At the very top of Dogo Onsen is the statue of a white heron. At first, there weren’t enough funds to build it, but donations enabled its completion. The brass crane shone a bright golden color, resulting in quips and remarks that there was no such thing as a golden crane, which is why it was painted white.

Located directly below the white crane is a red taiko drum tower. They didn’t have permission to build the tower in the beginning, but under the premise of it also serving as a fire watch tower, it was finally approved. This drum tower serves a role akin to a clock tower, being struck in order to mark the hour throughout the day.

Dogo Onsen was built despite various challenges and naysayers. The man responsible for pushing through those obstacles was Yukiya Isaniwa, the first mayor of Dogo. who said, “If we want people to continue to visit Dogo 100 years from now, we need to create something completely unique that cannot be found anywhere else.” It is due to this mindset that the budget for the main building was unheard of for the time. Around the time the main building was completed, the railroads were also being built, and the famous Botchan Dango Snack was invented. All of these are the legacy of Yukiya Isaniwa, and we can’t help but admire the foresight he had to make these kinds of investments at that time.