Amanemu

Onsen, kampo and the Ise Jingu forest

The method starts with the water. Amanemu is fed by a mineral-rich hot spring, and the property is arranged so that bathing is the spine of the day rather than an event: a thermal spring garden with daybeds, two private onsen pavilions in the spa, and a private onsen in every suite. Guests who arrive sceptical of hot water as therapy tend to change their minds by the second night, largely because of what it does to sleep.

Medicinal Bathing is the formalised version. Three therapeutic bath types, based on the essential elements of Eastern medicine, are taken in the private onsen pavilions, which is a considerably more structured proposition than simply using the baths.

Kampo, the Japanese adaptation of Chinese herbal medicine, runs through the Seasonal Spa Journey, which uses kampo formulations aligned to the rhythms of the year rather than to a diagnosis. Acupuncture, shiatsu and moxibustion are all available and delivered with the precision and lack of theatre that characterises Japanese treatment practice.

The Essence of Tokowaka is the house signature: six yoga sessions paired with six treatments, designed to bring body and mind back into alignment with the elements and the chakras. Forest bathing and meditation take place in the sacred forests of Ise Jingu, with an optional visit to the Izawa-no-miya shrine, and the Sacred Dance lesson teaches Saishi-mai, the Shinto ritual dance, accompanied by gagaku, the ancient court music.

What Amanemu is not is a clinic. There is no physician, no diagnostic panel and no medical protocol. This is bathing, bodywork, herbal medicine and forest practised at a very high level, which is a different proposition from measurement.

Ise-Shima on the plate

Daily breakfast and dinner are included with every stay, which is unusual for Aman and reflects how much of the day here happens on the property.

Ise-Shima is one of Japan’s great food regions, known particularly for its seafood, its pearl diving tradition and its role supplying the Ise Jingu shrine. Washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine, is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list and is by accident of history very close to an ideal wellness diet: fish, fermented foods, seaweed, seasonal vegetables, small portions, almost no dairy or sugar.

The practical consequence is that nothing needs to be modified to make the food work for a wellness stay. There is no diet version of the menu because the menu is already the thing. The detail of the restaurants and the specific programme menus is not published by Aman and is on the list to confirm.

Two thousand square metres of spa, and seven private onsen

The spa covers two thousand square metres and holds four treatment suites, two private onsen pavilions for bathing, an Aqua Movement Suite, and a hydrotherapy area with sauna, steam room and changing facilities. There is a finishing salon for manicures and pedicures, strength training and cardiovascular equipment, a Power Plate platform and an outdoor yoga deck.

The main thermal spring garden is the centre of the property, fed by the mineral hot spring and laid out with daybeds. Alongside it, the two separate onsen pavilions allow private bathing, which is what makes the Medicinal Bathing programme possible.

Accommodation is split between suites and villas, all of them with a private onsen bath. The villas are two-bedroom and take extensive indoor and outdoor living space; the suites combine bedroom and living area. Both draw on minka farmhouse architecture, and the categories are named for what they look onto: Mori for the garden, Sora and Nagi for Ago Bay, Tsuki for its own garden and bathing pavilion.

Outside, Ise-Shima National Park runs down to a heavily indented coastline of pearl farms and small islands, and the Ise Jingu shrine complex, the most sacred site in Shinto, is within reach for the forest bathing sessions.