Ginzan Onsen and the train station ran at irregular intervals, but as scheduled, it was sitting there quietly waiting for me- the first and only passenger.

The secluded village is nestled amongst the rolling hills of Obanazawa, and for the whole forty minute journey, the road leading towards it showed no indication that there might be such a magical little place hidden in the midst. Even upon arriving at the bus terminus, I was still slightly dubious as to whether I'd reached my anticipated destination. It wasn't a bad sight though, there was a small river, some fairly regular houses and some atmospheric hills in the background. It just wasn't quite what I was expecting... and it was raining fairly heavily by this point.


Nevertheless, it was the meander in the distance, and the faint, but distinct, smell of sulphur in the air that reassured me.

Two, three hundred metres down the road, with stolen umbrella in hand, I found what I was looking for:

Past the first footbridge and the first thing I see is the public footbath.
Tinged yellow by the sulphur and steaming hot- the water is pumped
directly from the source to the surface.

...and as i continue down along the river, the time warp begins. Here are the highlights:

As I reach the end of the street, I realise that the path towards the mine is closed due to heavy snow.The path on the far right, in the photo below, leads to the mine, where the metal barrier is.
Time to turn back.

The covered area to the right are the only public onsens available in Ginzan. However, almost every other building in the village is a Ryokan (traditional Japanese guesthouse) and they all have their own onsens for guests.

If you're wondering what I was listening to, it was the Ghost in the Shell, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke soundtracks. It set the mood perfectly.

All in all, it took me less than half an hour to walk through the whole village- including the time I took to take photos. But, even with the adverse weather, the feeling of being there (and being the only tourist in sight) was so comfortable that I loitered around for nearly two hours, walking up and down the street in a trance. Perhaps it was the time of day, or the time of year, but the stillness of my surroundings further exaggerated the sensation of being locked in time- a feeling exuded in abundance by the architecture and layout.

The visual icing to the whole experience was the detail scattered across the ground. Every few steps or so, there would be coloured, patterned tiles embedded amongst the pebbles, giving the grey a dash of colour and deepening the nostalgic atmosphere.


So, after two hours of walking around in circles, what better way to soothe tired feet?

As I was trudging around in the blisteringly hot water, grinning to myself like a little child, I had a few people laugh and point at me. It must have been even funnier when I was holding my stolen umbrella. One old man said to me: "sabishi desu ne" (Lonely, aren't you). But no. I wasn't.

Warm and happy from my foot soak, it was time to return to modern day... but I had one more nostalgic suprise waiting for me, which I didn't experience on the way here:

Natsukashi desu ne!