Legends behind onsen origins, settings in literary works, ties to geoparks, and Tsuge Yoshiharu's travelogues, among others.
| Onsen Town | Theme | Summary | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arima Onsen (Kinki) | Legends & Origins | According to legend, in the age of the gods, the deities Okuninushi and Sukunahiko discovered the hot spring after seeing three injured crows heal their wounds by washing in a pool of water. The Nihon Shoki records Emperor Jomei staying here for about three months in 631, and Arima is counted, along with Dogo and Shirahama, as one of Japan's 'Three Ancient Hot Springs.' | 有馬温泉 旅館 元湯龍泉閣 |
| Dogo Onsen (Shikoku) | Legends & Origins | According to the 'White Heron Legend' recorded in the local gazetteer Yoyo-gun Goriengenshu, a white heron with an injured leg soaked its leg daily in water welling from a rock crevice, healed, and flew off in good health. The 'Heron Stone,' said to mark where the heron landed, still stands today in Hojo-en park near the main bathhouse. | 松山市公式 白鷺の伝説 |
| Dogo Onsen (Shikoku) | Literature | Widely known as the setting frequented by the protagonist of Natsume Soseki's novel Botchan (1906). Along with Arima and Shirahama, it is also one of Japan's 'Three Ancient Hot Springs.' | 日本三古湯 - Wikipedia |
| Kinosaki Onsen (Kinki) | Literature | In 1913, Shiga Naoya, injured in a Yamanote Line train accident, conceived and wrote At Kinosaki while recuperating at the long-established inn Mikiya, publishing it in the coterie magazine Shirakaba in 1917. He returned more than ten times over his life, and a literary monument in his own hand stands at the Kinosaki Literary Museum. Kinosaki now has 23 literary monuments and is also known as a 'town of literature.' | 城崎温泉観光協会 |
| Shuzenji Onsen (Chubu) | Legends & Origins | According to legend, in 807 the monk Kukai (Kobo Daishi), traveling the provinces, saw a boy washing his sick father in the cold water of the Katsura River and, moved to pity, struck a rock with his ritual vajra pestle, causing a healing spring to gush forth. This spring remains in the riverbed today as 'Tokko no Yu.' | 伊豆市観光情報サイト |
| Shuzenji Onsen (Chubu) | Literature | The site of the 'Great Illness of Shuzenji,' when Natsume Soseki, visiting for treatment in 1910, nearly died from a massive hemorrhage. It is recorded in his essay Omoidasu Koto Nado and is said to have influenced his later work. | 日本実業出版社 修善寺と漱石 |
| Kusatsu Onsen (Kanto) | Literature | The folk song Kusatsu-bushi, sung while working the hot spring water (yumomi), contains the well-known line following 'Kusatsu yoi toko, ichido wa oide' (Kusatsu, a fine place — come at least once): 'Even a doctor, even Kusatsu's waters, cannot cure the sickness of love.' | 世界の民謡・童謡 |
| Kusatsu Onsen (Kanto) | Legends & Origins | Legend holds that Yamato Takeru, returning from a campaign to subdue the eastern provinces, saw hot steam rising from a valley and bathed in the spring; the stone he is said to have sat on is called 'Goza-ishi.' However, no contemporary historical record mentions Kusatsu Onsen, and the story is regarded strictly as a later-era legend. | らくらく湯旅 |
| Yamanaka Onsen (Chubu) | Literature | In 1689, Matsuo Basho, visiting Yamanaka Onsen during his Narrow Road to the Deep North journey, stayed nine days at the inn Izumiya after his travel companion Sora fell ill and they parted ways. His haiku 'Yamanaka ya / kiku wa taoranu / yu no nioi' likens the spring's fragrance alone to the Chinese legend that drinking chrysanthemum dew grants long life — and it is also the source of the name of the present-day communal bathhouse 'Kiku no Yu' (Chrysanthemum Bath). | ほんのひととき |
| Nasu Onsen Villages (Kanto) | Legends & Origins | Near the hot spring stands 'Sesshoseki' (the Killing Stone), tied to a legend that the fox spirit Tamamo-no-Mae, who had ingratiated herself with Emperor Toba, was unmasked as a nine-tailed fox, fled to the Nasuno plain, and was slain by imperial forces, her body turning into a poisonous stone. Volcanic gas still vents from around the stone today. | 那須町行政ページ |
| Nasu Onsen Villages (Kanto) | Literature | Said to be a place where Basho stayed long during his Narrow Road to the Deep North journey. Visiting Sesshoseki, he wrote that 'the poisonous vapor of the stone has not yet faded; bees and butterflies lie dead in such numbers their true color cannot be seen beneath the sand,' and composed the haiku 'Ishi no ka ya / natsukusa akaku / tsuyu atsushi.' | 奥の細道 朗読 |
| Iizaka Onsen (Tohoku) | Literature | Iizaka Onsen is identified with the village of “Iizuka” in Bashō's travel diary Oku no Hosomichi. In 1689, after soaking in the hot spring, Bashō lodged for the night in a shabby farmhouse with only straw mats over a dirt floor; a thunderstorm leaked through the roof, fleas and mosquitoes kept him awake all night, and even his chronic illness flared up. It's remembered as one of the diary's rare accounts of a miserable night on the road. | おくのほそ道 朗読 - 飯塚 |
| Tsuetate Onsen (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Travelogue | The manga artist Tsuge Yoshiharu visited this hot spring in the 1960s–70s, and the visit is recorded in 'Johatsu Ryokou Nikki' (Diary of an Evaporation Journey), collected in his book Hinkon Ryokoki (Poverty Travelogue). The town sits along the gorge of the Tsuetate River, a headwater of the Chikugo River, with steam rising throughout. | ZINEえぬたな |
| Yujuku Onsen (Kanto) | Travelogue | Said to be the setting of one of Tsuge Yoshiharu's best-known works, Gensenkan Shujin (The Master of Gensenkan, 1968). It also appears in his essay collection Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen (Tsuge Yoshiharu's Hot Springs); the town serves as a gateway to Mikuni Pass in Minakami and is said to have a 1,200-year history. | つげ義春の温泉 - 筑摩書房 |
| Beppu Onsen (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Legends & Origins | The Nara-period gazetteer Bungo no Kuni Fudoki records 'Akayu-sen,' corresponding to today's 'Chi-no-Ike Jigoku' (Blood Pond Hell), and 'Kuberi-no-yui,' said to have behaved like a geyser — showing the area was known since antiquity. | 別府温泉地球博物館 |
| Unzen Onsen (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Geopark | The core hot spring area of the Shimabara Peninsula Geopark, which in 2009 became Japan's first UNESCO Global Geopark. Unzen Jigoku also has a history as a site of execution during the persecution of Christians in the Edo period. | 島原半島ユネスコ世界ジオパーク |
| Uchinomaki Onsen (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Geopark | Aso Geopark, home to the Aso caldera, was certified a Japan Geopark in 2009 and a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2014. Uchinomaki Onsen, one of its central hot spring towns, was visited by many literary figures including Natsume Soseki, Taneda Santoka, and the poet couple Yosano Tekkan and Akiko. | 阿蘇ジオパーク公式 |
| Noboribetsu Onsen (Hokkaido) | Legends & Origins | The place name 'Noboribetsu' derives from the Ainu word 'Nupur-pet.' The linguist Chiri Mashiho translated this as 'a river of deep color,' said to describe the murky water of the Oyunuma River flowing out of Jigokudani (Hell Valley). | 登別市 アイヌ語地名 |
| Sukayu Onsen (Tohoku) | National Health Resort | One of the first three National Health Resort Onsen designated in Japan, in 1954, together with Nikko-Yumoto Onsen and Shima Onsen. A single lodge deep in the Hakkoda mountains, known for its pillar-less, roughly 260 m² all-hiba-wood mixed bathing hall, the 'Hiba Sennin-buro.' | 国民保養温泉地 酸ヶ湯温泉旅館公式 |
| Zao Onsen (Tohoku) | National Health Resort | A highland onsen town in Yamagata Prefecture, designated a National Health Resort Onsen. Known as one of Japan's most strongly acidic springs (around pH 1.3), nicknamed the 'beauty-skin spring.' | 蔵王温泉 国民保養温泉地計画書 - 環境省 |
| Fuke no Yu Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | In the 1960s–70s, Tsuge Yoshiharu traveled to remote, little-visited hot springs across the Tohoku region, compiling his travelogues and manga in works such as Hinkon Ryokoki (Poverty Travelogue). One of his best-known stories, 'Ondoro-goya' (The Ondol Hut), is said to be set at Fuke no Yu Onsen in Akita Prefecture, which has since become a pilgrimage site for secluded-hot-spring enthusiasts as 'the hot spring Tsuge Yoshiharu loved.' | みらいパブリッシング |
| Shuzenji Onsen (Chubu) | Geopark | One of the sites of the Izu Peninsula UNESCO Global Geopark, spanning 15 municipalities in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture. The Shuzenji Onsen geosite traces how undersea volcanoes born from the subducting Philippine Sea Plate collided with and were uplifted onto Honshu to form the Izu Peninsula, and covers the hot-spring town around the Tokko-no-Yu bath. The geopark was certified Japan's 9th UNESCO Global Geopark in 2018. | 伊豆半島ジオパーク公式 |
| Kirishima Onsen-go (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Geopark | The Kirishima mountain range, straddling Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, was certified as the Kirishima Geopark in 2010. Its hot springs form when groundwater is heated by magma — a direct gift of the land's geology. Kirishima Onsen-go is one of its representative hot-spring areas; in 2022 the geopark's area expanded to cover all seven constituent municipalities across both prefectures. | 霧島ジオパーク公式 |
| Renge Onsen (Chubu) | Geopark | A single-inn hot spring at 1,475m elevation within the Itoigawa Geopark, certified a Japan Geopark in 2009 and a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2018. It has four open-air baths of differing water types — simple acidic, bicarbonate, and sulfate springs among them — and is featured on the geopark's own site as a place to experience the geology of the Fossa Magna's western edge. | 糸魚川ユネスコ世界ジオパーク公式 |
| Hakone Onsen (Kanto) | Geopark | The Hakone Geopark, made up of two cities and three towns (Odawara, Hakone, Manazuru, Yugawara, and Minami-Ashigara), was certified a Japan Geopark in 2012. Hakone Onsen-go, which draws on the gifts of Mt. Hakone's roughly 400,000 years of volcanic activity, has thrived as a hot-spring resort since ancient times. | 箱根ジオパーク公式 |
| Unazuki Onsen (Chubu) | Geopark | One of the gateways to the Tateyama–Kurobe Geopark. The water at Unazuki Onsen is piped in from the source at Kuronagi Onsen, about 6.5km up the Kurobe Gorge; the geopark's visitor center at the station, "Una-geo," explains how the area's geology came to be. | 黒部・宇奈月温泉観光局 |
| Kashio Onsen (Chubu) | Geopark | One of the central geosites of the Southern Alps (Median Tectonic Line Area) Geopark, which sits almost directly above the Median Tectonic Line — the great fault that runs the length of the Japanese archipelago from Kyushu to Kanto. Despite lying deep in the mountains, far from the sea, Kashio Onsen's water is salty; it was once thought to be ancient seawater trapped underground, but is now known to originate from water carried up with magma. The Median Tectonic Line Museum in Oshika Village stands nearby. | 大鹿村中央構造線博物館 鹿塩温泉 |
| Furusato Onsen-go (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Geopark | The Sakurajima–Kinko Bay Geopark (certified 2013) tells the story of the still-smoking active volcano Sakurajima coexisting with the people who live at its foot. Furusato Onsen-go, at the southern tip of Sakurajima overlooking Kinko Bay, is featured on the geopark's official site as a representative place to experience the volcano's gifts. | 桜島・錦江湾ジオパーク公式 |
| Nakanosawa Onsen (Tohoku) | Geopark | A hot-spring town within the Bandaisan Geopark, certified a Japan Geopark in 2011. It was founded in the Edo period and has a history of more than 250 years; its single source produces 13,400 liters per minute, the largest flow rate of any single hot-spring source in Japan. | 磐梯山ジオパーク公式 |
| Asohara Onsen (Chubu) | Literature | Building the headrace tunnel for the Kurobe River No. 3 Power Station (1936–1940) turned into a brutal ordeal when construction crews hit a zone of bedrock reaching up to 166°C, and dynamite igniting spontaneously from the heat killed many workers. Yoshimura Akira's novel Kōnetsu Zuidō ("The High-Heat Tunnel," 1967) is based on this construction. Asohara Onsen, which wells up right at the tunnel's exit, draws its water from that same superheated bedrock, and still holds around 40°C today. | 高熱隧道 - Wikipedia |
| Hyakukannon Onsen (Kanto) | Legends & Origins | The name comes from the “Hyakukannon-dō” hall an ancestor of the local Shiraishi family, a devout worshipper of Kannon, built at their own expense, housing one hundred hand-carved statues of Kannon in reference to the “Hundred Kannon of Japan” (the combined pilgrimage routes of Saigoku, Bandō, and Chichibu). The water that wells up is fossil seawater, brown and smelling of petroleum, a self-flowing hot spring that's rare on the Kanto plain. | 百観音温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Kannawa Onsen (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Legends & Origins | Kannawa, one of Beppu's “eight hot springs” (Beppu Hattō), is known for jigoku-mushi — cooking food by steaming it directly in geothermal vent steam. In its Edo-period hot-spring lodges, long-term guests staying for the cure would cook their own meals in inns equipped with “hell-steaming” kettles, using roughly 98°C spring steam straight from the ground — a self-catering bathing culture unique to this place, still practiced today. | 地獄蒸し工房 鉄輪 公式 |
| Higashi-Naruko Onsen (Tohoku) | National Health Resort | The Naruko Onsen-kyo area — Naruko, Higashi-Naruko, Kawatabi, Nakayamadaira, and Onikobe — was designated in its entirety as a Ministry of the Environment “National Health Resort Onsen” (Kokumin Hoyo Onsen-chi) in 2016. Higashi-Naruko Onsen in particular is a roughly 650-year-old toji (hot-spring cure) resort where long-stay guests still bathe and self-cater to recuperate. Ryokan Onuma, founded in the Meiji era and calling itself a “100-year cure inn,” keeps a shared kitchen in its dedicated toji wing, carrying on what its innkeeper calls “modern toji” today. | 鳴子温泉郷 国民保養温泉地計画書 - 環境省 |
| Ikaho Onsen (Kanto) | Legends & Origins | After his defeat at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, Takeda Katsuyori ordered his retainer Sanada Masayuki to develop Ikaho Onsen as a place for wounded soldiers to recuperate. By the following year, 1576, hot-spring water was piped from its source and distributed evenly to houses along a stone stairway through sixteen outlets (komagata) on either side — said to be Japan's first example of hot-spring town planning. That stairway became the origin of today's Ishidan-gai (stone steps street), which is also said to have doubled as a defensive stronghold against the Uesugi and Hōjō clans. | 伊香保温泉史 - 渋川伊香保温泉観光協会 |
| Shima Onsen (Kanto) | National Health Resort | Shima Onsen is said to have been discovered around the year 989, and by the Meiji era it was thriving as a toji (hot-spring cure) resort. In 1954, it became one of Japan's first three National Health Resort Onsen, designated alongside Sukayu Onsen and Nikko-Yumoto Onsen. According to the area's plan document as revised in 2024, 38 of its 42 hot-spring sources remain in use today, and its sodium–calcium chloride–sulfate waters still underpin the town's toji atmosphere. | 四万温泉国民保養温泉地計画書 - 環境省 |
| Yunokawa Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A hot-spring cure retreat with alkaline simple-type water in the mountains of the Shimokita Peninsula, along the Kawauchi River. It appears in the Aomori/Iwate/Miyagi/Yamagata chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen (Tsuge Yoshiharu's Hot Springs, Chikuma Bunko), and marks the starting point of Tsuge's journey through the remote, rustic hot springs of Tohoku. | 湯野川温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Geto Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A single-inn cure retreat in a snowy gorge in the mountains of Kitakami. It closes in winter and operates only from early summer to late autumn. One of the archetypal rustic, unspoiled cure retreats in the Tohoku chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 夏油温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Jogi Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A saline spring in Aoba Ward, Sendai, north of Jogi Nyorai (Saiho-ji), a temple tied to legends of fleeing Heike warriors. Though the water emerges at only 39°C, it has long drawn cure guests as a treatment for nervous ailments. Listed in the Tohoku chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 定義温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Semi Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A chloride-spring town in Mogami along the Oguni River, a tributary of the Mogami River. Legend says it was discovered by Minamoto no Yoshitsune's party as they fled to Oshu. Included in the Tohoku chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 瀬見温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Imagami Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A single-inn cure retreat deep in the mountains of Tozawa that still bars women. Known as a hidden spring where healing in the sulfate-filled bathhouse is bound up with religious devotion, it also appears in Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 今神温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Hijiori Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A chloride-spring cure retreat on the rim of the Hijiori caldera, known for its morning market that is still held today. Said to date back more than 1,200 years, it is one of Tohoku's oldest hot springs, and is included in the Tohoku chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 肘折温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Kuroyu Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A cure inn at the far end of the Nyuto Onsen village, where thatched bathhouses and milky-white sulfur water keep their old-fashioned look. Often introduced as a cure inn Tsuge Yoshiharu loved, it is included in the Akita chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | つげ義春が愛した湯治宿 乳頭温泉郷・黒湯温泉 |
| Magoroku Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A simple sulfur-spring cure inn in the Nyuto Onsen village, affectionately called the 'Mountain Yakushi Bath.' Tucked quietly beside a stream in the beech forest, it is one of the rustic cure retreats featured in the Akita chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 乳頭温泉郷 孫六温泉 - アキタファン |
| Oyasukyo Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A hot-spring town known for the Dai-Funto, where scalding water bursts roaring from the walls of the Minase River gorge. Long prosperous as a cure retreat with weak saline water containing Glauber's salt, it is included in the Akita chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 小安峡温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Doroyu Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A hidden spring in the mountains near the Kawarage Jigoku volcanic area, where hydrogen-sulfide and simple-type springs mingle. Known for its cloudy grey water and rustic inns, it appears in the Akita chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 泥湯温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Yunokami Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A small cure retreat on the Naraoka River in Nangai, Daisen, looking toward Mt. Takayakushi. Its remote location away from the center of former Nangai village is said to be one reason it was featured in the Akita chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 湯の神温泉 - じゃらんnet |
| Hayato Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A single inn with saline water containing Glauber's salt, in the mountains of Mishima along the Tadami River. With hardly any houses nearby, its quietness made it one of the rustic cure retreats featured in the Fukushima chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 早戸温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Nishiyama Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A cure retreat in the mountains of Yanaizu with chloride and saline hydrogen-sulfide springs. Used for healing since long ago as a secluded retreat of Aizu, it is included in the Fukushima chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 西山温泉(福島県) - Wikipedia |
| Tamanashi-Hatcho Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A cure retreat centered on communal baths in Kaneyama, deep in Oku-Aizu, with sodium bicarbonate/chloride/sulfate water. The iron-scented water is known for keeping bathers warm, and it appears as 'Tamanashi Onsen' in the Fukushima chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 玉梨温泉共同浴場 - 金山町公式 |
| Futamata Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A hidden spring along the Futamata Gorge in the mountains of Ten-ei. It is the very setting of Tsuge Yoshiharu's representative travel manga Futamata Keikoku (Futamata Gorge, 1974), and the bathhouse inn depicted in the work, taking one group per day, is still in business. | 二岐渓谷 - 湯小屋旅館 |
| Yunohana Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | An old hot spring in Minamiaizu said to date back about 700 years, known as a cure village dotted with communal baths. Its simple-type and chloride springs mingle, and it is included in the Fukushima chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 湯ノ花温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Tokusa Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A hidden spring in the mountains of Minamiaizu, discovered about 1,000 years ago and said to be named after the horsetail (tokusa) that grows in clusters there. Known for its riverside open-air bath carved out of rock, it is included in the Fukushima chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 木賊温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Yujimata Onsen (Tohoku) | Travelogue | A small cure retreat with alkaline simple-type water in the mountains of Hanawa. The late-Edo Confucian scholar Fujita Toko is said to have recovered here after coming to convalesce from a stroke. It appears as 'Yujimata Kosen' in the Fukushima chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 湯岐温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Kita Onsen (Kanto) | Travelogue | A single inn in a gorge 400 m below the road in the Nasu mountains. Its wooden buildings, hung with a tengu mask and looking much as they did in the 1960s–70s, and its large bath remain today, making it a pilgrimage site for hidden-spring fans as an emblem of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 憧れのつげ義春の世界は覚悟が必要？栃木県の秘湯「北温泉旅館」 - CBC MAGAZINE |
| Shima Onsen (Kanto) | Travelogue | An old hot spring said to have been discovered around 989 and designated a National Health Resort Hot Spring. Rustic single inns still remain in Oku-Shima, and it is included in the Kanto/Koshin chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 四万温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Shiriyaki Onsen (Kanto) | Travelogue | A chloride spring known for its unusual open-air bath, where the bed of the Nagasasa River itself is the hot spring. The open bath, simply partitioned off from the riverbed, is featured in the Kanto/Koshin chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 尻焼温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Meiji Onsen (Chubu) | Travelogue | A single inn with iron carbonate water in the mountains of Oku-Tateshina at the foot of Mt. Tateshina. Close to trailheads of the Yatsugatake range and known for its reddish-brown iron water, it is included in the Kanto/Koshin chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 明治温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Yashiki Onsen (Chubu) | Travelogue | A single inn with weak saline water containing earthy chlorides, on the Sakae side of Akiyamago, a remote area on the Nagano–Niigata border. A cure retreat sending up steam quietly along the Nakatsu River gorge, it appears as 'Akiyamago' in the Kanto/Koshin chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 屋敷温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Matsuzaki Onsen (Chubu) | Travelogue | A hot-spring town on the west coast of the Izu Peninsula, in Matsuzaki, where streets of namako-walled houses remain. Sankoso, the inn that served as the setting of Tsuge Yoshiharu's travel manga Chohachi no Yado (The Inn of Chohachi, 1968), is still in business and looks much as it does in the work. | つげ義春の温泉 聖地巡礼リスト |
| Shimobe Onsen (Chubu) | Travelogue | An old simple-type hot spring in Minobu, said to be one of Takeda Shingen's secret healing baths. In an essay in Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen, Tsuge describes a round trip starting here at Shimobe and continuing to Yugawara and Hakone. | 下部温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Yumura Onsen (Kinki) | Travelogue | A bicarbonate-spring town in Shin'onsen, famous for the Arayu, where 98°C water gushes from the source. As a stop on Tsuge Yoshiharu's travels through the Kinki region, it is included in the Kyushu/Kinki chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 湯村温泉(兵庫県) - Wikipedia |
| Kabeyu Onsen (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Travelogue | A single inn with simple-type water, known for its open-air bath hollowed out beneath a huge rock like a natural cave. A hidden spring sending up steam quietly along the Kusu River gorge, it is included in the Kyushu/Kinki chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 壁湯温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Yunohira Onsen (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Travelogue | A chloride-spring cure retreat beyond Yufuin, with inns lining a stone-paved slope. The atmosphere of this rustic hot-spring town, loved by writers and artists, is featured in the Kyushu/Kinki chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | 湯平温泉 - Wikipedia |
| Hagenoyu Onsen (Kyushu & Okinawa) | Travelogue | One of the Waita Onsen village springs on the slopes of Mt. Waita, on the Kumamoto–Oita border. Simple sulfur water is piped to each of its four inns, and it is known for its mountainside views and free-flowing source water. Included in the Kyushu/Kinki chapter of Tsuge Yoshiharu no Onsen. | はげの湯温泉 - Wikipedia |
This content is editorial commentary based on widely known legends, literary history, and official tourism sources; one source verified via web search is cited for each entry. It has not been checked word-for-word against academic primary sources. It does not cover all 47 prefectures — these are entries selected by the editors.