Beppu Onsen travel guide to Oita's hot-spring city and eight districts

Beppu Onsen (べっぷおんせん) is the collective name for the hundreds of hot springs scattered across Beppu city in Oita Prefecture. The city is Japan’s leading hot-spring centre by both number of sources and total discharged water; it receives more than eight million visitors each year and supports a wide range of tourist, industrial and medical uses of geothermal heat.

Seasonal rhythms and annual events

Beppu’s calendar includes events that follow the annual cycle of its onsen communities. Each early April the eight historic districts hold the Beppu Hatto Onsen Festival to give thanks for the springs. Every September Kannawa holds the Kannawa Yuami Festival (湯あみ祭り), which includes a Yuami ritual at the nearby temple where a statue of the founding saint is washed. Since 2001 the city has organised the Beppu Hatto Onsenpaku (often called “Onpaku”) programme of local, participatory accommodation and experience events; there is also the Beppu Hatto Onsen-do challenge in which visitors bathe at 88 selected facilities to seek recognition as an onsen-path master. Contemporary arts programmes have been staged in recent years in and around the onsen districts (for example a festival in 2009 held in a triennale format).

Geology and scale: why so many springs

Beppu’s springs emerge on the east side of two volcanoes: Mount Tsurumi (elevation 1,375 metres) and Garan-dake (also called Sulphur Mountain), about 4 kilometres north of Tsurumi and 1,045 metres high. That volcanic setting produces the diversity and volume of geothermal water: Beppu ranks first in Japan for both source count and total discharge. The same geothermal resource has been used beyond bathing — historically for production of myoban (a traditional alum product), and in modern times for geothermal power generation, medical research and treatment, greenhouse cultivation of flowers, fish farming and the development of onsen-mud cosmetics.

The eight hot-spring districts (the Beppu Hatto)

The name “Beppu Hatto” identifies eight historically distinct onsen districts within Beppu city. The eight districts and their characteristic notes are:

• Beppu Onsen: the narrow, central onsen district around JR Beppu Station (JR Kyushu’s Nippō Main Line). It supplies many spring qualities — simple springs, chloride springs, bicarbonate springs and alkaline-earth bicarbonate springs — and combines a dense set of communal baths (many run by neighbourhood associations) with a lively downtown nightlife. Close to the old Beppu port sits the municipal Takawara Onsen, a bathhouse with a sand-bathing service; Takawara Onsen and the adjoining wooden arcade were recognised as modern industrial heritage in 2009, and the bathhouse itself is registered as a tangible cultural property.

• Hamawaki Onsen: a seaside district at the mouth of the Asami River in front of JR Higashi-Beppu Station. It has a municipal complex (Yutopia Hamawaki) and many small communal baths. Although the beach springs that gave the district its name no longer appear, Hamawaki prospered as a temple-gate town in the Kamakura era and in an 1817 onsen ranking was placed higher than central Beppu; historically the river mouth hosted busy therapeutic boats.

• Kankaiji Onsen: located on slopes upstream of the Asami River with broad views over Beppu Bay. It is home to large leisure facilities including the Suginoy Hotel, an indoor pool (Aqua Beat), bowling, a theatre and a large open-air bath. The onsen town was almost completely destroyed by fire on 28 October 1931.

• Horita Onsen: farther inland along the Kyushu crossroad towards Yufuin, Horita developed as a quiet mountain toji (long-stay therapeutic spa) from the Edo period. The area produces abundant water that is used to supply communal baths across the city; a municipal Horita bath lies on Prefectural Road 52. Its spring chemistry includes weakly acidic, hypotonic high-temperature waters and sulfur springs.

• Myoban Onsen: on the mid-slope of Garan-dake at about 400 metres elevation, Myoban is a historic geothermal area where yuno-hana (mineral “bath flowers”) and mineraloid clays have been produced since the Edo period. After World War II the steep terraces, stone walls and rows of yuno-hana huts drew attention for their vapour-filled scenery; Myoban and Kannawa were jointly selected as an Important Cultural Landscape for Beppu’s steam-and-onsen scenery. Myoban’s yuno-hana manufacturing technique is designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

• Kannawa Onsen: between the city centre and Myoban, Kannawa retains the feel of a traditional toji town with many long-stay boarding houses. Steam from the sources is used directly in lodging (for room heating) and in “hell-kettle” cooking devices; there are public facilities that allow visitors to use the steam for cooking. Kannawa is the centre of the Beppu Jigoku (“hells”) tourist cluster — multiple thermal attractions such as Sea Hell, Oniishi Bozu Hell, Mountain Hell, Kamado Hell, Oniyama Hell and Shiraike Hell are located here — and the local Hyotan Onsen received a three-star rating in the Michelin travel guide.

• Shibaseki Onsen: a historic district located near the Blood Pond Hell and the Geyser Hell; records say emperors visited Shibaseki’s springs in 895 and again in 1044. A municipal Shibaseki bath stands in the valley along Shibaseki River, with spring types that include iron-bearing and sulfate waters.

• Kamegawa Onsen: a seaside district adjacent to JR Kamegawa Station. Its springs are sodium-chloride type. The area developed around a Taishō-era naval hospital (now the National Hospital Organization Beppu Medical Center); a racetrack opened in 1950. Near Beppu University Station a shoreline called Shonin-ga-hama is traditionally cited as the landing site of the priest Ippen and hosts a municipal seaside sand-bath facility (Beppu Seaside Sand Bath), which has been awarded a two-star rating in the Michelin guide.

Spring chemistry and bathing types

Signage in Beppu recognises eleven named spring categories; ten of those are used for bathing across the city. The principal bath types and where they appear include:

• Simple springs: Beppu Onsen, Hamawaki, Kankaiji, Kannawa, Kamegawa.
• Carbon dioxide springs: Beppu Onsen.
• Bicarbonate springs: Beppu Onsen, Hamawaki, Kankaiji.
• Chloride (saline) springs: Beppu Onsen, Hamawaki, Kannawa, Kamegawa.
• Sulfate springs: Kannawa, Shibaseki.
• Iron-bearing springs: Myoban, Kannawa, Shibaseki.
• Aluminum-bearing springs: Myoban.
• Copper-iron springs: Myoban.
• Sulfur springs: Horita, Myoban.
• Acidic springs: Horita, Myoban.

Some heat-emitting sources also produce radium-bearing (radioactive) waters, but those are not currently used for bathing. In addition, moor (peat) springs occur in a few sources in the Kitahama area north of central Beppu.

History, heritage and urban development

Thermal activity at Beppu is recorded in ancient local texts and poetry; later eras developed distinct onsen villages. In the Meiji period the introduction of drilling technology changed the resource base: the shift from all-natural flows to drilled wells is reflected in statistics showing that by 1911 there were 17 natural springs and 76 drilled sources. Transport and tourist development accelerated from the late 19th century: Beppu port infrastructure was completed in 1871 and an Osaka sea route began in 1873; a tram line (the Beppu–Ōita streetcar) opened in 1900; Beppu Station opened on 16 July 1911. In the Taishō and early Shōwa eras the town grew into a major bathing and leisure centre, with large ships calling on the Osaka route and with organized Hell-Tour buses appearing in 1928 — that bus tour used one of the nation’s first female guides. Beppu avoided wartime fire damage in World War II and entered a post-war tourism boom; in 1950 it was designated as the first International Tourism Onsen Cultural City.

Cultural recognitions include registered tangible cultural properties (for example the Kyoto University geothermal facility main building registered on 12 June 1997, Takawara Onsen on 9 June 2004, the Hamada Onsen Museum on 3 August 2006 and others), the Myoban yuno-hana manufacturing technique designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property on 15 March 2006, and the joint “steam and onsen landscape” of Kannawa and Myoban selected as an Important Cultural Landscape on 19 September 2012. Several onsen, springs and facilities also appear in national lists such as the Japan 100 Famous Springs and other prefectural designations.

Getting there — concrete routes and services

Air: Oita Airport connects to Beppu by an airport shuttle bus (the Oita Kotsu Airliner) in about 40 minutes. From Kitakyushu Airport an express bus (Oita Kotsu / Beppu Express) takes around 90 minutes. From Fukuoka Airport’s international terminal an express coach (Toyonokuni) runs to Beppu in about two hours.

Sea: Ferries call at Beppu International Tourist Port. Services operate from Osaka South Port (Mitsui O.S.K. Lines’ Sunflower ferries) and from Yawatahama in Ehime Prefecture (Uwajima Unyu). The port lies about a 10-minute bus ride from Beppu’s central North Beach (Kitahama) area.

Rail and road: Beppu’s rail access is on JR Kyushu’s Nippō Main Line — the main stations are Beppu Station, Kamegawa Station, Beppu University Station and Higashi-Beppu (East Beppu) Station. By car the common routes are via the Oita Expressway and the Higashi-Kyushu Expressway to Beppu IC with Prefectural Road 52 to the city; from the north the Higashi-Kyushu Expressway/Prefectural Road 52 or National Route 10; from the Kumamoto side the Yamanami Highway (Prefectural Road 11) is the main approach.

Long-distance coach networks also serve Beppu: for example the Toyonokuni coach from Fukuoka, Kyushu Odan buses linking Yufuin/Aso and Kumamoto, the Sunlight coach from Nagasaki, the Beppu Yukemuri coach from Hiroshima and the SORIN service from the Osaka–Kyoto area.

FAQ

What is Beppu Onsen?

Beppu Onsen is the collective name for the hundreds of hot springs across Beppu city in Oita Prefecture.

What are the Beppu Hatto?

The Beppu Hatto are eight historically distinct hot-spring districts; the name was popularised by a local tourism group’s "Beppu Hatto Independence Declaration" on 8 August 1996 at 08:08:08.

Where do Beppu’s springs come from?

Springs emerge on the east side of two volcanoes, Mount Tsurumi (1,375 m) and Garan-dake (also called Sulphur Mountain, 1,045 m), and the city ranks first in Japan for source count and total discharge.

How can I reach Beppu by public transport?

Beppu is served by JR Kyushu’s Nippō Main Line (Beppu Station and nearby stations), by ferry to Beppu International Tourist Port from Osaka South Port and Yawatahama, and by airport express coaches (for example 40 minutes from Oita Airport by the airport bus).