Living craftsThe easy first town of Kaga Onsen: 10 to 15 minutes by bus from the station, a rebuilt Meiji bathhouse, Rosanjin's lodging and a Kutani kiln site.
Yamashiro Onsen (山代温泉) is the easiest town of Kaga Onsen, 10–15 min by bus from Kaga-Onsen Station (about ¥290). Two public baths face each other on the old bath square: Kosōyu ¥700, a rebuilt Meiji bathhouse where the water runs untouched, and Sōyu ¥500, with ¥1,000 for both. Rosanjin's Iroha Sōan, the Kutani kiln-ruins museum and Yakuō-in are a short walk away.
Yamashiro is laid out around the Yu-no-gawa (湯の曲輪), the square where the town's bathhouse has stood for centuries. Inns and shops ring the square, and the lanes behind it climb to a temple and a kiln site.
It suits a short stay: a morning soak, two small museums, lunch, and a ryokan night if you have it. The stops below are in the order a loop of the square takes them.
A rebuild of the Meiji-era public bath, down to the Kutani tile on the floor and walls, the stained glass and a rest room upstairs. It is a bathing museum: you only soak, as bathers did then, so there are no taps, showers, soap or shampoo. The water is the shared source, free-flowing with nothing added or recirculated. Adults pay ¥700.
The larger bath, with Kutani-tile tubs, a high ceiling open to the sky and two temperatures. It uses source water with no water added and a heat exchanger to set the temperature. Adults pay ¥500; a ¥1,000 ticket covers Sōyu and Kosōyu. Towels and toiletries are sold but not provided, and the shop beside it (7:00–19:00 daily) sells onsen eggs and an onsen-egg soft-serve. Both baths close until noon on the 4th Wednesday.
The square keeps the old pattern of an onsen town: the public bath at the centre, with inns and shops built around it. Writers and artists came to take the waters, among them the poet Yosano Akiko and Rosanjin, and the warlord Akechi Mitsuhide is said to have come to recover from an illness. It is a quiet place after the day visitors leave.
Kitaōji Rosanjin arrived in autumn 1915, aged about 32, introduced by Hosono Entai of Kanazawa, and stayed roughly six months. Using the name Fukuda Taikan, he worked from an annex of the Yoshinoya inn, carving the signboards of Yoshinoya and the Suda Seika kiln, and found his way to pottery at that kiln. The building is a nationally registered cultural property, with his signboards and tableware. ¥560 for adults (high school and under free), 9:00–17:00, closed Wednesday except holidays. Exhibition Rosanjin and Yamashiro Onsen runs 30 July to 17 November 2026.
The remains of the Yoshidaya kiln, built in the late Edo period by the Daishōji merchant Toyoda Denemon, are kept as excavated under a hall, with Kutani ware beside them. It shows where the revived Kutani porcelain of Yamashiro began. ¥350; high school and under free. 9:00–17:00, last entry 16:30, closed Tuesday except holidays. Making experiences are extra.
The temple that protects the spring. By its own tradition the monk Gyōki found the Yamashiro spring in 717, led by a bird while on pilgrimage to Mt Hakusan, and carved a Yakushi Nyorai (the healing Buddha) and founded the temple. The grounds are open at all hours and free.
| Option | Time | Fare | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hokutetsu route bus | 10–15 min | About ¥290 | Cheapest. Stops: Yamashiro Onsen (square) and Yamashiro West Exit (Yakuō-in) |
| CAN BUS Mountain route | Longer, as it loops | ¥500, or ¥1,300 one-day digital ticket | Stops at the Sōyu and Kosōyu, Iroha Sōan, the kiln museum and Natadera; see the Kaga Onsen guide |
| Taxi | About 10 min | Meter | Easiest with luggage |
| Inn shuttle | About 15 min | Free at some inns | Reserve with the inn; Tachibana Shikitei has a station shuttle |
From Kanazawa: Shinkansen to Kaga-Onsen, 14–19 min, ¥3,170 reserved; from Tokyo, 2h 43m, ¥15,150. Bath prices and hours are from the Yamashiro Onsen tourist association (the Kosōyu price changed on 1 April 2026); museum details from Kaga city sources and the CAN BUS site. Checked 13 Oct 2026.
One spring feeds the two public baths and several inns around the square.
Hoshino Resorts' Kaga inn in the old Shiroganeya building, beside the public baths. Its baths are described as free-flowing.
A ryokan with 17 rooms whose family kept the lord's bath house for the Daishōji domain, with ties to Rosanjin. The baths take the shared source free-flowing.
A food-led inn known for abalone and crab, with rooms that have open-air tubs fed with undiluted 66°C spring water, free-flowing.
Prices are per person with dinner and breakfast, two sharing, from Japanese booking sites in October 2026, and move by date.
Sōyu ¥500 and Kosōyu ¥700 for an adult, or ¥1,000 for a combined ticket. Both open 6:00–22:00 (Kosōyu 7:00–21:00 from December to February) and close until noon on the 4th Wednesday of each month. Children aged 6 to 11 pay ¥150 at Sōyu and ¥280 at Kosōyu.
Kosōyu (古総湯) is a rebuilt Meiji bathhouse with Kutani tile and stained glass, where you only soak: there are no taps, showers or soap. Sōyu (総湯) is the larger modern bath beside it, with washing places. Kosōyu runs the source water untouched; Sōyu adds no water and uses a heat exchanger to set the temperature.
By Hokutetsu route bus in about 10–15 minutes for about ¥290, by CAN BUS for ¥500, or by taxi in about 10 minutes. Get off at the Yamashiro Onsen stop for the bath square, or Yamashiro West Exit for Yakuō-in. From Kanazawa the whole trip is about an hour: 18 minutes by Shinkansen (¥3,170) plus the bus.
Kitaōji Rosanjin, later Japan's best-known gourmet potter, came to Yamashiro in autumn 1915 and stayed about six months, working as a calligrapher and seal carver under the name Fukuda Taikan. He carved signboards for the Yoshinoya inn and the Suda Seika kiln, and the kiln's pottery drew him into ceramics. Iroha Sōan (¥560) is his lodging site.
If you like ceramics, yes. The Kutani Kiln Site Exhibition Hall (九谷焼窯跡展示館) keeps the Yoshidaya kiln of the late Edo period as it was dug up. It costs ¥350, opens 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30) and closes on Tuesdays. Allow 30 minutes.
Yes: 18 minutes by Shinkansen to Kaga-Onsen, then the bus. A half day covers Kosōyu, Iroha Sōan and the kiln museum, which are a short walk apart. A night at a ryokan adds dinner and an evening on the bath square.
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