Tsurunoyu Onsen

The oldest inn of the Nyūtō onsen villages, with milky sulphur water and thatched Edo-era lodgings.

Photo: Koichi Shibata, Wikimedia Commons

Bathing: Indoor / Outdoor
Established: 1638
Accommodation: Hotel on site

Tsurunoyu's records go back to 1638, when the lords of the Akita domain used it as a bathing retreat. The inn keeps its thatched-roof honjin building and a riverside open-air bath whose water bubbles up from the gravel bed.

Balnevia view

Why visit

It is one of Japan's most atmospheric surviving onsen: cloudy white sulphur water, wooden bath houses, snow-buried winters, and a mixed open-air bath fed directly from the source.

The water

Thermal water

Source: Tsurunoyu sulphur springs
Mineralisation: Sulphur (hydrogen sulphide) springs
Character: Milky white sulphur water rising through the gravel floor of the riverside open-air bath.

Practical information

A remote mountain inn — overnight stays are booked far in advance; limited day-use bathing is offered in the middle of the day. Winter access involves a shuttle from the valley road.