Onsen Hopper Map Famous Saved

Famous onsen

The springs Japan itself puts on lists: the old trios, the protected inns, the national rankings. Each list links to its source.

Three Great 日本三名泉

Arima, Kusatsu and Gero: the traditional trio of Japan's finest springs, named together by the Muromachi monk Banri Shuku around 1500 and again by the Edo scholar Hayashi Razan. Arima is rust-red iron water in the hills behind Kobe, Kusatsu is strongly acidic water cooled by hand with wooden boards, and Gero is smooth alkaline water on the Hida River in Gifu.

Source: ja.wikipedia.org

Arima 有馬温泉 7 baths

Iron-red kinsen and clear ginsen water, in the hills behind Kobe.

See all 7 in Arima

Kusatsu 草津温泉 4 baths

The yubatake hot-water field sits in the middle of town.

Gero 下呂温泉 17 baths

Smooth alkaline water in the Hida valley.

See all 17 in Gero

Ancient 日本三古湯

Dogo, Arima and Shirahama: the springs counted as Japan's oldest, with mentions in early chronicles. Dogo's wooden bathhouse is the one most people picture when they picture an onsen, and Shirahama's Saki-no-yu is an open rock pool at the edge of the Pacific. Another version of the list names Iwaki-Yumoto in place of Shirahama.

Source: ja.wikipedia.org

Dogo 道後温泉 3 baths

The wooden Honkan bathhouse dates from 1894.

Arima 有馬温泉 7 baths

The Nihon Shoki records Emperor Jomei bathing here in 631.

See all 7 in Arima

Shirahama 白浜温泉 9 baths

Saki-no-yu is an open rock pool at the edge of the Pacific.

See all 11 in Shirahama

Secluded Springs 日本秘湯を守る会

The Nihon Hitou wo Mamoru Kai, the Japan Association to Protect Secluded Hot Springs, is made up mostly of small inns in remote places and was founded in 1975. This list is the member inns that also take day visitors.

Source: nihon-hitou.org

Top 10 towns にっぽんの温泉100選 上位10位

Every year the trade paper Kankokeizai Shimbun ranks Japan's hot spring towns in its Nippon no Onsen 100 Sen. The rank belongs to the town, not to any one bath, so this list shows the ten towns and every day-use bath we have in each.

Source: kankokeizai.com
  1. 1Kusatsu 草津 Gunma 4 day-use baths
  2. 2Gero 下呂 Gifu 17 day-use baths
  3. 3Dogo 道後 Ehime 6 day-use baths
  4. 4Beppu 別府 Oita 57 day-use baths
  5. 5Noboribetsu 登別 Hokkaido 9 day-use baths
  6. 6Arima 有馬 Hyogo 7 day-use baths
  7. 7Awara あわら Fukui 12 day-use baths
  8. 8Ibusuki 指宿 Kagoshima 14 day-use baths
  9. 9Kinosaki 城崎 Hyogo 6 day-use baths
  10. 10Kurokawa 黒川 Kumamoto 22 day-use baths

Health Resort 国民保養温泉地

Since 1954 the national government has designated National Health Resort areas under the Hot Spring Act for the quality and flow of their springs and for surroundings suited to rest and recovery. It began as a health ministry label, not a tourism one, which is why the list is full of small, plain and excellent places.

Source: env.go.jp

Heritage 国の重要文化財・登録有形文化財

Bath and inn buildings the national government lists as cultural property, such as Dogo Onsen Honkan (built 1894, listed 1994). They are working buildings, not museums: bathing in them is the point.

Source: kunishitei.bunka.go.jp