Kumamoto

Kumamoto has 55 onsen areas and 1,339 springs (Ministry of the Environment, FY2024). It ranks fifth in Japan for both the number of springs and total flow, with 774 springs at 42°C or hotter, and overnight stays top 2.65 million a year. In the Aso highlands, Kurokawa lets you hop between open-air baths on a single pass; the north has Yamaga and Kikuchi, and the south Hitoyoshi, which claims 500 years of history.

Main onsen areas

The Aso region has Kurokawa in Minamioguni, Tsuetate in Oguni, Aso-Uchinomaki in Aso city, and Jigoku and Tarutama in Minamiaso. In the north are Yamaga and Hirayama in Yamaga city, Kikuchi and Tamana. The south has Hitoyoshi and Hinagu in Yatsushiro, and the Amakusa islands have Shimoda and Matsushima.

Characteristic spring types

Simple springs are the most common in our records, followed by chloride and sulfur springs. Kurokawa is mainly sulfur water but varies from inn to inn, and Jigoku and Tarutama are hydrogen-sulfide sulfur springs. Aso-Uchinomaki has sulfate water with gypsum and Glauber's salt, Hitoyoshi is a bicarbonate spring and Yamaga a simple spring.

Reachable by public transport

Kurokawa is about 2 h 45 min by highway bus from Hakata Station; from the Oita side, change at Yufuin Station to the Kyushu Odan bus for about 1 h 37 min. Tamana is about 5 minutes by Sanko bus from Tamana Station on the JR Kagoshima Line, and Hinagu has its own station, Hinagu-Onsen, on the Hisatsu Orange Railway.

For solo travellers

At Kurokawa a single cedar-wood bathing pass lets you tour the open-air baths alone even on a day trip, and the village has places to eat, including horse-sashimi restaurants.

Food & culture

Kurokawa's legend tells of a stone Jizo that took the punishment for a man who stole melons for his sick father; hot water welled from the crack where the statue's head was enshrined. The bathing pass that six inns started in 1986 turned the whole village into one welcome, and the town is known for muting its signs and planting native trees. Hitoyoshi, where 'lords of the Sagara clan and commoners alike bathed', is home to Kuma shochu, a rice spirit with 500 years of tradition.