Kawane, Shizuoka: Riding the Oigawa Railway to Open-Air Baths Beside the Line

Kawane, in Shizuoka, is a stretch of the Oigawa Railway where some railway buildings from the company's founding are still in use as they are, where the steam locomotives run as Thomas and Percy, and where open-air baths look out on the passing line. A retro mood hangs over Ieyama, one of the stops, often used as a film location. At the hot spring, eleven baths for men and women combined are fed straight from the source, a natural way to end the ride.

Riding the Oigawa Railway: Electric Trains and Original Station Buildings

The ride is the first thing to do here, and it begins at the ticket gate, where the staff punch each hard-card ticket by hand, one at a time. Three types of electric rolling stock work the main line.

Riding the all-stops ordinary electric service gives a leisurely atmosphere along the line, and because some railway buildings from the company's founding are still in use as they are, each stop is part of what you came to see rather than a pause in it.

The steam locomotives run as Thomas and Percy, and Thomas runs on the Oigawa Railway for a limited period; during the Thomas period a Thomas Fair and similar events are held, and the area is busy with many families. The EL express, a traditional passenger-car service hauled by an electric locomotive, runs all year round, while the black steam locomotive is suspended for the time being.

If you want an unhurried ride, the all-stops service keeps to its relaxed pace; if you are travelling with children, the Thomas period, with its fair and its many families, is the one to aim for.

Ieyama: Platform, Cherry Tunnel, Nomori Pond and Tennozan Park

The wooden railway building at Ieyama has an atmosphere that suits a steam locomotive and is often used as a film location; Thomas always calls at Ieyama, and the stop is a photo spot.

The trees of the Ieyama cherry-blossom tunnel, centred on Somei-yoshino, are about ninety-five years old. In cherry-blossom season the avenue colours the national road pink, and the Kawane Sakura Festival is held every year as the blossoms open. Next to the tunnel, Sakura Chaya sells tea and manju and is known for its soba-inari.

Nomori Pond lies in the centre of Kawane-cho Ieyama, the water that remained when the flow of the once-meandering Oi River was cut off, and anglers fish it for crucian carp every day. Nomori Pond is about a ten-minute walk from Ieyama Station. Between Ieyama and the pond, Tennozan Park has a lawn plaza and an open-air stage where a music festival is held in summer, and in winter the whole of Tennozan is decorated with illuminations.

If you have time between departures, the pond is for angling and the park for its lawn and stage; if time is short, the wooden building alone makes the stop worthwhile.

Tea Fields at Nukuri and the Bridge by the Hot Spring

Nukuri sits in one continuous stretch of tea fields. In May the green of the new tea is dazzling to the eye, and with the carriage window open a sweet scent of tea drifts in on the wind.

Around Nukuri, flower beds of seasonal flowers and trees such as peach and cherry are neatly kept, and the tea fields spreading around the stop are a photography spot. Nukuri has no staff, and local people regularly sell side dishes there.

The Ieyama-gawa bridge can be photographed from the Ieyama-gawa riverbed, and the bridge that spans beside Kawane Onsen is ten minutes on foot from Kawane-onsen Sasamado Station. If photographing the railway is the point of the day, the riverbed below the Ieyama-gawa bridge is the place to set up; if tea is the point, come in May.

Kawane Onsen: Open-Air Baths, a Foot Bath and Lunch at Moegi

Kawane Onsen Fureai-no-Izumi is the reason to ride to the end. Its open-air baths, from which the steam locomotives can be seen, number eleven for men and women combined, all filled with hot spring water flowing straight from the source.

The foot bath is filled with the same Kawane Onsen source water and can be used without paying; towels for your feet are sold at the neighbouring shop. Around Kawane-onsen Sasamado are the Michi-no-eki Kawane Onsen, the Kawane Onsen Hotel, the Mura-no-ichi market and en, a cafe with rooms, and the railway building is Cafe Higurashi.

Lunch is at Moegi, a dining hall of eighty tatami mats that also serves as a rest area. The dishes lean on the local tea: the tea-pork steak set, the extra-dark tea soba made with a Kawane tea soba four times as dark, the standard Kawane tea soba, and the Kawane Onsen salt ramen.

If you want a soak with the locomotives in view, head for the open-air baths; for a lighter stop, the foot bath will do. To stay over rather than ride back, there are places to stay in Shimada.

A Day Along the Line, Stop by Stop

Board at Kanaya: the down timetable row for Kanaya departures begins with seven twenty-four, eight fifty-three and ten in the morning. Get off first at Ieyama; the staffed window at Ieyama Station is attended from six ten in the morning to six fifty in the evening.

Ride on through Nukuri, and get off at Kawane-onsen Sasamado for the baths and lunch at Moegi. Bathing at Kawane Onsen Fureai-no-Izumi runs from nine in the morning to seven in the evening, and reception ends at half past six in the evening. The baths are closed on the first and third Tuesdays, or on the next weekday when that Tuesday is a public holiday, so plan around those dates.

Returning, the up timetable row for Kawane-onsen Sasamado departures has three thirty-two in the afternoon and then six forty in the evening as its last time. The up row for Ieyama departures ends with six forty-eight and eight twenty-six in the evening. The operating timetable can change without notice, for vehicle breakdowns among other causes. If the soak is what you came for, take it well before the last listed departure; if the pond and park matter more, give Ieyama the afternoon.

Getting to Kawane

Leg	How	Time or cost
Shizuoka Station to Kanaya Station	Ride	About 31 minutes
JR Kanaya Station ticket gate to the Oigawa Railway Kanaya Station	Walk	About 1 minute
Kanaya to Shin-Kanaya	Oigawa Main Line local train	About 4 minutes
Kanaya to Ieyama, adult fare	Oigawa Main Line	830 yen
Kanaya to Kawane-onsen Sasamado, adult fare	Oigawa Main Line	920 yen
SL and EL express charge, adult, on top of the fare	Oigawa Main Line	1,500 yen
Beyond Kawane-onsen Sasamado toward Senzu	Service suspended; change to the Kawanehon-cho community bus at Ieyama	-

By car from the Shimada-Kanaya interchange on the Shin-Tomei Expressway, Ieyama Station is about twenty-eight minutes to the north. Parking at Shin-Kanaya Station is one thousand yen per day for a private car.

New to rural buses and one-man trains? See how to ride them, step by step.

Hours and Fees

Place	What	Hours or fee
Kawane Onsen Fureai-no-Izumi	Bathing hours, reception ends at 18:30	9:00 to 19:00
Kawane Onsen Fureai-no-Izumi	Closing days	First and third Tuesdays, or the next weekday if a public holiday
Kawane Onsen Fureai-no-Izumi	Day bath, adult	820 yen
Kawane Onsen Fureai-no-Izumi	Day bath, elementary school child	620 yen
Kawane Onsen Fureai-no-Izumi	Foot bath	Free, 9:00 to 19:00
Moegi dining hall	Weekdays, last order at 16:00	From 11:00
Moegi dining hall	Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, last order at 18:00	From 11:00
Oigawa Main Line	Free ticket, adult, SL and EL express operating days	4,800 yen
Kawane Onsen Fureai-no-Izumi	Day bath discount with the free ticket	200 yen off

Child fares are half of adult fares, rounded up to the next ten yen.