• Shikoku Pilgrimage
• Amy Katoh
• Kumamoto Castle
• Uchiwa
• Enoden
• Ekiben
• The On Matsuri
• Kusatsu Onsen
• Interview with a Geisha
• 'Anime' Fatasy at the Ghibli Museum

Yukatas in the mist

Soaking in the sulfurous waters of Kusatsu Onsen

by Robert Cameron
Photos by Daisuke Ito

One thing you can say about the Japanese -- they love to bathe. And when it comes to "onsen," or natural hot springs, this love can reach the point of religious fervor. The geological activity that gives Japan its earthquakes and volcanoes has also blessed it with an abundance of hot springs. Onsen resort towns have grown up around the bigger springs, and are a favorite destination for weekend getaways.

The Kusatsu highlands in Gunma Prefecture have been renowned for their natural hot springs at least since the 12th century. The resort of Kusatsu became especially popular in the latter half of the 19th century, after Erwin Von Baelz, a German doctor teaching at a Japanese university, wrote about the town and its curative waters, introducing them to the rest of the world. The town commemorates this with the Baelz Onsen Center. Kusatsu holds its Hot Spring Appreciation Festival every August.

There are a lot of reasons to soak in onsen water, aside from the fact that it feels great. Kusatsu's waters, like all onsen, contain a host of minerals that can ease a variety of ailments, especially of the skin. Sulfur deep in the earth infuses the hot springs of Kusatsu, and there's a bit of iron, aluminum and arsenic as well. The extremely acid water at Kusatsu is said to ease neuralgia, alleviate muscle pain and the symptoms of chronic skin disease, as well as chronic fatigue. The water is highly acidic (pH of 1.7 to 2.1) so there's no need to worry about bacteria and harmful microbes. The water ranging in  temperature from 25 to 96 degrees C flows out of more than 100 fountainheads of various sizes. 
 
The centerpiece and claim to fame of Kusatsu (aside from the waters, of course) is the "yubatake," or "hot water field" that bubbles and gurgles in the center of town. It's an impressive sight, as the water (around 5,000 liters minute, the highest output in Japan) comes gushing and boiling out of the bowels of the earth and cascades down a chain of wooden buckets before being shunted off to the local ryokan. This is to cool the water -- straight out of the ground, it's hot enough to poach a bathing guest like an egg.

The yubatake is lit up at night -- a memorable sight, especially in winter, when clouds of steam billow up in the cold air, giving the center of town an ethereal air, and the yukata-clad guests move like ghosts through the fog.

A more traditional and somewhat more labor intensive method of controlling water temperature is a process called "yumomi." To cool the steaming hot water without diluting it with cold water (which would decrease its curative powers), onsen attendants stand at the edge of the bath and stir it with 2-meter wooden boards. This has become an interesting tourist attraction, the attendants singing traditional songs as they swizzle the water in a traditional performance known as "kusatsu-bushi." 
 
The Kusatsu area has a lot of other appealing things to do. It is nestled in the mountains of the Joshinetsu National Park, and is a base for skiing, especially at Shiga Kogen and mountain climbing on Mt. Shirane.

Sai no Kawara Park is a good place to experience onsen in a more natural setting. Along the banks of the Yukawa River, a lot of little springs bubble up, and people can sit in pools and adjust the temperature the really natural way -- by blocking the river water with rocks. The park is also a nice place for a leisurely stroll.

It's also a great place for hiking, especially on beautiful Mt Shirane, a dormant volcano, or rather cluster of volcanoes. One path goes up the volcano to the extremely acidic (the most acidic in the world), emerald-green caldera lake known as Lake Yugama, or "hot water crater." The trails are open from early June to mid-October.

The Yoshigadaira Wetlands are a rather astonishing sight in the forbidding terrain above Lake Yugama. Just a half hour's hike above the lake, you suddenly come upon a lush green highland moor, like an oasis in a harsh volcanic desert. It's a riot of color in spring when the alpine flowers bloom. A little further on is Jofu-no-Taki Falls, where the Ozogawa River plunges over a cliff and dashes its acidic water on the rocks below.

Sesshogawara ("Dry River of Death") is a thermal field boasting hundreds of fumaroles that form craters, giving the area a forbidding lunar look, and they spout sulfurous gas. The fumaroles within the thermal field that are actively spouting gas are dangerous (people have been killed just breathing the air there), and so entry to those areas is prohibited. But you can tour most of the rest of the area.

Getting and staying there:
Kusatsu is easily accessible from Tokyo, via the Joetsu Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo station and then on the JR Joetsu Agatsuma-sen or from Ueno on the Kusatsu-go special express train. Both these stop at Naganohara Kusatsuguchi, where you transfer to a shuttle bus to the center of town. There are also buses that travel via the scenic Shiga Heights road (closed in winter) from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo.

Accommodations are abundant in Kusatsu. Over 130 ryokan (traditional inns) crowd the narrow streets around the yubatake. Large groups are better served by larger hotels with entertainment facilities. Small groups or families would probably prefer a smaller inn. We stayed at the Kanemidori ryokan, a quiet, homey, 120-year-old traditional inn with lovely family baths and private dining, right in the center of town.