A neighborhood sento (public bathhouse) that was thinking of closing after 99 years is being taken over by one of its former regulars. Matsuyu, which has been heating its baths in Yamatotakada, Nara Prefecture, since the early Showa era, has found its next keeper. Matsuyu, which marked its 99th year in 2026, plans to repair its aging facilities and reopen around spring 2027, and a project to make that happen is now under way. With the reopening, its name will change to “Honmachi Matsuyu”.
A long-running bathhouse thinking of closing, and a young regular ready to carry it on
Matsuyu was founded in 1927 (Showa 2). It had long been loved as the local bath, but with the building and equipment deteriorating and the owner getting older, the owner had been considering closing, while still wishing the place could be kept alive if at all possible.
That is when the owner met 太田有哉, a Nara native who has been running and reviving sento. Ota spent his high school years at Nara Prefectural Takada High School in Yamatotakada and had been coming to Matsuyu as a customer for about ten years. Ota, who wants to pass on as many of Nara’s sento as possible to the next generation, and the owner, who wanted the bathhouse to continue, found they shared the same goal, and agreed that Ota would take over Matsuyu.
Born in 1995, Ota graduated from Kansai University and worked at a financial institution before entering the world of sento. He trained as a live-in apprentice at Miyakoyu in Shiga Prefecture and joined the project to revive Gose Takarayu in Gose, Nara Prefecture, serving as its manager for about three years after the reopening. He then ran Miyakoyu Shimabara in Kyoto as manager for about a year from its launch. He is now based in Nara, working to keep sento culture alive in regional areas. Having moved through bathhouses in Shiga, Nara and Kyoto, he will now pour that experience into the one he used to visit himself.
Neither unchanged nor something entirely new
The aim of the renewal is neither to preserve the old building exactly as it is nor to rebuild it as a completely new facility. Worn-out equipment will be renovated while treasuring the history and atmosphere the bathhouse has built up over the years. The idea is to make it even closer to the neighbors who have been coming for years, and also a place loved by younger people trying a sento for the first time and by visitors from outside the city.
The new name, “Honmachi Matsuyu”, keeps the familiar name “Matsuyu” while showing its bond with the neighborhood more clearly. The bathhouse sees its 100th anniversary not as the end of an era but as a new beginning, and intends to carry on into the next 100 years.
Facility details
- Name: Matsuyu (to become “Honmachi Matsuyu” after the renewal)
- Address: 8-13 Minamihonmachi, Yamatotakada, Nara Prefecture
- Founded: 1927 (Showa 2)
- Planned reopening: around spring 2027
- 太田有哉 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ochan_sentomode/
