Chugoku
岡山県
Official statistics
Ministry of the Environment, FY2024 onsen usage survey (as of 31 March 2025)
In this atlas
Onsen areas in this atlas (excluding districts) as a share of the official count (areas with lodging). Definitions differ, so this is a rough guide.
Okayama has 32 onsen areas and 221 springs (Ministry of the Environment, FY2024). Most of the springs are cool: only six reach 42°C, while 131 are below 25°C. The best known are the 'three baths of Mimasaka' in the north, Yubara, Yugo and Okutsu, each with its own story: an open-air bath on the riverbed below a dam, a founding legend of a white heron, and laundry trodden underfoot in the hot river.
Most spas lie in the northern hills: Yubara in Maniwa, Yugo in Mimasaka and Okutsu in Kagamino, with Awakura in Nishiawakura near the Tottori border. Okayama city has the Yahata group and Yuba, and Washuzan Fukiage sits on the Inland Sea coast in Kurashiki.
Simple springs are the most common in our records, followed by radon springs. Yubara and Okutsu are alkaline simple springs, Yugo is a sodium-calcium chloride spring, and Yuba and Awakura are radon springs.
Yubara is about 35 minutes by Maniwa community bus from Chugoku-Katsuyama on the JR Kishin Line. Okutsu is 50 to 60 minutes by Chutetsu bus from JR Tsuyama. For Yugo, take the Uno bus from Okayama Station to Yunogo-onsen-shita (about 2 hours), or a taxi for about 8 minutes from Hayashino on the JR Kishin Line.
Yubara's Sunayu and the Yumoto Onsen-kan day bath make an easy solo day trip. Okutsu has a few quiet, cure-style inns along the river, and day visitors can bathe at Hanabijin-no-sato.
Yubara's Sunayu is a free open-air bath on the riverbed directly below Yubara Dam, completed in 1955, and in 1977 a national ranking of outdoor baths named it 'West Yokozuna'. Okutsu keeps the name Kagi-yu, 'the locked bath', from the Tsuyama lord who locked his private bathhouse in the Edo period, and still demonstrates the standing laundry method women used while keeping watch for bears and wolves. Yugo is said to have been found in the Heian period by the monk Ennin, led by a white heron, and is also called Sagi-no-yu, 'the heron's bath'.
Photo information
奥津温泉
苫田郡鏡野町 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 79
Women once did the laundry in hot water rising through the river, keeping watch for bears and wolves as they worked. Their foot-treading wash is still re-enacted at nine on Sunday mornings beside the bridge.
Photo information
湯原温泉
真庭市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 78
Right beneath the dam wall, water rises through the riverbed into a bath that is free, open all night, and open to anyone. It is also mixed-gender, with nothing more than a simple changing hut.
Photo information
Photo information
奥津温泉
苫田郡鏡野町 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 79
Women once did the laundry in hot water rising through the river, keeping watch for bears and wolves as they worked. Their foot-treading wash is still re-enacted at nine on Sunday mornings beside the bridge.
Photo information
湯原温泉
真庭市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 78
Right beneath the dam wall, water rises through the riverbed into a bath that is free, open all night, and open to anyone. It is also mixed-gender, with nothing more than a simple changing hut.
Photo information
Photo information
Photo information
