Here's a pic of another onsen I visited on that same trip that I found that other one (see previous blog entry). This one had a riverside onsen as well, but it wasn't RIGHT next to the river, and not nearly as hot or beautiful. The real beauty of this place lies in the ancient structure of the inn in which the onsen is located. This is an extremely old building... built in the late 1800's. It too smells of dry wood, rice and tea, and it seems to be a labyrinth-like structure that winds and twists. You wouldn't know this by looking at it from the outside! This place is called Naruru onsen, and it has both an inside and outside onsen. The inside one was a mixed male and female onsen, which is a bit more rare, and one wall of the onsen was natural stone mortared together. the water was the hottest yet that I have been in and I began tingling after about a 5 min dip. I was only able to stay in for about 5-6 mins at a time. For those of you die hard hot-tubbers who may be scoffing at me- just trust me, these thermal waters made the hottest of hot tubs feel like a puddle in the sun. I felt perfectly like an overcooked noodle of spaghetti- it was fantastic.