Tsuboyu, Yunomine Onsen
A tiny wooden hut over a spring in the Kumano mountains — the only bathing place inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Photo: Nekosuki, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Bathing
- Indoor
Yunomine Onsen is said to be one of the oldest hot springs in Japan, the traditional purification stop for pilgrims completing the Kumano Kodo before reaching Kumano Hongū Taisha. Tsuboyu is a single small rock bath inside a hut straddling the stream, rented to one party at a time for thirty minutes.
Balnevia view
Why visit
It is a bath of ritual rather than leisure: the water changes colour through the day, the hut seats two, and the pilgrimage route runs past the door.
The water
Thermal water
- Source
- Yunomine spring
- Mineralisation
- Sulphur water
- Character
- Source water emerges near boiling and is cooled for bathing; the bath water changes colour during the day.
Practical information
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