Kannawa Mushi-yu

An eight-century steam bath on a floor of medicinal herbs.

STA3816, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bathing: Indoor

Kannawa Mushi-yu is a mushi-yu — a steam bath rather than a soaking bath — traced to the priest Ippen in the thirteenth century. Bathers lie in a low stone chamber on a bed of sekishobu sweet flag, steamed by geothermal vapour rising directly from the ground beneath Beppu's Kannawa district.

The water

Thermal water

Source: Kannawa geothermal steam
Mineralisation: Geothermal steam (sulphur)
Character: Ground steam rather than bathing water; the chamber is floored with sekishobu sweet flag.

Practical information

In Kannawa, reached by bus from Beppu station; sessions last about ten minutes, cotton bathing garments are hired at the counter, and a small outdoor bath adjoins for rinsing.