Japan Center
1750 Geary Blvd.
(415) 922-6000
www.kabukisprings.com

The serene and elegant Kabuki Springs and Spa (formerly Kabuki Hot Springs) are an oasis for soul and body. Whether it's a hot communal bath with all the accoutrements (sea salts, chilled cucumber face cloths), a facial, or a seaweed wrap, it's the perfect place to unwind after a long day of work or sightseeing.

In August of 1999, the Kabuki launched "Co-ed Tuesdays," when men and women can enjoy the salt scrubs, saunas and hot baths together. The rest of the week, men and women come on separate days (see schedule below).

The largest Japanese communal bath in the United States, the Kabuki offers a wealth of spa features in addition to the traditional Japanese Shiatsu massage and communal baths (the baths are co-ed on Tuesdays). Massage services now include Esalen/Swedish, Cranial-sacral, Lymphatic, Reiki Energy Work and therapeutic deep body work.

Other treatments include Ayurvedic rebalancing — after a warm botanical body mask to exfoliate the skin, followed by oil and a hot towel wrap, warm herbal oil is gently dripped onto the forehead to encourage deep relaxation — or the Kabuki's famous Javanese Lulur body treatment, which features a turmeric and jasmine skin scrub followed by what they intriguingly term a "traditional yogurt application and an exotic flower bath."

The 50-minute seaweed wrap begins with a brush scrub to exfoliate the skin, followed by brisk massage with essential oils and a total body wrap with seaweed to revitalize a sluggish system.

Facilities include a hot pool, cold plunge, sauna, steam room, individual bathing areas and showers. Complimentary herbal teas and waters, bath products and body polishing sea salts are always at hand.

Previously, the Kabuki was a traditional, if shopworn, Japanese bath and massage house. It was bought by Joie de Vivre, a San Francisco hospitality company noted for its one-of-a-kind boutique hotels, and redesigned to appeal to the city's frazzled city dwellers seeking a few moments of Zen. The focus is on wellness-oriented treatments and alternative healing, rather than beauty treatments.

The refurbished Kabuki is decorated with a Pan Asian look by way of California. Elements such as the seagrass matting and wood deck on the floors, Javanese silk curtains and temple roof tiles from Japan combine with a Californian color scheme of soft golds, greens and subtle marine blues to evoke health and harmony. Each week, the Kabuki introduces a new color to its bathing environment, beginning with adobe colors of the earth and continuing through the jewel tones of the mid chakras, ending on the seventh week with white, the color of purity.

There are 18 different spa treatment rooms, making the facility the largest spa operation outside a resort in all of Northern California. Visiting practitioners of acupuncture, herbal medicine or Shiatsu are often available for consultations through the spa's Masters Program. Massage services are affordable, with rates starting at $45 for a half-hour massage and communal bath.

Hours:

Daily 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

Baths:

Women only: Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Men only: Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays

Coed: Tuesdays

Admission/fees:

Traditional communal bathing, sauna, steam room, hot pool and cold plunge: $10 before 5 p.m., Mon.-Fri.; $15 after 5 p.m. and weekends

Massage: ranges from $45 for a 25-min. session with access to bathing facility ($40 without) to $110 for the deluxe 80-min. session with access to bathing facility.

Facial: 50 min. $65

Body polish: 25 min. $45

Seaweed wrap: 50 min. $65

Avurvedic rebalancing: 80 min. $110; or 110 min. with warm herbal oil drip $130

Javanese Lulur body treatment: 80 min. $110

Validated parking: available from the Japan Center (with massage)