Jizo-Yu

Jizo-Yu is one of the seven public bathhouses (soto-yu) of Kinosaki Onsen, a hot spring town in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, where visitors traditionally bathhouse-hop in yukata. It draws on the town's shared sodium-calcium chloride spring water. Its name comes from a legend that a Jizo Bodhisattva statue was found in the bathhouse's spring source; local tradition holds that bathing there brings the Bodhisattva's protection to family members, including the spirits of miscarried children. The building's design references a Japanese lantern, with hexagonal windows echoing the volcanic rock formations of nearby Genbudo Park.