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Kusatsu Onsen
Kusatsu Onsen is a mountain onsen town at about 1,200 metres in Gunma prefecture, in the Kanto region, around three hours from Tokyo, with the largest natural flow of hot spring water in Japan.
- Prefecture
- Gunma
- Region
- Kanto
- Journeys
- The Custom Tour of Japan
overview
A town built around a field of steaming water, its springs running day and night through the streets.
Kusatsu's waters were already celebrated in the Middle Ages, and in the seventeenth century the scholar Hayashi Razan named it one of the three great onsen of Japan, with Arima and Gero. Its springs, rising from the volcanic slopes of Mount Kusatsu-Shirane, are strongly acidic and very hot, and for centuries the sick travelled here to take the cure. In the late nineteenth century the German physician Erwin Baelz, adviser to the imperial court, praised Kusatsu as one of the great spa towns of the world and did much to make it known.
The town is built around the Yubatake, the hot water field, where the spring water flows through long wooden channels in the main square, cooling as it goes and leaving deposits of yellow-green minerals. Around it stand old ryokan, a temple on the hill and the public onsen houses, and the scent of sulphur hangs in the air. Kusatsu is a place to slow down: to move from one onsen to the next, to watch the water being cooled by hand in the old way, and to walk in the evening when the Yubatake is lit.
see and do
What to see in Kusatsu Onsen
The Yubatake
The hot water field at the centre of the town, where some four thousand litres of spring water a minute run through wooden channels and over a falls into a green pool, lit softly in the evening.
Netsunoyu and yumomi
The hall beside the Yubatake where women in cotton kimono cool the spring water by stirring it with long wooden paddles, singing the Kusatsu song in time, as the water was once cooled for bathers.
Sainokawara Park
A park of steaming streams and rocks to the west of the town, with one of the largest open-air onsen in Japan, some five hundred square metres, set among the trees.
Kosen-ji
A temple on the hill above the Yubatake, reached by a stone stair, with a view over the steaming field and the roofs of the town.
Otaki-no-yu
A public onsen house where the waters are drawn into a series of pools at different temperatures, in the old Kusatsu way, with a fine open-air onsen beneath the trees.
Shirahata spring
One of the oldest springs of Kusatsu, beside the Yubatake, associated by tradition with Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun.
The Nishinokawara-dori
The street that runs from the Yubatake to Sainokawara, lined with old ryokan, sweet shops and small stores selling onsen manju, with steaming water running alongside.
experiences
The best of Kusatsu Onsen
Yumomi, seen up close
A performance of yumomi in the Netsunoyu hall, with a chance to take up a wooden board and join the women stirring the water, the old song of Kusatsu keeping time.
A night in an onsen ryokan
A suite in one of Kusatsu's ryokan, with an onsen drawn from the town's springs and a dinner of mountain vegetables, river fish and Joshu beef from the pastures of Gunma.
The evening walk
A slow walk around the Yubatake after dark, when the channels are lit and the steam rises into the cold air.
The old onsen houses
An afternoon moving gently between the onsen of the town, each drawn from a different spring, with tea in between.
plan your visit
Kusatsu Onsen on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- One night is enough for Kusatsu, and two allow a proper rhythm of onsen and walks; it suits the middle of a journey through the mountains of central Japan.
- Getting there
- From Tokyo, the Hokuriku Shinkansen reaches Karuizawa in about an hour, and a car climbs to Kusatsu from there in a little over an hour. The limited express Kusatsu runs from Ueno to Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi in about two and a half hours, with a short drive on.
journeys
Kusatsu Onsen on a private journey
We shape a journey to Kusatsu Onsen as a Custom Tour of Japan: created around your party alone, on your dates, with a Tour Director beside you.
questions
Kusatsu Onsen: questions answered
What is Kusatsu Onsen famous for?
The largest natural flow of hot spring water in Japan, the Yubatake hot water field at the centre of the town, and yumomi, the cooling of the water by hand with wooden paddles.
How do you get from Tokyo to Kusatsu Onsen?
By Hokuriku Shinkansen to Karuizawa in about an hour and then by car for a little over an hour, or by the limited express from Ueno to Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi and a short drive on.
Is the water in Kusatsu Onsen acidic?
Yes, it is among the most acidic spring water in Japan, rich in sulphur, and it has been prized for its properties for centuries.
How many nights should you spend in Kusatsu?
One night is enough to enjoy the Yubatake and the onsen, and two allow a slower pace.
What is yumomi?
The traditional cooling of Kusatsu's very hot spring water by stirring it with long wooden boards, now performed with song at the Netsunoyu hall beside the Yubatake.
Can Kusatsu Onsen be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with a Tour Director beside you, and it can include Kusatsu Onsen. For independent travel, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Kusatsu Onsen, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Kusatsu Onsen. We will answer with a journey shaped around it: one of our tours, a journey of The Private Collection, or a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone.