"Dogo Onsen Spa" a Matsuyama Travel Page by RoseAmano

Soseki Natsume (the guy on the old 1,000 yen bill; since 2003 or 2004 they replaced all the luminaries on the handbills) authored a book called "Botchan", a story about an angry young man from urban Edo on his first teaching assignment in a rural area - this brooding new graduate seemed to have found at least some solace in his daily excursion to this bathhouse.

The author himself actually spent a year in this area on his first teaching assignment post graduation...

There are four levels of bathing options:

1) Usual "Sento" Public Bath

2) Bathing with Rental Towel and Yukata, and Tea with large public relaxation tatami room

3) Same as 2), but with a different bath and price

4) Private Resting Room with all the amenities, including a tour of the part of the spa exclusively perused by Emperor Showa in the 1950's.

Photos of Imperial Spa can't be taken, so instead a photo of the inner courtyard of Dogo Onsen Spa building is attached here.

Simple Alkaline (Hypotonic Alkaline) Spa

Temperature is about 42 degrees C, pH 9.0, Radon Content 1.49 mache/kg

(spa mineral components abstracted from http:// www.chaharu.com/data/kounou/)