Produced by madsaunist, Japan's First Regional Resource-Circulating Sauna to be Born at 'Hida Takayama Inari-yu'

Inari-yu Sauna

inari LLC (Headquarters: Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture; Representative: Takuro Nakamura), which operates the public bathhouse 'Inari-yu,' will introduce a new regional resource-circulating sauna upon its reopening on May 27, 2026.

The new sauna is produced by madsaunist and will utilize biocoke developed by ALTERNATIVE ENERGY JAPAN Inc. (Headquarters: Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture; President & CEO: Yudai Koike, hereinafter AEJ), a company based in Takayama City, for its fuel.

The raw material for the biocoke is wood residue generated during the essential oil production process at Hida Sangyo Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture; President: Akiko Okada, hereinafter Hida Sangyo). Wood residue refers to the pulp left after distilling essential oils.

Hida Sangyo Aroma Distilled Water

Furthermore, the distilled water extracted along with the essential oils will be used as an aroma in the sauna room. The space is designed to allow visitors to experience the blessings of the Hida forest through both heat and scent.

This initiative to turn local wood residue into biocoke and use it as fuel for a public bathhouse sauna is a first in Japan (according to our research). Through this regional resource-circulating sauna project, Inari-yu aims to create a new model for the sustainability of public bathhouse management and regional resource circulation.

How to Preserve Public Bathhouses in an Era of Soaring Fuel Prices

Since its establishment in 1943, Inari-yu has operated as a public bathhouse that is close to the lives of the people of Takayama City. Public bathhouses are a part of the daily life infrastructure where local people can soak in a bath, meet each other, and spend time in a safe environment.

However, public bathhouses are also businesses that require a large amount of thermal energy. The recent surge in fuel prices due to international affairs, currency exchange rates, and energy market fluctuations has become a very serious issue for small, local public bathhouse operators.

In response to this challenge, Inari-yu has been working to materialize a form of public bathhouse management that is not only about reducing fuel costs but is also less susceptible to global situations and fossil fuel prices.

This sauna renewal is not just an equipment update to meet the sauna boom. It is an effort to move away from fossil fuels and circulate resources within the region to preserve the beloved local public bathhouse for the future.

From Unused Resources of the Hida Forest to Local Thermal Energy

The Hida region is rich in forest resources. On the other hand, the process of utilizing wood also generates offcuts and unused parts that do not become products.

In this initiative, the wood residue generated during Hida Sangyo's essential oil production process will be converted into biocoke by AEJ and used as sauna fuel at Inari-yu.

Biocoke is a technology that utilizes unused resources of plant origin as solid fuel. By using this fuel as a heat source for the sauna, Inari-yu converts local forest resources into local thermal energy.

Furthermore, by incorporating the distilled water produced alongside essential oils as an aroma in the sauna room, users can also experience the blessings of the Hida forest through scent.

Resources born from the forest become heat and aroma, warming people's bodies. The ash after combustion is then provided to local farmers. The new sauna at Inari-yu is an initiative that implements a circulation model that utilizes regional resources with as little waste as possible into the daily bathing culture.

Biocoke

A Sauna Open to Daily Local Life, Produced by madsaunist

The renewed sauna is produced by the academic sauna label 'madsaunist,' a top-tier name in the sauna world with a constant stream of requests from all over the country.

Inari-yu's new sauna features a commercial wood-burning sauna stove by Kenz Metal Work from Chino City, Nagano. Combined with madsaunist's original steam generator developed with metalworking technology from Tsubame-Sanjo, it creates a sauna environment that layers fine steam over the powerful heat unique to a wood-burning stove.

The sauna room uses distilled water from Hida Sangyo's essential oil production process for its aroma, creating a space where the blessings of the Hida forest can be felt not just through heat but also through scent.

The sauna has a capacity of 16 people. It is designed not only for people visiting from afar for a special sauna experience but also as a public bathhouse sauna that locals can use daily, offering an experience that includes heat, steam, aroma, breathability, and even the story behind the fuel.

Inari-yu Sauna

Regional Resource Circulation Model

This initiative establishes the following circulation model:

Utilizing wood residue from Hida Sangyo's essential oil production process

AEJ converts the wood residue into biocoke

Used as sauna fuel at Inari-yu

Distilled water from the essential oil process is used for aroma in the sauna

Combustion ash is provided to local farmers

Inari-yu Sauna Regional Resource Circulation Image

This creates a cycle that connects forest resources, manufacturing, energy, public bathhouses, and agriculture within the region.

Through this initiative, Inari-yu will work on implementing a new model to enhance the sustainability of local public bathhouses.

Comments from Partner Companies

inari LLC

Since its founding in 1943, Inari-yu has served as a public bathhouse close to the community. While its primary role was once to support public health infrastructure, in recent years it has also become a community hub where people gather and connect.

This renewed sauna is more than just an equipment update. By using biocoke from Hida's forest residue and allowing people to experience its heat and aroma in the everyday setting of a sauna, we aim to create a facility where visitors can engage with the potential of regional resource circulation and thermal energy.

As a business that requires a large amount of thermal energy, decarbonization efforts using regional resources will be crucial for public bathhouses. We hope this sauna will not only be a daily pleasure for locals but also an opportunity to experience a new thermal energy cycle in Hida Takayama.

madsaunist

For the Inari-yu sauna, we focused on meticulously designing every aspect—heat, steam, aroma, and breathability—while ensuring it remains a public bathhouse sauna rooted in the daily life of the community.

The heat source is a commercial wood-burning sauna stove from Kenz Metal Work, highly regarded in the sauna world, combined with our proprietary steam generator. By layering fine steam onto the powerful heat of the wood stove, we aimed for a thermal environment that is not just hot, but delivers moisture-laden heat deep into the body.

We also used three types of sauna stones with different properties, leveraging their heat storage and radiation characteristics to create multi-layered radiant heat. This unique setup allows for a deep sauna space where you feel solid heat pressure from the moment you enter, but the feel on the skin is not overly sharp.

At the same time, Inari-yu is a public bathhouse for daily use by locals. Instead of an extreme setting for sauna enthusiasts only, we designed it so that a wide range of people, from the elderly to the young, can enjoy it, with a milder heat on the lower bench and a solid heat on the upper bench, allowing users to choose their experience based on where they sit.

Furthermore, by adopting our original MAD-style ventilation system, we have created an air environment that maintains sufficient heat and steam without compromising ease of breathing.

Overall, the new sauna at Inari-yu is designed around the concept of being 'hot and humid, yet easy to breathe.' We hope people will experience the cycle of regional resources becoming heat and aroma, delivered to the body through the daily bathing culture, via the sauna experience.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY JAPAN Inc.

Under the vision of 'Turning regional challenges into future energy, creating new energy that surpasses coal,' ALTERNATIVE ENERGY JAPAN is engaged in the development of biocoke using regional resources.

By utilizing wood-based biocoke as fuel for the Inari-yu sauna, we have created a concrete example of converting unused regional resources into local thermal energy.

The wood material needed for biocoke production is provided by Hida Sangyo, making this a true practical model of a circular economy where 'resources generated in the region are circulated as energy within the region.'

Moreover, this initiative is not just a fuel switch but a new regional co-creation model that connects the Hida region's forest resources, manufacturing, bathing culture, and tourism experiences.

A major feature is that visitors can feel circular energy with their five senses through the 'tangible heat' of the sauna.

The Hida region has abundant forest resources with much untapped potential. By using biocoke in a public bathhouse, a place open to the community, we expect many people will be able to experience the potential of regional resource circulation.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY JAPAN will continue to promote the creation of energy circulation systems that utilize unused regional resources, contributing to the realization of a sustainable local society.

Hida Sangyo Co., Ltd.

As a wooden furniture manufacturer, Hida Sangyo operates under the desire to 'utilize the blessings of the forest without waste.' We use wood that cannot be used for furniture and branches from pruning to protect the mountains to produce aromatic products that enrich life.

We are pleased to announce the opening of a resource-circulating sauna facility in the same city, which uses biocoke made from the residue of our essential oil production process as its energy source.

The distilled water produced during the essential oil extraction process is also used in the sauna room, allowing visitors to enjoy a pleasant time enveloped in the scent of the Hida forest.

This connects regional forest resources not only to furniture and aromatic products but also to energy and experiential value. We hope this initiative will trigger new resource circulation in the Hida region.

Production Team / Partner Companies

■ Inari-yu

A public bathhouse (sento) in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, founded in 1943.

For many years, it has operated as a bathing facility supporting the lives of the local community.

In recent years, in addition to its role as a sento supporting local residents, it has continued to create a new form of public bathhouse open to tourists and younger generations, rooted in the community.

This renewal introduces a new sauna that utilizes regional resources while inheriting the daily bathing culture. By incorporating heat, aroma, and resource circulation into the familiar setting of a public bathhouse, it delivers a new sento experience that connects the life of Hida Takayama with the future of the region.

■ madsaunist

A creative team that deconstructs the sauna as a 'science,' with a design scope that includes production and medicine. With a strength in original designs that balance high-density steam and a delicate thermal environment, they handle everything from spatial design and steam design to experience production, gear development, and facility production. They redefine skin sensation and deep thermal feeling with heat and steam waves different from conventional saunas, establishing a new experiential realm described as 'hot and humid, yet easy to breathe.' Every place they've been involved with has become a center of attention. They continue to update the possibilities of the sauna experience and received the 'Saunner of the Year 2024' award.

■ ALTERNATIVE ENERGY JAPAN Inc.

A company based in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, engaged in developing next-generation energy using regional resources. Under the vision of 'Turning regional challenges into future energy, creating new energy that surpasses coal,' they promote the production and use of biocoke, a solid fuel made from unused resources.

Biocoke is a technology that densifies unused resources of plant and animal origin into solid fuel, with wide potential as an alternative to coal and firewood for industrial and local heat use. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY JAPAN aims to solve regional issues and reduce CO₂ emissions by converting existing resources from waste back into valuable energy.

As a company rooted in the Hida region, they focus on the potential of dormant resources such as forest resources, agricultural and livestock resources, and by-products from manufacturing processes, working to build an energy model that circulates resources within the region.

■ Hida Sangyo Co., Ltd.

A wooden furniture manufacturer founded in Hida Takayama in 1920. Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2020, the company operates under the aspiration to 'make Hida a sacred place for woodworking with the spirit and skill of a master craftsman,' based on four values: 'thinking of people,' 'inheriting time,' 'polishing skills,' and 'walking with the forest.' Under its furniture brand HIDA, the company aims for sustainable manufacturing rooted in the region. In 2013, it established the 'Kitsutsuki Forest Research Institute' and also operates a sap business that produces aroma products and agricultural materials mainly from Hida trees using a unique 'high-pressure steam distillation method.'

Facility/Company Information (Contact)

Company Name: inari LLC

Representative: Takuro Nakamura

Established: March 18, 2022

Location: 2-4 Hachikenmachi, Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture 506-0012

Sento Facility HP: https://yutopia-takayama.net/

Business: Operation of public bathhouse (Inari-yu) and simple lodging (cup of tea)

Google Maps ▶ https://maps.app.goo.gl/UKF1ebXFF3guXS93A

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Contact: momoe.inariyu@gmail.com (Attn: Shiraiwa)