Kyushu & Okinawa
佐賀県
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.
Saga has 21 onsen areas and 187 springs (Ministry of the Environment, FY2024), with about 990,000 overnight stays a year. Its two flagships are Takeo, which claims 1,300 years of history and whose gate tower and bathhouse are national Important Cultural Properties, and Ureshino, known for tofu simmered in spring water and for Ureshino tea. Furuyu and Kumanokawa lie in the hills of Saga city.
Takeo and Ureshino sit side by side in the west of the prefecture. The hills of northern Saga city hold Furuyu, Kumanokawa and Kawakamikyo, and Karatsu in the north has Karatsu Onsen and Irohajima.
Simple and radon springs lead in our records, followed by chloride springs. Takeo is a clear, soft weakly alkaline simple spring long known as a 'beauty bath'. Furuyu is an alkaline simple spring, while Kumanokawa and Kawakamikyo are radon springs.
Takeo is about 10 minutes' walk from Takeo-Onsen Station on the JR Sasebo Line. Ureshino is about 30 minutes by JR bus from Takeo-Onsen Station, or about 1 h 20 min from Fukuoka Airport to Ureshino Bus Center on the Kyushu-go express bus. Furuyu is about 45 minutes by bus from JR Saga.
Takeo has public baths such as Motoyu, Saginoyu, Tonosama-no-yu and Karo-no-yu, so you can bathe without staying at an inn. Ureshino has the Siebold-no-yu public bathhouse.
Takeo's gate tower and its Shinkan bathhouse are nationally designated Important Cultural Properties. In Ureshino many restaurants serve the local speciality of tofu simmered in spring water, and the town's renowned green tea makes a classic souvenir.
Photo information
嬉野温泉
嬉野市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 93
One of Japan's three great 'skin-beautifying baths', famous for its slippery bicarbonate water, and for tofu that turns silky and clouds the broth when simmered in it.
Photo information
武雄温泉
武雄市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 94
Walk through a vermilion gate by Tatsuno Kingo, architect of Tokyo Station, and you reach Motoyu, a public bathhouse built in 1876, fifteen minutes on foot from a shinkansen station.
Photo information
Photo information
Photo information
嬉野温泉
嬉野市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 93
One of Japan's three great 'skin-beautifying baths', famous for its slippery bicarbonate water, and for tofu that turns silky and clouds the broth when simmered in it.
Photo information
武雄温泉
武雄市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 94
Walk through a vermilion gate by Tatsuno Kingo, architect of Tokyo Station, and you reach Motoyu, a public bathhouse built in 1876, fifteen minutes on foot from a shinkansen station.
Photo information
Photo information
