What is yomogi? Japanese mugwort explained

Yomogi is the Japanese name for mugwort — a soft, silver-green plant of the Artemisia family that grows wild along riverbanks, field edges and mountain paths all over Japan. In spring its young leaves appear everywhere, and for centuries families have picked them for the kitchen and for the home.

Yomogi in Japanese daily life

If you have eaten kusa mochi — the green rice cake sold in Japanese sweet shops every spring — you have tasted yomogi. The leaves give it its colour and a fresh, slightly bitter, grassy aroma. Yomogi is also dried for tea, added to soba noodles and bread, and used in traditional bathing customs.

In Japan it is less a “superfood” and more a familiar seasonal plant: something grandmothers know, that marks the arrival of spring and belongs to small everyday rituals.

What is yomogi steam?

Yomogi steam (yomogi-mushi) is a herbal steam ritual. Yomogi is gently simmered, and you sit above the rising steam on a special chair, wrapped in a cape that keeps the warmth close to the body. The scent is soft and earthy; the feeling is one of slow, deep warmth.

At YOMO the herb is the whole point. We use only 100% pure, edible-grade Japanese yomogi — pesticide-free, hand-picked by contracted farms and never blended with other herbs. The steam lasts about fifteen minutes, inside a private room, on a chair made of hinoki (Japanese cypress).

How is it different from a sauna?

A sauna heats the air of a whole room to a high temperature. Yomogi steam is much gentler: the warmth comes from below, from a single herb, and the cape keeps it around you. Most guests describe it as calm rather than intense — closer to a warm bath than to a hot sauna. We explain the differences in more detail in Yomogi steam vs. sauna.

Who is it for?

• Anyone who wants fifteen quiet minutes of warmth and nothing to do
• Couples and friends — the ritual for two is one of our most popular
• Visitors looking for a genuinely Japanese experience in Prague

Please choose another day during pregnancy or menstruation, if you have a mugwort allergy, or if you feel unwell — and ask us first if you are unsure.

The best self-care is the kind you look forward to.

YOMO began in Daikanyama, Tokyo, and Prague is home to the only YOMO salon outside Japan. If you would like to try yomogi steam for yourself, you can read how the ritual works or book your visit online.