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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dusk Arrival at the Dougo Onsen
道後温泉
Matsuyama, Japan
This post picks up from “Day 2: Bridge Bicycle Ride Part 2”, about our short trip to Imabari earlier in the month. After spending the day riding bikes across a long suspension bridge, we made the drive south to the city of Matsuyama, to visit the oldest (or one of the oldest) hot springs in Japan, the Dougo Onsen. It's mentioned in literature more than 1,200 years old, but the building itself is brand spanking new, having been built a scant 117 years ago.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Main Building at the Dougo Onsen
with the “Tama no Ishi” (玉の石) in the lower left
There's some legend related to the creation of Japan and some rock that some mythical/legend dude danced on..... and now you can pour water on the rock with a long ladle, for some reason.... (???)
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Long Reach
“Tama no Ishi” (玉の石)
This was the first time I'd seen actual gas street lights...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gas Street Lamps
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/8000 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Underexposed For Detail
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op at the Main Entrance
We got a course of services whereby we could have a small private room for an hour, using it to get ready for the bath, and to have some tea and sweets after. The room was on the third floor, overlooking the second floor roof and open to the sounds of bath and food and relaxing...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/25 sec, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
From The Third Floor
For reference, the railing seen left of center, in the distance between the two parts of the building, is exactly that one that Fumie is next to in the first photo of this post.
The light in the fading sky was really nice, but made nicer by the apparently strong natural vignette of the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 when it's used wide open. The following shot loses all its character when I enable the profiled lens corrections in Lightroom (so I left them disabled)...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm, cropped — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Before Our Bath
We then went for our bath, Fumie to hers and Anthony and I to ours. It was okay, but frankly, nothing particularly special. Sort of boring.
Returning to our room, we found tea and Bocchan Dango sweets waiting.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Just a bit Impatient
The writer of a famous 1906 novel, Bocchan, liked this onsen (hot springs), and now they make ample use of his name and works everywhere, including in the name of the sweets.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
First Taste
They were apparently tasty enough for Anthony to want mine, so I have to take his word on it.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Silly Mirror
on the way out
Anthony was asleep 10 minutes later, as we drove back to the hotel in Imabari.
Some great night time shots! I’m currently shopping a nice wide and fast lens for my Canon. Thinking of the 35mm f/1.4L. My 2.8 lenses just don’t quite cut it at night.
Oh and watch your head, there’s a big bamboo rail behind you!
Oh, I love onsens. I remember Ikaho and Kusatsu onsen towns, so pretty in fall.
And indeed, you sleep like a baby after the night bath.
Luc
Your Main Bldg Photo and Dougo Onsen Main Entrance photo have a very SPIRITED AWAY quality. The red glass at the top of that (pavillion?) the golden lights and the blue sky are very inviting and create an evocative mood that makes you REALLY want to be there. People who have been to Onsen towns and Aspen (I imagine) will feel intense nostalgia upon seeing these seemingly benign/mundane photos. [On your Eizo & Mac Monitors can you see definition in the shadows under the eaves?]
Also worth mentioning: the photos of your son’s flushed face in that harsh city-morgue lighting that is the norm in those tatami rooms also brings fond memories of time spent in Japan. -that onsen after glow feeling and the impending jetlag…. (Mina-san, oyasumi-nasai! 🙂 )