- Source temperature
- 45°C
- Bathing temperature
- 42°C
- Bathing
- Outdoor
Zaō Onsen in Yamagata has been in use for centuries and is known for water so acidic it was traditionally credited with healing wounds. The Dai-rotenburo is a series of wooden-edged pools set directly in a wooded ravine, open from roughly late spring to late autumn.
Balnevia view
Why visit
Bathing in a forest gorge with the stream running beneath the decking is the appeal; in winter the same mountain becomes famous for its snow-covered "ice monster" trees.
Recommendations
Hotels nearby
Explore places to stay near Zaō Onsen Dai-rotenburo.
The water
Thermal water
- Source
- Zaō Onsen spring
- Mineralisation
- Strongly acidic sulphur-sulphate water
- Character
- Among the most acidic bathing waters in Japan, at roughly pH 1.6.
Location
Related places
More thermal baths in Japan
Hakone/Japan
Hakone Yumoto Onsen
The oldest onsen district in Hakone, where ryokan baths look onto the Sukumo river valley.
Bathing temperature 41°C
Beppu/Japan
Takegawara Onsen
Beppu's 1879 bathhouse, known for its hot sand baths.
Bathing temperature 43°C
Matsuyama/Japan
Dōgo Onsen Honkan
One of Japan's oldest hot springs, in a wooden bathhouse of 1894.
Bathing temperature 42°C