Shirahone Onsen — photo: Soica2001 (talk) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Shirahone onsen: the milky water above Matsumoto, the buses in, day baths, and Shirahone or Hirayu
Shirahone is a small village of inns at about 1,400 metres in the mountains west of Matsumoto, in Nagano. Its name, 白骨, means "white bone", and it is known for one thing: water that turns milky white in the bath. Most guides describe the colour, the riverside bath and how hard the buses are. This one adds what they leave out: how unusual the water is in numbers, how Shirahone compares with Hirayu on the other side of the ridge, and how to fit it in with Kamikochi or Takayama.
What the numbers say
Shirahone has two water types in our records, bicarbonate and sulfur, and its Japanese Wikipedia article lists 12 inns.
- Of the 1,468 towns with a water type on record, 311 have sulfur water and 355 have bicarbonate water. Only 56 have both.
- Of those 56, Shirahone's Wikipedia article is the second most read, after Noboribetsu (1,257 in our count against Noboribetsu's 1,618), and ahead of Hakone (1,212) and Naruko (1,196).
- Nagano has 101 onsen towns in our records, second only to Hokkaido (165). Shirahone is the third most read of them, after Hirugami and Bessho, and 37th of 1,538 towns nationwide.
- Of the 98 Nagano towns with a water type on record, 32 have sulfur water.
We do not record a source temperature, a flow or a pH for Shirahone, so we say nothing about them. Sulfur water is not rare in itself. Sulfur and bicarbonate together, in a village this well known, is.
Why the water turns white
The water comes out of the ground clear. Once it meets the air, the dissolved minerals start to come out of the water as fine particles, and the bath turns milky. How white it looks depends on the source, the time of day and how long the water has been in the tub, so two baths in the same village can look different. The white deposits that build up on the rocks and tubs are one explanation given for the name.
Sulfur gives the smell of boiled eggs and can tarnish silver, so take jewellery off before you get in. Bicarbonate water feels smooth and slightly slippery on the skin, and makes stone floors slippery too. Walk carefully. The sign in the changing room tells you exactly what the water is; see reading the water sign and our guide to sulfur onsen.
The kanji are old, but the reading is newer: older records call the place Shirafune, and the name Shirahone spread in the twentieth century. You will still see Shirafune in some inn names.
Day baths
Shirahone is a village of inns, not a town with a street of shops, and it has few places to bathe without staying.
- The public outdoor bath. The village's open-air bath, 公共野天風呂, sits down in the gorge below the road. It is separate for men and women, simple, and closed in winter, roughly from late November to late April.
- Inns that take day visitors. Several inns let visitors bathe in the daytime, usually only for a few hours around midday, before the overnight guests arrive. The best known is 泡の湯 (Awanoyu), whose large milky outdoor bath is mixed. Each inn sets its own hours and rules, and some stop taking day visitors in busy seasons, so check on the day.
The rules are the same as at any onsen; see our etiquette guide. If you would rather not share a mixed bath, ask about the separate indoor baths, or look for a private bath.
Shirahone or Hirayu?
Hirayu is only 8.1 km north-west of Shirahone in a straight line, across the ridge in Gifu, and the two are often compared. They are different stays.
- Shirahone: bicarbonate and sulfur, milky water, 12 inns, a quiet dead-end valley. The buses are few, and there is little to do except bathe and walk.
- Hirayu: chloride and bicarbonate, recorded at 90 °C and about 13,000 litres a minute, 26 inns, and the bus terminal for Kamikochi, Takayama and the Shinhotaka Ropeway. Clearer water, far easier to reach.
Choose Shirahone for the white water and the quiet. Choose Hirayu if you have no car and a tight schedule, or want Kamikochi early in the morning. The road between them is not direct, so they are not a pair for one evening.
The valleys around it
Shirahone sits in a cluster of small springs in the mountains between Matsumoto and Kamikochi. Our records list:
- Sawando, 3.3 km north-east, down on the main road. Its sources put out about 1,100 litres a minute. On the Nagano side, this is where drivers leave their cars for Kamikochi and where buses change.
- Sakamaki, 5.2 km north, a single inn with chloride, bicarbonate and sulfate water.
- Nakanoyu, 6.4 km north, a single inn below the pass, with iron and sulfur water.
- Kamikochi, 10.5 km north, two inns with sulfur water in the valley that private cars cannot enter.
Within 4 km of the village are two waterfalls, Bandokoro (3.8 km) and Zengorō (3.9 km), and the Norikura highlands begin to the south-west.
Getting there
There is no railway. Shirahone is about 15.7 km from Shin-Shimashima Station, the end of the small line out of Matsumoto, and 31.5 km from Matsumoto Station in a straight line.
- From Matsumoto. Take the Alpico Kamikochi Line train to Shin-Shimashima (about 30 minutes), then the bus (about an hour). Some buses run through; others need a change at Sawando. Allow about two hours, and plan around the bus, not the train: there are only a handful a day.
- From Tokyo. About four hours in all. Take the Limited Express Azusa from Shinjuku to Matsumoto, or a highway bus to Matsumoto, then the route above.
- From Takayama. Shirahone is 33.8 km east of Takayama Station in a straight line, but without a car it is a long way round. Buses run from Takayama through Hirayu to the Nagano side; check whether they connect with a Shirahone bus at Sawando, or go via Matsumoto.
- From Kamikochi. Take the bus down to Sawando and change for Shirahone. Shirahone works as a night before or after Kamikochi, while the Kamikochi road is open, roughly from mid-April to mid-November.
- By car. The village is a few kilometres off National Route 158, the road between Matsumoto and Takayama. A mountain road also comes in from the Norikura highlands, but it closes in winter.
The Japan Rail Pass covers the train to Matsumoto, but not the Alpico line or the buses. Timetables change with the seasons; check the current one before you go.
Seasons
Summer and autumn are the busy seasons, with walkers heading to Kamikochi and the leaves turning in the gorge in October. Inns fill on weekends.
Winter is the other reason people come: deep snow and a white bath. The village stays open, but the public outdoor bath closes, day bathing is limited, the mountain road from Norikura is shut, and the buses run less often. Kamikochi is closed. If you drive, you need winter tyres or chains. See onsen through the seasons.
Things not to do
Do not arrive without a plan for the last bus. There are few buses, no taxis waiting, and almost nothing open in the evening.
Do not expect shops. Bring cash and anything you need from Matsumoto.
Do not count on bathing for the day in winter. The public bath is closed, and few inns take day visitors.
Do not expect the same colour every time. The whiteness changes from bath to bath and from day to day.
Do not assume tattoos are fine. Policies vary by inn. See going to an onsen with tattoos, or book a private bath.
New to this? Start with how an onsen stay actually works and onsen etiquette. For the rest of the region, see our Japanese Alps guide and Hirayu. For other milky sulfur water, see Nyuto and Noboribetsu.