KOAMIGAME
The “GAME(KAME)” in the name of the facility “KOAMIGAME” means “turtle” in Japanese.
KOAMIGAME” is not a real turtle.
It is a private facility with a sauna, a dog, and lodging as its themes, and a good old-fashioned Japanese atmosphere.
It is located in a renovated warehouse in Takahagi City, a hidden region in Ibaraki Prefecture, where clean rivers are abundant,
We aim to create a space that can be visited by anyone, including children and pets.
Mountains, rivers, and fields… a satoyama landscape as if you have time-traveled back to the Showa period.
Take home your own personal impressions and create your own hideaway in Ibaraki that no one knows about yet.
2021.10 Sauna facilities open where you can feel the nature of Takahagi close at hand.
2024.05 Open an inn where you can stay with your pets.
Origin of KOAMIGAME
Koami(小網) is derived from Oami(大網)
小網亀 is the Chinese character for KOAMIGAME. “Koami(小網)” is related to “Oami(大網),” a marginal village in the village of Kotani, Nagano Prefecture.
Despite the fact that it is a marginal settlement, many people visit there. This is because the young generation who fell in love with Oami and decided to live there have started to live there and have created a new community called “KURASHITE”.
Oami has become my second hometown through my visits there.
I want to make it a place where people welcome you with a “welcome back（OKAERI）” and send you off with a “see you later（MATANE）.”
I wanted to make it such a place, so I named it Koami(小網) in honor of Oami(大網).
Thoughts on the KAME(Turtles)
We want KOAMIGAME to be a facility where visitors can slow down and enjoy their own pace, just like the image of “turtles”.
During the six months that I spent looking around for vacant houses, I saw many houses rotting away because they were uninhabited. A house cannot live without people. In that sense, I named the house “Turtle” to mimic a living creature, the turtles, and to express my hope that the house will grow in the future.
Yakushima tortoise (Testudo graeca)
It is also related to [Aperuy], where I was taken care of when I visited Yakushima to climb a stream.
The people who spent time at Aperuy appeared to have a mutual respect for each other, regardless of whether they were children or adults. Seeing such relationships for the first time gave me the feeling that I had already seen the spectacular view I was looking for before entering the mountains.
On the way there, I heard a story that turtles come to lay eggs in the sea of Yakushima, and I had an impression of turtles in Apeloui.
I also quietly put in my wish that the space would be a place where each individual turtle can be independent and respect each other like Apeloui.
[Inn×Sauna×Dog] Converting a warehouse into a sauna and shifting from “seeing” to “experiencing” nature!
2021.4.8-5.31
With the support of 227 people, we have raised 3,033,000 yen and completed the project.
Thank you very much for your support.
GUIDE / SAUNA MONONOKE
KYORO/ MIWA
We are creating a new place by renovating an 80-year-old vacant house and warehouse.
We aim to create a space where people can feel the nostalgia and richness of the satoyama in the Shimokiminda area by making the most of what is here.
Sometimes we take walks in the mountains with our dogs, sometimes we play in the river…
We will make every effort to enrich our guests’ hearts and minds and to be close to them.
SAUNA FREAK
KOBAYASHI / MOTOKI
The Finnish sauna and the beauty of the Japanese satoyama attracted me to the area, so I quit my office job and moved here from Tokyo.
I am taking care of this space in order to maintain it and preserve it for the future.
We aim to create a place where visitors can spend time looking at themselves and take something back with them that they can use in their daily lives.
We would be happy if it becomes a place like a third home for everyone.
