The charm of Beppu’s hot springs is that you can enjoy various kinds.
In addition to soak-type hot springs, there are many unique styles of hot springs. For example, steamed hot water, mud bath, sand bath, etc.
One of Beppu’s attractions is the ability to enjoy a variety of hot springs in such a small town.
However, the city of Beppu, which isn’t very large, can be divided into eight hot spring areas.
That is called “Beppu Hatto (Eight kinds of Onsen).”
This is a general term for the eight exemplary hot spring areas in the city.
These hot spring areas flourished as independent hot spring spas from the beginning.
Even though they are hot springs from the same city, you can enjoy a variety of hot springs at once since the entering into the hot spring, the scenery that can be viewed from there, and the spring quality are all different, too.
This time, we will introduce the history and characteristics of the eight hot springs.
①Hamawaki Hot Spring
It came to be called “Hamawaki Onsen” from the indication that the hot spring gushed forth from the seashore. Now, the area around Beppu Station is bustling as the focus of Beppu, but in the Meiji and Taisho eras, the Hamawaki area thrived as a “Hanamachi.”
Therefore, if you are strolling around the area, you can see the remnants of the inn of the time.
②Beppu Onsen
Beppu Onsen is identified as number of hot springs scattered around Beppu Station. It is said that these hot springs bathed in the limelight during the Edo period (1603-1863). Every year in April, the Beppu Hot Spring Festival a representative of the Beppu Onsen Matsuri, is carried out and has become the center of Beppu Hachiyu.
③Kamegawa Onsen
In the Kamegawa Onsen area, there are abundant hot springs on the coast. The natural sand bath is a typical hot spring of Kamegawa Onsen.
In the Edo period, this area flourished as a gateway to the north of Beppu and as a hot-spring place that relieves the tiredness of the weary travelers who visited.
④Kannawa Onsen
There is a view that you can’t see anywhere else in Japan. This place where an unbelievable amount of steam rises, Kannawa Onsen, has the most hot-spring-like scenery within the Beppu Hattou.
This landscape is also registered in Japan’s nightcap heritage.
It seems that the people of the Kamakura Era who had mistaken the rising steam for hell had never been approached. Kannawa Onsen seems to have thrived thought the development of the wasteland by priests. “Mush yu” that is said to have been made by such priests is one of the hot springs that I want you to visit by all means.
⑤Kankaiji Onsen
Kankaiji Onsen, which was discovered during the Kamakura period (1185-1333) as a hot spring spa, is the most scenic onsen area in Beppu Hachi-Yu.
⑥Horita Onsen
Since the Edo period (1603-1863), Horita Onsen has developed as a hot spring spa and is blessed with an abundance of hot springs.
Horita Onsen is located in a place where people have to travel a little farther, 25 kilometers from Yufuin and 120 kilometers away from the famous city of Dazaifu.
Therefore, it is said that there are many people who relieve their fatigue through a long journey.
⑦Shibaseki Onsen
It is said that Shibbaseki Onsen was visited by the emperors of the ancient times such as Emperor Daigo in 895 and Emperor Reizei in 1044 for medical treatment. As with Kankaiji Onsen, the scenery seen from here is also beautiful and has rich nature and forest trails, making it a great place to enjoy a walk after entering the hot spring.
⑧Myoban Onsen
It was once said that, in the past, it was the best mass collection site for “Myoban” (Alum) in all of Japan. In addition, you are able to find ample “yunohana,” an ingredient that is found in abundance in the “Yunohanagoya (hut which produces sulfur flowers)” which is a thatch-roofed hut, and this makes the skin silky smooth.
I tried asking about the charm of the Hachi-Yu to Sato-san to the chairman of the Hot Spring Master Association!
Finally, Sato-san, the president of the Onsen Master’s Association, answered me about the charm of Hachiyu Onsen. The Hot Spring Master Association is an NPO organization that wants to liven up Beppu through hot springs.
This time, Sato-san talks about
(1) The charm of Hachi-Yu
(2) The difference between the eight hot springs (this time Myoban Onsen and Kannawa Onsen)
①Diversity & Potential
Sato-san: “Diversity” and “possibility” are two words that represent Beppu Hachi-Yu.
First of all, we have built the current Beppu on people who immigrated from the outside.
As a result, the citizens of Beppu are very warm and welcoming to the people from the outside and show great hospitality.
The people who live in Beppu are of various colors just as hot springs have many different spring qualities – from interesting people to strange people, gentle people to energetic and cheerful people.
They are full of diversity and the potential to become one through the hot springs all in this one place called Beppu. That is the charm of Beppu Hatto.
②Myoban Onsen is “shampoo” and Kannawa Onsen is like “rinse!”
Sato-san: Within Hachi-Yu, there is the interesting stories about the Myoban and Kannawa Onsen. The Myoban Onsen is called the bath of beautiful skin because it gets rid of the body’s dirt and oil, acting like a shampoo. After shampooing, you rinse, right? When you enter the Kannawa Onsen after Myoban Onsen, you can moisturize your skin like a rinse. Just as the shampoo and rinse used for you hair, the hot springs of Beppu has such an effect on the skin.
Check out this link for more information!
How was it?
I introduced eight hot springs, but did you find a hot spring that caught your eye?
If you want to try the shampoo and rinse effect, go to Myoban and Kannawa Onsen! If you want to charter a hot spring surrounded by nature go to Shibaseki Onsen! If you want to soak in a hot spring with a view of Beppu, go to Kankaiji Onsen! And so on!
Please come to Beppu to enjoy a variety of hot springs in one day!
How to get to Beppu Onsen.
Recommended hot springs and other attractions can be found by clicking the buttons below, so please have a look!
