Yamashiro Onsen (Sōyu and Ko-sōyu)

What to expect

Yamashiro is one of the hot spring towns of Kaga city, in the south of Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan side. Along with Yamanaka and Katayamazu, it is part of the group known as Kaga Onsen, and it is the one most closely tied to its bathhouse square.

The onsen association uses a Hokuriku word for that layout, yunogawa (湯の曲輪): the public bath sits in the middle and the inns stand in a ring around it. Today the square has two public baths a few steps apart. The Sōyu is the working bathhouse where locals and inn guests come to wash and soak. The Ko-sōyu (“old sōyu”) is a reconstruction of the Meiji-period bathhouse that once stood on the spot. The association calls it a hands-on hot spring museum, and it is the reason many people come.

Town legend dates the spring to 725, when the monk Gyōki, on his way to Mount Hakusan, is said to have seen a crow healing an injured wing in a puddle of hot water. The crow is identified with the three-legged Yatagarasu of Japanese myth, and the spring was once called Karasu-no-yu, the crow’s bath. The association marks the town’s 1,300th year as a spa. Writers came too: the poet Yosano Tekkan and the novelist Izumi Kyōka left lines about Yamashiro, and the artist Kitaōji Rosanjin spent time here.

The baths

Sōyu

The Sōyu is the modern public bath, entered through the old gate of the former Yoshinoya ryokan, an inn linked with Rosanjin. Inside is a large rest area and a counter selling onsen eggs and soft-serve topped with an onsen egg. The bathrooms have a big skylight, hand-painted Kutani porcelain tiles and non-slip local stone floors.

The water is listed as a sodium-calcium sulfate and chloride spring, weakly alkaline and high-temperature, mixed with simple spring water. The operator says it is 100% spring water with no water added: the bath uses a heat exchanger rather than added water to manage the temperature, and the tubs run on a combination of overflow and filtered circulation. Neither page gives a tub temperature or says whether chlorine is used.

Practical details: no soap or shampoo is provided, but both are sold, as are towels, and bath towels can be rented. Hair dryers cost ¥10 a minute. Women’s lockers lock and are free; the men’s side has no keyed lockers but a free valuables box.

Ko-sōyu

The Ko-sōyu was rebuilt to look as the Meiji-era bathhouse did, with a wooden shingle roof, stained-glass windows, lacquered walls and Kutani tiles restored to their original patterns. It also recreates the old way of bathing. There are no taps and no showers, so you rinse with water from the tub (kakeyu) and then soak, and soap and shampoo cannot be used. The water is the same spring, run straight through (kake-nagashi). Upstairs there is a rest room where you can sit and cool off.

If you want to do both, wash at the Sōyu first and finish at the Ko-sōyu.

Prices and booking

Prices from the Kaga city tourism site and the onsen association, October 2026.

Bath	Adults (12+)	Ages 6-11	Ages 3-5	Under 3
Sōyu	¥500	¥150	¥70	Free
Ko-sōyu	¥700	¥280	¥140	Free
Joint ticket	¥1,000	see note	see note	Free

• The Ko-sōyu prices took effect on April 1, 2026. The Sōyu’s current prices date from May 1, 2025.
• The joint ticket is ¥1,000 for adults on both bath pages. For children, the Ko-sōyu page gives ¥350 and ¥170 while the Sōyu page still shows ¥280 and ¥140, so ask at the counter.
• On the 26th of each month (“bath day”), children aged 3 to 5 bathe free at the Sōyu.

Hours: both baths 6:00 to 22:00. The Ko-sōyu shortens to 7:00 to 21:00 from December to February. On the 4th Wednesday of every month both close in the morning for cleaning and open at 12:00. On January 1 to 3 both run 7:00 to 21:00. No booking is needed. Phone for both: 0761-76-0144.

Onsen etiquette

These are neighbourhood baths, and the usual rules apply. Wash or rinse before you get in, bathe naked with your small towel kept out of the water, tie up long hair and keep your phone in the locker. The Sōyu has separate men’s and women’s baths; ask at the Ko-sōyu counter which side is which. Do not bathe after drinking.

Neither the city nor the association publishes a tattoo policy. Call before you go, and consider covering small tattoos.

Getting there

By train: the Hokuriku Shinkansen has stopped at Kaga Onsen Station since March 2024. Yamashiro is about 4.4 km (2.7 miles) from the station.

• CAN BUS (Kaga sightseeing loop, “mountain” route): get off at stop 21, “Yamashiro Onsen Sōyu / Ko-sōyu”. The Ko-sōyu is about 50 m away and the Sōyu about 100 m.
• Hokutetsu Kaga Bus, Onsen-Sanchū line (platform 2 at Kaga Onsen Station): get off at Yamashiro Onsen and walk about 250 m.

By car: about 7.3 km (4.5 miles) from the Kaga IC or 10.5 km (6.5 miles) from the Katayamazu IC on the Hokuriku Expressway. The Iroha Sōan and Sōyu car park has 125 spaces and is a two-minute walk from the baths.

When to go

The baths are open all year. Mornings from 6:00 are quiet and mostly local. Evenings fill with inn guests in yukata walking the square. Hokuriku winters are snowy and wet, which is a good time for a hot bath but means slower roads. If you plan around the monthly cleaning, avoid the morning of the 4th Wednesday.

Kaga, at the southern end of Ishikawa, was far from the worst of the January 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, and both baths list normal hours and new prices for 2026. For a town much closer to the quake zone, see Wakura Onsen in Nanao.

Nearby stops worth adding

• Rakuna Deck foot bath (温泉足湯 らくなデッキ): a free foot bath in town. The association noted a cleaning closure all day on Thursday, October 29, 2026.
• Kutani porcelain: the association ties Yamashiro to the early Ko-Kutani porcelain tradition, and the tiles in both baths are Kutani ware.
• Yamanaka and Katayamazu: Kaga’s other two public bathhouses, Kikunoyu and Katayamazu Sōyu, each cost ¥500. See Kaga Onsen.

Where to stay nearby

Ryokan and hotels surround the bathhouse square and are listed by the onsen association; the inns on its homepage include Yunokuni Tenshō, Tachibana Shikitei (a short walk from the Ko-sōyu) and Midori no Yado Banshōkaku. Yamanaka and Katayamazu, the other Kaga Onsen towns, have their own inns, and Kanazawa is 15 to 18 minutes from Kaga Onsen Station by Shinkansen.

Safety notes

• Hot water: the source runs hot and the old-style Ko-sōyu has no cold tap to cool off with. Keep soaks short, cool down upstairs and drink water.
• Floors: stone and tile get slippery, though the Sōyu floor is a non-slip stone.
• Winter: snow and ice on the square and roads from December to February; allow extra time.