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Photo: 妖精書士 · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Onogawa Onsen

Yamagata · 小野川温泉

Onogawa Onsen is a hot spring town in Yamagata, Japan. The water leaves the ground at 5–80°C, hot enough that it has to be cooled before anyone can get in. Officially the water is classed as chloride spring and sulfur spring. Its sources put out around 1,300 litres a minute. 13 inns take visitors here.

Getting there

From Tokyoabout 3 h

CarNot needed

JR PassCovers the train

1. Train to Yonezawa Station (JR)
2. Local bus, about 30 min

Fly into Haneda or Narita. Times are rough estimates worked out from station locations, not a timetable — check the exact route on Google Maps.

The water here

Chloride spring 塩化物泉

Salty water. The salt leaves a thin film on the skin, so you stay warm well after leaving the bath.

Sulfur spring 硫黄泉

The classic rotten-egg smell and milky white water. It can tarnish silver jewellery, so take it off.

More photographs

From Wikimedia Commons. Tap a photo for the photographer and licence.

Things to see nearby

Places from Wikidata, photographs from Wikimedia Commons. Distances are in a straight line from the town.

With tattoos

Many public baths still turn away visible tattoos, and the rule is set by each bath, not by the town. The reliable way round it is to bathe privately: a room with its own open-air bath, or an inn with a private bath you can book for yourselves.

More on tattoos and onsen

Where to stay

Opens Rakuten Travel, which lists inns in English. Onsen Guide earns a commission if you book through these links, at no extra cost to you.

Hot spring towns nearby

Similar water elsewhere

Towns further away with the same kind of water — useful if this one is hard to reach or fully booked.

The numbers

Water temperature

5–80°C

Discharge

1,300 litres a minute

Inns

13

Address in Japanese

山形県米沢市小野川町

Figures from the town's Japanese Wikipedia article.

Where it is

37.8797, 140.0544 — open the map

Read more

Japanese Wikipedia