Opening the door to the bathing area the smell just hit me. Wow, this is exactly the kind of place that I love. A great old sento that looks like it's been here for years, filled with local history and just enough dust. The water was decent, but it was straight from the ground. No heating, cooling or mixing with municipal water. That's what this place is: a hot spring fed into a few baths. The smell was nice and the feel was good. Not the best water, but worth going back.
The design is quite simple, but classic for a little sento like this one. It looks to me that the jet baths were added on in a remodel, but I could be wrong about that. The center bath has a two level design with the upper bath being hotter and shallower. The cold bath is small, but enough space for one to sit in. Sitting at the fountain to rinse off was very refreshing. The sauna is accessed from the changing room. Not much to it, but good enough.
The whole place is super small in comparison to most sento in the Kansai area. The reason for this place being here is the hot spring--that's it, but that's all that it needs. The main bath is well built and full of good places to sit. There's a nice mosaic of Mt. Fuji on the back wall and the mirrors have old advertisements for nearby businesses. The men's bathroom is outside in an enclosed patio that is accessed from the changing room. There's a little sitting area there with an ashtray that in the summer would be a great place for a nice post bath smoke.
This old building has a very utilitarian feel to it. Lots of old exposed wood and notices written on old yellowed sheets of paper. The customers all seemed part of the same large family that have been coming here for years many of them greeting each other when they came and left. I loved how busy the place was and all of the buckets filled with soap and shampoo placed around the bathing area. The entire place had a sense of agelessness that really made the entire experience special.
Getting here you can ride the great Hankai streetcar line which, like this sento, has a living history feel. Tokiwa Onsen is a perfect place to really experience what day-to-day life in postwar Japan might have looked like.
Every time I go here I get into a conversation with someone. It is not the place were you will be able to have a quiet soak, but it will be an enjoyable one.