The ancient practice of sand bathing is not for the claustrophobic.
After wrapping a yukata over my raw body , I am led into the dimly lit , wooden annexe of theIbusuki Hakusuikanhotel , built atop Ibusuki Beach . It feels as though I ’ve just walk in on a scene I was n’t supposed to see : rows of isolated , human heads poke out of manicured brown sand . It all feel very restrained , as bather silently fight soreness in the name of relaxation , beads of sweat wash their flushed case .
But it ’s not entirely serious . A few kidskin are building sand castle at the metrical unit of their forget parents . An on - site photographer points to a photo display — the sort you see at the end ofamusement parkrides — and asks my chemical group if we ’d like the photo of our heads to shine a neat - line or back - to - back orientation course . I watch as a span decide , without ceremonial , to arise from their modest , sandy tombs , casually brushing off their yakutas . A young employee with a rake refill the body - sized ditches they ’ve just left behind .
The Nipponese city of Ibusuki , locate on the southerly hint of Kyushu ’s Satsuma Peninsula , is often billed as the “ Hawaiiof Japan , ” famous for beach heated byvolcanic hot springs . The vent Mount Kaimon , nicknamed the “ Fujiof Satsuma ” for its conical cast , bulk large in the distance .
There I am, middle-left.|Photo courtesy of Ibusuki Hakusuikan
Ibusuki is the only place in the world where you’re able to get a sunamushi onsen , or lifelike moxie bath ( you’re able to attempt to revive a adaptation of it , though , atSojo Spa Clubin New Jersey , where the volcanic sand is embark in from Hakusaikan ) . If you ’re one of the many travelers who are attempt out rarewellness experience integrated with nature , this far - out , seaside townspeople is worth the pilgrimage .
I spent the past hebdomad in Ibusuki ’s majuscule Kagoshima Prefecture , getting acquainted with the concept of an onsen , a cross between a blistering spring and a bathhouse , where naked bathers douse in and out of steamy and icy pond . Just as I was finally getting used to the self - confrontational experience that is bathing oneself in front of a mirror , stoop over a downturned bowl , the sand bathing tub was there to humiliate me once again .
" You really have to fight the impulse to break free when you ’re enveloped like a hot potato covered in tinfoil . "
Sand bathers lie in their plots, with sounds of the ocean in the background.|brize99/Shutterstock
While a bit of resort dotting the coastline of Ibusuki boast private gumption bath , the praxis is , for many locals , a way of life . “ I have storage of my parent and the other adults in my neighborhood go to Fushime Beach to enjoy gumption steaming , ” says our tour usher , Hiroko Otani , who was born and farm in Ibusuki . “ We cut into our own holes in the beach and spent clock time pouring sand over each other with shovels . ”
The custom is said to have been around for over 300 year , date back to when warrior in Ibusuki used hot spring to bring around blade wounds . “ There ’s a platter of a ‘ grit steamer spicy springiness cure ’ used at Surigahama ( a beach in Ibusuki City ) in 1703 , ” Otani says . An former usher to Kagoshima write in 1843 , entitledSangoku Meisho Zue(Illustrated Guide to the Famous Views of the Three Countries ) , defines the unconscious process of moxie steaming , cite it as a treatment for musculoskeletal botheration .
Getting buried up to your neck in hot , volcanic sand has a lot of health benefits , Otani explains . The heat from the red-hot bound make blood vessels to distend , which kick upstairs circulation . And because you ’re lying horizontally , blood flows more easily back to the heart , increasing the amount that gets pump out . This can work to do all sorts of things , consort to Otani , like refresh your skin , help your physical structure even out out toxins , and even cure ailments like back pain , neuralgia , and joint pain in the neck . Whatever your traditional hot spring can do , the gumption bath is supposed to do it three to four time good .
It should be noted that I have tried , and will continue to prove , any health experience that get under my nose — from enraptured saltation to centripetal neediness — because I am curious as much as I am unbelieving . I ’ve rise tired of the white - marbled , cult - like aesthetic that ’s become the average at wellness centre in New York City , and I was quite pleased with the charmingly dated facilities at Hakusuikan . The traditional hotel has been around for over 70 year , and you could assure . Tatami mats run along each room , which are opened and locked with literal Florida key .
So when I stepped into my burial plot , I felt as though I was engaging in an activity that ’s actually steeped in history . There ’s a modest wooden block for your head , which I rate a towel on , to make a little pillow . After I laid down , the man with the rakehell came over and proceeded to cover me with the raging gumption , which had the immediate , heavy sensation of a leaden blanket , and to my surprise , he tucked my hand and feet in , too .
“ Are you comfortable ? ” he take , hilariously .
The lensman cleave some red umbrella into the sand for decoration , asked us to change by reversal our head , then snapped a pic . We were say that the longest we should stay buried is 15 mo — any more than that and you execute the peril of overheating . I was staring straight up at an parallel clock , as some traditional Japanese music work faintly in the scope . We must ’ve been facing the sea , but I could n’t quite tell , as it was already obscure out . My mind became restless , wondering if , somehow , this experience would curemy traveler ’s constipation(it did n’t ) .
As a hot yoga enthusiast , I do not say this lightly : Things started to get really spicy . I could experience my pelt pulsating , and every crevice of my body was drenched with effort . You really have to struggle the urge to break free when you ’re enwrap like a hot potato cover in tinfoil . But if there ’s one matter I learned during this trip , it ’s that no one knows how to be patient quite like the Japanese , who in reality hold back for the pedestrian signal to cross the street ; who favor drip coffee over minute ; who line up out of doors of restaurants instead of trust on the convenience of Resy ; who sing about the gradual growth of moss in their interior anthem .
I made it to the 15 - minute mark , frighten away for the first showerhead I could find out at the adjacent onsen , then arrange a insensate glass of Asahi at dinner party , which belike counteracted whatever detoxifying benefit may have come from the process . It ’s hard to say what the immediate impression of the sand bathing tub were , or if it was the mop up of onsen experiences , but I returned from an action - pack trip to Japan with glowing tegument , piffling to no muscle rawness , and some pretty funny pictures of my floating head .
