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戸倉上山田は温泉がなかったら、どうなるだろう。亀清旅館はいくら伝統的な旅館雰囲気を出しても、板長はお料理を一生懸命頑張っても、私達は精一杯おもてなししても、温泉がなければお客さんは来てくれるのかな？やはり、温泉が私達の命です。それを守っているのは上山田温泉会社です。源泉14件を利用して、我々旅館に皆さんが目指している温泉のお湯を提供してくれています。
今日はその1つな源泉の水中ポンプの取替え工事が行われました。温泉会社の誘いで、特別に現場を見学させて頂きました。とにかく、偉い工事でした。物凄くでかいクレーンで源泉の小屋の屋根を通して、古いポンプを引っ張り出しました。深さ約400ｍの井戸でポンプの深さは約40ｍだそうです。
とってもいい勉強になりました。実は、亀清旅館も温泉の源泉を持っています。しかし、その水中ポンプは中に落ちているそうです。井戸の上に建物が建てられています。従って、引っ張り出そうと思えば、このようにクレーンが必要となる。
温泉会社の高井様、見学をさせていただいて、有難うございました！
What if Togura-Kamiyamada didn't have a hot spring? What if we at Kamesei Ryokan tried our hardest to provide as traditional of a ryokan experience, and our chef put out the best possible kaiseki meals, and we gave our guests the highest quality service, but we didn't have an onsen bath -- would guests come? The hot spring mineral waters are our lifeline! Fortunately we have the Kamiyamada Onsen Company managing their 14 onsen wells and delivering the mineral water to all of us onsens with professional reliability, so our guests can enjoy soaking in the onsen baths.
Today, the Onsen Company had to replace the pump for one of the onsen wells. They invited me to watch the work be done. It was a special arrangement -- no other ryokan people were invited. They know I am particularly interested in such things. I was amazed at how big the operation was. They had to have a huge crane raise the pump using a hole in the roof of the pump house. This was very useful for me to see, because we have a similar onsen well here at Kamesei, but ours has a building built on top of it. And our pump has supposedly fallen down into the well. So to retrieve it, we would have to do some similar crane action.
Anyways, I want to thank Takai-san for his special invitation to watch the onsen action!

温泉ポンプメーカーの小松製作所のＨＰはこちらClick here for the website of Komatsu Mfg, onsen pump makers.