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By David Armstrong
It is a snug country town arranged between looming valley walls and strung along the fast-flowing Yokoyugawa River.
Yamanouchi feels smaller than its listed population of 17,000. The most picturesque part of town is located toward the northeast end, closest to the Snow Monkey park. This is Shibu-Onsen, a compact walking district well-known among Japanese looking for a getaway from the city and for a taste of old Japan.
It's home to traditional ryokans, quaint shops, well-kept Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, planty of hot springs, and no fewer than nine public baths (sentos).
I arrived on a Sunday, and it was quiet. At times all I heard was the clip-clop of traditional wooden sandals on the paving stones of the curving main street. This announced the approach of bathers wrapped in yukata robes, water bottles in hand, on their way to and from the public baths. They carried keys attached to long wooden boards, for opening doors to the baths - indoor establishments, the public baths charge no admission fee but are kept locked. The bathers - all Homo sapiens this time - wore the signature robes of the ryokans where they are staying.
Zeno, an English-speaking worker at the ryokan I booked, called Kokuya, showed me around town and told me the history of his ryokan, which has been in wife Akiko's family for at least 300 years. No one is sure exactly how long. Her father, Onezawa-san, is the 16th-generation owner of the hotel, which has occupied a series of buildings on a site above a mineral hot springs these many years. Hearing this reminds me what a young country America is. In Japan, the tradition of onsen bathing has been traced back at least 1,300 years in the Nagano area.
After climbing impossibly steep stone steps just yards away from hotel, Zeno led me to a serene, impeccably neat Buddhist temple on the hillside. Below us, snow covered the rooftops of shops and houses. Across several rooftops were fresh tracks in the snow.
"Monkeys," he says.
After observing all this bathing, I take a hot-spring bath on my last night, settling into the private wooden tub on the open-air deck outside my room at hotel.
It is all mine. It is scalding hot and throws off a constant cloud of steam. I cool the bath by running the cold water tap for a long time before getting in. I throw my head back and wait for snow to fall from the night sky; the forecast said a storm is coming. The snow doesn't show up on cue, but it doesn't matter. I have seen the famous snow monkeys. I am luxuriating in the onsen. It is deep winter, and I am safe and warm.
If you go - getting there
Nagano city is 95 minutes from Tokyo on the Asama bullet train. Yamanouchi town's Yudanaka Station is 45 minutes from Nagano city on the Nagano-Dentetsu rail line; trains leave four times a day. The minibus to the Snow Monkey park runs seven times a day from Yamanouchi town and costs 1,500 yen (about $13.90 US) round trip, including admission to the park.
Where to stay and eat:
Best bets are ryokans, which put tatami straw mats on the floor, install a small table heated underneath in your room, and use futons for sleeping - unlike American futons, they are something like very plush sleeping bags, not fold-out couches. Ryokans typically serve two meals a day, usually breakfast and dinner.
There is english speaking staff as I mentioned and I had no problem with booking. Web site is nice and they have english version too - www.ichizaemon.com
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