- Bathing temperature
- 44°C
- Bathing
- Indoor
- Established
- 1684
- Accommodation
- Hotel on site
Sukayu Onsen sits high in the Hakkōda mountains of Aomori Prefecture, a single timber inn around the Sennin-buro or "thousand-person bath" — a cavernous cypress hall filled with steaming, strongly acidic sulphur water.
Balnevia view
Why visit
The bath hall is one of the most atmospheric interiors in Japanese bathing: unpainted hinoki, clouded white water, and no artificial heating or dilution. In winter the inn is buried in some of the deepest snowfall in Japan.
Recommendations
Hotels nearby
Explore places to stay near Sukayu Onsen.
The water
Thermal water
- Source
- Sukayu spring
- Mineralisation
- Strongly acidic sulphate-chloride, sulphurous
- Character
- Cloudy white, highly acidic water served without dilution or reheating
History
The spring has been used since at least 1684, according to local records, and Sukayu was designated Japan's first National Health Resort Hot Spring in 1954.
Practical information
The main hall is traditionally mixed-gender with a screened women's section and women-only hours; smaller single-sex baths are also available. Day visitors are welcome outside the reserved morning slot.
Getting there
About an hour by bus from Aomori city on the Hakkōda route; the road can close in heavy winter weather.
Location
Related places
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