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To ask a geography trivia question, do you know which prefecture has the most hot springs in Japan? The answer is Oita Prefecture.
Oita Prefecture is located in the Kyushu region, close to Fukuoka, Kumamoto, and Miyazaki Prefectures, and is separated from Ehime Prefecture in the Shikoku region only by the Toyo Strait.
Oita Prefecture boasts the largest number of hot springs in Japan, the largest number of springs, and rich marine resources along its coastline, making it an important producer of high-quality seafood such as puffer fish, eel, and soft-shelled turtle.
With its mountainous terrain, Oita Prefecture is blessed with good water and mountains, and has produced Japan's number one black-haired Wagyu cow, the Toyoko Beef, as well as fruits such as grapes and yuzu. Oita Prefecture is an ideal place to visit because of its unique tourism resources and seafood cuisine.
Oita Prefecture is a paradise where sand, mud and hot springs are hidden in pristine uplands and forests, making it an excellent place to recuperate and get up close to nature. The most representative hot spring towns are Beppu and Yufuin-cho, which have a bohemian atmosphere. Beppu is also home to Japan's famous eight “hellish hot springs”.
Located in the northern part of Oita City, the Kokuto Peninsula is nestled on lush hillsides and is a historically famous sacred site. Kujyu Town, on the other hand, which is located inland and borders Kumamoto City, is a small town full of rustic charm and is home to many rare plants and animals.
Therefore, Oita is best known for its hot springs, which not only rank first in Japan in terms of the number of springs and the amount of hot springs gushing out, but also in the national ranking of hot springs. In Oita Prefecture, you can enjoy all kinds of hot springs, sand hot springs, mud hot springs, steam hot springs and some other unique hot springs. Of course, Oita is not only about hot springs, the food and beauty are equally mesmerizing.
🤗 Beautiful scenery of Oita
Yufuin Hot Spring
Yufuin Onsen is located in Yufuin-cho, so it is referred to as Yufuin Onsen in many tourist literature, but Yufuin Onsen is actually its official name.
Influenced by the active volcano Yufutake, the area is rich in hot spring groundwater and has more than 800 hot spring holes, ranking second in the country. It has been designated as a hot spring area for national maintenance. There is a hot spring town called Yunotsubo Kaido (汤の坪街), which is located in the direction of Lake Kinrin from Yufuin Station. The town has a strong sense of nostalgia, and there are about 70 restaurants and gift stores along the neatly organized street, so you can relax and enjoy the food slowly.
There is also the Yufuin Flower Village, a fantastic British-style attraction with the theme of “The Most Beautiful Village in the World”, where you can enjoy taking beautiful photos as you feel like you have traveled to Europe in a second.
Yufu-dake
Yufu-dake is an active volcano, and Yufuin Hot Spring is rich in hot springs because of it. Yufu-dake, located in Aso Kujyu National Park, is very scenic and is also known as “Toyo-Go-Fuji” because of its resemblance to Mt. Fuji (in ancient times, the northern part of Oita Prefecture and beyond was known as Toyo-Go-Kuni), and is one of the New 100 Famous Mountains of Japan, which attracts a lot of people who love mountains to come and climb them.
Lake Kinrin
Lake Kinrin is a representative attraction of the Yufuin area. More than a hundred years ago, a Confucian scholar named Mouri Kosan named the lake Kinrin after he saw the beautiful sight of fish and lions in the lake that appeared to be golden in the light of the setting sun.
The water temperature is high all year round because there is both clear water and hot springs of about 30 degrees at the bottom of the lake, so in winter, you can often see a smoky scene on the surface of the lake in the morning, which is very dreamy like a fairyland. In addition to the morning mist in winter, the autumn foliage is also very beautiful, and there are many ryokan (Japanese-style inns) nearby if you want to enjoy the view of the lake.
Beppu Onsen
The amount of hot springs in Beppu is amazing and is the largest in Japan. There are also many types of hot springs. Since over a thousand years ago, the hot springs have been spewing out super-hot steam, hot mud, and hot water, making them unapproachable, and they have been regarded as a hellish place that people are afraid to go near. Nowadays, this hell has become one of the most attractive sightseeing spots in Beppu, and you should definitely take the “8 Great Hells Tour” when you visit!
The eight Jigoku are the Blue Sea Jigoku, which has been designated as a national scenic spot, four Jigoku, including the bright red Blood Pond Jigoku, the Geyser Tornado Jigoku, which erupts every 30 minutes, and the White Pond Jigoku, which is white and green in color, as well as Onishi-bo Jigoku, Oniyama Jigoku, Zao Jigoku, and Yamajigoku. Those who like to soak in the hot springs can bring their own towels and soak their feet in the different Jigoku foot baths, or go to a large bath to experience what it is like to soak in Jigoku.
Tetsunabe Hot Spring
Tetsunawa Onsen is the most popular of the eight hot springs in Beppu, and steam can be seen rising from the streets. One of the specialties of the area is “Jigoku Steam Cuisine,” in which vegetables and other ingredients are steamed using the abundant hot spring heat.
The Teppan Onsen area also has a number of rental inns unique to the area, where you can enjoy Jigoku steam cuisine while having an onsen treatment, as well as many public baths and footbaths. There are also many public baths and footbaths, and you can experience the unique “steaming soup”. Steam baths, developed by the people of Izanagami, involve lying on a floor covered with medicinal herbs and using hot spring steam to heat up your body and make you sweat.
The Great Suspension Bridge of Nine Dreams
The 390-meter-long, 173-meter-high, and 1.5-meter-wide Kujyu “Yume” Great Suspension Bridge is the tallest pedestrian bridge in Japan, and is visited by tens of millions of people every year since it opened in 2006. When you walk on the bridge and look down, you can see the “Shocking Waterfall” and “Male Waterfall”, which have been selected as one of the “Top 100 Waterfalls in Japan”. The waterfalls are the “Shocking Falls,” “Yuu Falls,” and “Sakura Falls,” and there is a large expanse of native forest in the Narukawa Valley and the Chikugo Kawakami watershed.
When you look into the distance, you will feel surrounded by the Sanrensan Mountains and the Ninefold Mountain Range, and the suspension bridge seems to be a walkway in the sky hanging high above the mountains and forests. If you are afraid of heights, you may feel a little shaky standing on the bridge, but it is worth it after visiting!
Usagami Shrine
There are 40,600 Hachimangu Shrines in Japan, and Usa Jingu Shrine, which has a history of more than 1,000 years, is the head shrine among them. The main deity of Hachimangu Shrine is the Japanese god of war, also known as Hachiman Daibutsu, and is the ancestral god of the Imperial family, which is why the Imperial family honors Usa Jingu Shrine as the second most revered clan temple after Izumo Daigami.
The Hachiman faith is a fusion of Buddhism and Shinto, the so-called Shinto-Buddhist practice, and has preserved many treasures, beautiful buildings, and meaningful religious ceremonies throughout its long history of belief. The Ryuhyo Matsuri, which is held in August every year to pray for the people to be free from diseases and calamities, is one of the major events of the year, so if you happen to be traveling to Oita at this time of the year, it is a must-see!
🤗 Oita Gourmet
Beppu Jigoku Steam Cuisine
Steaming food at high temperatures using hot spring jets locks in the freshness of the ingredients and gives them a special hot spring aroma. This is a healthy and tasty way of cooking, and is ideal for breakfast or for eating at a spa.
Beppu cold noodles
It is said that after the Second World War, people who migrated from northeastern China combined the way they ate Korean cold noodles with Japanese cuisine, for example, by changing the soup into a Japanese flavor or a barbecued beef flavor, and replacing kimchi with cabbage to create the Beppu Cold Noodles that we know today.
Bongkok (grape type)
Toyo beef is Oita Prefecture's brand-name black-wool Wagyu beef, which must meet strict requirements such as meat quality of A4 grade or higher, use of rice or brewer's dregs as feed, and the farm's meticulous attention to the meat and transparency of its production history. Premium Wagyu beef raised in Oita Prefecture's mountainous environment has a beautiful frosty oil bloom that melts in your mouth. Although they are not as famous as Kobe, Matsusaka and Omi cows, they are so strong that they have won Japan's No. 1 prize in national Wagyu beef judging contests several times, so be sure to check out Japan's No. 1 delicacy for yourself when you visit Oita Prefecture!
Beppu Pudding
The extremely hot steam from the Beppu hot spring area can be utilized not only for cooking, but also for desserts! This pudding originated in a small store in the Alum Hot Spring Village in the deepest part of Beppu, and since then it has become synonymous with Beppu desserts. The basic pudding is drizzled with a slightly bitter caramel syrup, but there are also various flavors of pudding with red beans or caramelized egg whites, so those with a sweet tooth can enjoy discovering the delicious pudding in Beppu.
Oita Prefecture's hot springs, beef, and Shinto shrines are among the best in Japan, and there are also attractions such as Sanrio Harmony, a natural animal park, and a flower park, so whether you are traveling as a family, or as a couple, or as friends and classmates, or as a parent and child, you can have a great time.
The next time you are in Japan, why don't you go to Oita and “steam” in the hot springs?
- Author:japan guides
- URL:https://japan-guides.com/article/culture-95
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