8 Facilities
The public bathhouse of Arima, one of Japan's three oldest hot springs. For ¥800 you can soak in the 'kinsen' — iron- and salt-rich water that turns rusty brown on contact with air, in pools at 42°C and 44°C. Under an hour by train from Kobe or Osaka, so an easy day trip. Free foot bath and drinking fountain outside. No tattoos.
A storehouse-style communal bath halfway up the 365-step stone stairway. Iron-rich brown 'golden water' in indoor tubs; rest hall upstairs. Cashless payment accepted.
The largest day-use facility in Okuhida. Sixteen open-air pools (7 men's, 9 women's) scattered through the forest, all fed directly from the source. Hida beef restaurant on site. The classic stop after Kamikochi or Shin-Hotaka.
A lone inn in a steaming fumarole field at about 1,000 m on the Akita side of Hachimantai. One of Tōhoku's great cure spas — 'arrive on horseback, leave on your own two feet', as the saying went — it is also famous for its ondol-heated cure wing. The main bathhouse lines up seven kinds of tubs: the signature box steam bath, a mud bath, a cascade bath, a 'volcano bath' and an open-air bath, all fed by milky acidic sulphur water. Day use 10:30–15:00 (last entry 14:00), ¥800 for adults, closed Tuesdays (plus maintenance days). Behind the inn a nature trail loops past mud volcanoes and vents in about 40 minutes. About 1 h 55 min by bus from Tazawako Station on the Hachimantai summit line (usually late Apr–mid-Oct); in winter come by local bus from Kazuno-Hanawa Station or by car.
The highest hot-spring inn in Tōhoku, at 1,400 m near the top of the Hachimantai Aspite Line. It opens only from Golden Week to late October; in winter it is buried in snow. Five mixed open-air baths scattered down the slope (plus a women-only open-air bath and separate indoor baths) are fed by sulphur water bubbling up directly through the ground, milky white, and the trademark is smearing the mud from the bottom on your skin as a 'mud pack'. Below spread Mt Iwate and a sea of forest; at dawn, cloud seas and sunrise — truly a bath above the clouds. Simple sulphur water at temperatures from tepid to hot. Day bathing: adults ¥650, children ¥350, with a long 08:00–18:00 window, busy with hikers back from the Hachimantai summit trail. The open-air baths are mixed, so bathing garments and wrap towels are allowed. About 2 hours by bus from Morioka Station or 40 minutes by car from Matsuo-Hachimantai IC. Mobile reception is poor.
A large resort hotel in Maruo, in the Kirishima spa group, taking day bathers from 11:00 to 15:00 with last entry at 14:00. The fee is 1,200 yen for adults, 600 yen for elementary pupils and 300 yen for children aged 3 and over (tax included). Milky, turbid water is its hallmark, and there are many tubs: the main hall Onami-no-yu, the open-air Kiri-no-yu, a hinoki steam bath, a natural onsen steam bath and a cold plunge. Each bath has a scheduled cleaning day set by weekday and by odd or even date, so some are unavailable. The hotel may close over New Year, Golden Week, Obon and public holidays, so calling ahead is advised. It stands just off the Maruo crossing on Route 223, with free parking.
A hidden-spring inn standing in the bleak Jigoku valley on the slopes of Hachimantai. It is known for wild open-air baths where you bathe watching steam rise from the ground. Day bathing is received from 10:00 to 15:00, at 800 yen for adults and 400 yen for children. It closes under snow from early November to late April. Besides single-sex baths there is a mixed open-air bath.
A cure-oriented inn founded in 1973 in the Myoban area of Beppu, one of the Beppu Hatto. Its draw is a rare natural mineral mud bath - fine mud born only where steam vents, humic clay and mineral springs coincide - which you soak in across the whole body in open tubs. The water flows free from the self-springing source once called Konya Jigoku (a simple acid spring, pH 2.9, 49.7°C): milky acidic water and thick mud baths alike. The mixed open-air mineral mud bath has a partitioned women's section, and women bathe wearing hair caps. Indoors there are a sulfur colloid bath, more mud baths and a steam bath; the underground mineral mud chamber is so concentrated that elementary-age children may not enter. Day bathing runs 9:00-20:00 (last entry 19:00; indoor mud and steam baths until 19:30) at 1,500 yen for adults. There are no washing stations, only mud-rinsing showers - authentically rustic. Get off at the Nayajigoku-mae bus stop from Beppu Station; free parking, open year-round.