Dogo

Today was my first trip to Matsuyama, the largest city here on the island of Shikoku and the capital of Ehime. Hania and a friend of hers decided to take me to Dogo Onsen, the Matsuyama neighborhood famous for its many Japanese hot springs (onsen). Hania's friend, a woman named Toshie from our town of Mikame, was originally born in Matsuyama and proved to be quite a good guide. Though the old Dogo Onsen Honkan is the main attraction, it isn't nearly as nice as some of the lesser known spas in the area. Because of this, Toshie decided on the Yamatoya Honten, a very nice ryokan (Japanese-style hotel) only a block away from the Honkan. Here we had a large Kaiseki lunch served in a private tatami room before taking a long soak in the hotel's private baths. Kaiseki is something any traveler in Japan should try at least once. Generally consisting of a large number of dishes prepared with seasonal ingredients and carefully arranged on beautiful, hand-made dinnerware, it represents the best of Japanese cooking. Here's a picture of our first course: yellowtail, scallop, and sea bream sashimi, with a side dish of bamboo shoots, salmon roe, carrot, and sea urchin. After lunch, we were taken to the basement floor for our bath. We set a time to meet back in the reception, and soon Hania and Toshie went their separate way, while I carried on to the men's bath. After soaking naked in a big wooden, outdoor bath for an hour, staring blankly at the rock garden, I was completely relaxed. After showering off, and getting dressed, the three of us walked for a short time through Dogo Onsen before heading to dinner. This is a picture of one of the many visiting bathers dressed in a traditional yukata just outside the Dogo Onsen Honkan. After our walk we toured the central part of the city, and went to a nice Italian restaurant before finally heading back to Mikame.