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Kamesei's secret onsen?

我が宿の若旦那手作り「１００年風呂」露天風呂の秋映え写真。

モミジの葉っぱの濃い赤や黄色、行燈のやわらかい光、温泉からの湯気、

秘湯に見えませんか?

私から言うのは変かもしれないけど（自分の手で造ったお風呂だから）、良い雰囲気!

In Japanese, there is a concept called 'akibae', which loosely translated means 'fall glow'. In autumn, sometimes there is a soft glow at dusk just as the sun is settling behind the clouds as it slips below the horizon, giving everything a golden tint of color. Just at that moment, I happened to check on our outdoor bath here at Kamesei Ryokan, the 100-Year Bath, and was treated to this glorious scene of the mist raising up off the onsen bath with the yellows and deep reds of the maple leaves, the soft light from the 'andon', and the bright yellow ginkgo leaves in the foreground. The elusive 'akibae'!

It makes our outdoor bath feel like a secret bath hidden away in a quiet woods.

I admit -- I'm a bit biased as I made this bath with my own hands. But doesn't it look magical?

momiji ablaze

亀清旅館の中庭のモミジの葉っぱは真っ黄色に変わりました。「紅葉だ!」って感じ。

池にいる鯉も喜んでいるかな?お客様の皆が喜んでくれています。外の温度がしっかり低くなってきましたが、その分で紅葉が綺麗。

Kamesei's 'naka-niwa' central garden has a momiji (Japanese maple) tree in the middle, and right now its leaves are a brilliant shade of yellow. Fall colors have come to Kamesei's garden!

I wonder if the koi swimming in the pond enjoy the colors. I know our guests here at our inn sure have been. The temperatures outside have dropped considerably, but thanks to that, the fall colors in our garden are outstanding.

Togura Kamiyamada's name-bearing Hill in fall colors

雪景色も良いし、桜や杏の花の時期も良いし、新緑の爽やかさも良いし、真夏の濃い緑でホッとするし、中秋の名月と収穫時期も感動的だし、

しかし、戸倉上山田温泉の一番カラフルは紅葉かな?今はちょうどピークです。周辺の紅葉写真を提供します。

Our onsen town Togura-Kamiyamada is beautiful when covered in snow,
and the soft pinks of the cherry and apricot blossoms in early April are beautiful,
the vivid light green that spring brings is a sight to behold,
and the deep green of summer is so soothing,
while the golden browns and yellow of the harvest season contrast so warmly with the light of the harvest moon.

But Togura Kamiyamada's most colorful season is undoubtedly that of the fall leaves. Right now the hills around a ablaze in oranges and reds and yellows. And our onsen town is spotted with the colors of autumn.

Here are some pictures of Fall Colors in Togura Kamiyamada.

Ｎｅｗ　Ｃｒｏｐ　Ｎｅｚｕｍｉ　Ｄａｉｋｏｎ

この戸倉上山田周辺でしか食べれられないお料理「おしぼりうどん」の商売として初めて出したお店、古炉奈さんに久しぶりに行ったら、今年の鼠大根がちょうど入っていました。

鼠大根は辛味なので、擂って、絞って、その汁におうどんを付けて食べるのはおしぼりうどんです。採りたての鼠大根で初めて食べましたが、余計にからい!しかし、美味しくて止められない!

古炉奈のオーナーが私に新鼠大根を１作れました。亀清旅館のＣｈｅｆ武井に渡したら、お客様の味噌汁に使ってくれました。擂ったのではなくて、薄く切った。その方は辛くない。

古炉奈さんは色んなＢ級グルメの雑誌や漫画に出ていて、お客様は遠くから来ているようです。戸倉上山田にお越しになれば、ぜひ食べてみてください。

Here in our onsen town Togura-Kamiyamada, there is a type of cuisine that you can only eat in this area: "Oshibori Udon". We take a really, really spicy daikon radish called "nezumi daikon", grate it, squeeze ('shibori') the juice out, and use it for dipping the fat udon noodles in.

Oshibori udon has been around for many, many moons as a dish that locals make for themselves to eat. The first restaurant that started serving oshibori udon to customers was Corona. I stopped by there for lunch and happened to time it for the arrival of the new crop daikons. Freshly picked daikons are even spicier than normal -- quite a shock to the senses!

Pictured are some of the stubby nezumi daikon with their distinctive mouse-like tails. In fact, 'nezumi' means 'mouse'. Freshly grated, their spiciness is potent!

Corona's owner gave me one to take back to our inn. Our chef used it for our guests' miso soup the next morning -- chopped, not grated (less spicy that way).

If you visit Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen, you would be remiss not to try our local specialty, oshibori udon.