Hiroshima's First Kura Storehouse Sauna 'SAUNA WABI-SABI' Grand Opens on April 1, 2026
SAUNA WABI-SABI, a renovated 100-year-old traditional storehouse sauna, opened in Yuki-cho, Hiroshima. It offers a unique wellness experience featuring ultra-soft water baths and a massive wood-burning stove to revitalize the historic hot spring district.
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- 📰 Published: April 1, 2026 at 21:00
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Ditto Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Hiroshima Prefecture, CEO: Masateru Saito) grand-opened the kura (storehouse) sauna facility 'SAUNA WABI-SABI' on April 1, 2026, in Yuki-cho, Saeki-ku, Hiroshima City. This facility, a renovation of a 100-year-old traditional Japanese house and earthen storehouse that had been vacant, provides a unique sauna experience featuring free-flowing ultra-soft water baths pumped from underground in Yuki-cho and a kura sauna equipped with a massive wood-burning stove. A crowdfunding campaign is currently underway on CAMPFIRE.
Project Page: https://camp-fire.jp/projects/850154/view
■ Adding a New Chapter of Sauna to 1500 Years of Hot Spring Culture
Yuki-cho is located about 40 minutes by car from central Hiroshima City. It is a rare hot spring village designated as both a National Health Spa and a National Recreation Spa, featuring two famous springs: 'Yuki Onsen' (discovered 1500 years ago) and 'Yunoyama Onsen,' which flourished as a healing spa for Lord Asano of the Hiroshima Domain. This mountain village, where the Minouchi River—home to the queen of clear streams, sweetfish (ayu)—flows and fireflies dance in summer, has long been beloved as the 'back parlor of Hiroshima.'
On the other hand, in recent years, the vitality of the hot spring town has faded due to depopulation, leaving behind historic traditional houses and earthen storehouses as vacant properties. 'SAUNA WABI-SABI' was born to renovate these 100-year-old buildings and merge the 'power to heal people' that has continued in this land with modern sauna culture.
■ Facility Name: 'SAUNA WABI-SABI'
The 'WABI-SABI' in the facility name derives from the Japanese aesthetic of finding beauty in imperfection and aging. We aim to be a place where you can 'reset the present' through all five senses: the cracks in the 100-year-old mud walls and the texture of the wood left as they are, the sound of burning wood, the steam and aroma ofロウリュ (löyly), and the sensation of water on the skin.
Three Unique Experiences of This Sauna
① Kura Sauna with a Massive Wood-burning Stove
The kura sauna, which can accommodate up to 20 people, is a one-of-a-kind space with high heat and moisture retention created by thick mud walls and all-cypress wood. The radiant heat emitted from the massive wood-burning sauna stove, handcrafted by artisans at Ken's Metal Work in Nagano Prefecture, instantly warms the body.
Project Page: https://camp-fire.jp/projects/850154/view
■ Adding a New Chapter of Sauna to 1500 Years of Hot Spring Culture
Yuki-cho is located about 40 minutes by car from central Hiroshima City. It is a rare hot spring village designated as both a National Health Spa and a National Recreation Spa, featuring two famous springs: 'Yuki Onsen' (discovered 1500 years ago) and 'Yunoyama Onsen,' which flourished as a healing spa for Lord Asano of the Hiroshima Domain. This mountain village, where the Minouchi River—home to the queen of clear streams, sweetfish (ayu)—flows and fireflies dance in summer, has long been beloved as the 'back parlor of Hiroshima.'
On the other hand, in recent years, the vitality of the hot spring town has faded due to depopulation, leaving behind historic traditional houses and earthen storehouses as vacant properties. 'SAUNA WABI-SABI' was born to renovate these 100-year-old buildings and merge the 'power to heal people' that has continued in this land with modern sauna culture.
■ Facility Name: 'SAUNA WABI-SABI'
The 'WABI-SABI' in the facility name derives from the Japanese aesthetic of finding beauty in imperfection and aging. We aim to be a place where you can 'reset the present' through all five senses: the cracks in the 100-year-old mud walls and the texture of the wood left as they are, the sound of burning wood, the steam and aroma ofロウリュ (löyly), and the sensation of water on the skin.
Three Unique Experiences of This Sauna
① Kura Sauna with a Massive Wood-burning Stove
The kura sauna, which can accommodate up to 20 people, is a one-of-a-kind space with high heat and moisture retention created by thick mud walls and all-cypress wood. The radiant heat emitted from the massive wood-burning sauna stove, handcrafted by artisans at Ken's Metal Work in Nagano Prefecture, instantly warms the body.