The Ranking of Hot Springs of the Provinces is a single printed sheet that, following the sumo ranking, divides the hot springs of the whole country into East and West and grades them ozeki, sekiwake, komusubi and maegashira. The benefits of each spring are noted beside it in small characters. Since there is no running text to translate, here we describe the origins of the top-ranked springs and what taking the waters was like in the Edo period.
At the very top, as ozeki of the East, stands the spring of Kusatsu in Joshu (Gunma Prefecture).
Kusatsu's waters rise on a plateau north of Mount Asama, at the foot of Mount Shirane. They are strongly acidic and plentiful. In the middle of the town is the "yubatake," the hot water field, where scalding water pours down in great clouds of steam.
As for Kusatsu's origins, one story says it was opened by the Nara-period monk Gyoki; another says Minamoto no Yoritomo found it in the Kamakura period while holding a great hunt at the foot of Mount Asama. By the Warring States period it was already a famous spring, and many warlords came to take the waters.
In the Edo period Kusatsu became known as a spring that worked well for skin diseases, boils and wounds. Bathers stayed at inns for days, sometimes weeks, soaking several times a day to heal. Because the water was too hot, it was cooled by "yumomi," stirring it with boards.
Though deep in the mountains, Kusatsu drew many bathers from Edo and all over the Kanto, and bustled in a way worthy of the title "ozeki of the East."