Minori no Yu
- Location
- Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan
- Water type
- iron-rich
- Temperature
- 38 °C
- pH
- 6.3
Water profile
Soothing — neither hot nor cold, perfect balance.
Rich in active gases or metals — a strong mineral character.
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
Minori no Yu, operated as the Kashiwa Health Center in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, was a natural hot spring resort in the Joyuni district of Kashiwa that drew ferruginous mineral waters to provide thermal bathing to residents of this large suburban city in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, operating until its closure on 31 January 2022. Kashiwa City, home to the Kashiwa Reysol football club and one of the major commercial and residential centers of northwestern Chiba Prefecture, provided urban residents access to natural iron-rich hot spring bathing through this facility without requiring the journey to a mountain or coastal resort. The ferruginous waters of Minori no Yu were valued for their reddish mineral character within the local bathing tradition, and the facility's closure represents the ongoing consolidation of urban hot spring culture as commercial pressures reshape the recreational landscape of the greater Tokyo suburban zone.