Kusatsu Onsen, Gunma Pref., Kanto

Kusatsu Onsen hot spring resort town ( above ), Gunma Prefecture, is located in the northwest of Kanto region. For hundreds years, Kusatsu Onsen has been and is one of the most popular onsen resorts in Japan.

The center of Kusatsu Onsen is occupied by Yubatake ( above ). "Yu" in Japanese means hot water as well as "batake ( hatake )" does field. So "Yubatake" is a field gushing hot water. It is said that Yubatake yields thousands liters of hot water per minutes.

Visitors could find the remains of wooden frame ( above ) in hot water of Yubatake. It is known that in the 18th century Yoshimune Tokugawa, the 8th shogun of Tokugawa Shogunate, made hot water, drawn out of the above frame, carried in barrels to Edo-jo Castle ( now Kokyo - The Imperial Palace ) to take a bath.

It is said that Ieyasu Tokugawa, the 1st shogun of Tokugawa Shogunate did the same in A.D.1596, and Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Hidetsugu Toyotomi and Toshiie Maeda visited Kutatsu Onsen to take baths by themselves in the 16th century.

Beside Yubatake, there is a building calld "Netsu-no-Yu". "Netsu" in Japanese means heat as well as "Yu" does hot water. The temperature of hot water gushing out of sources of hot springs in Kusatsu Onsen is almost 50 degrees Celsius. It is too hot for bathing. So "Yumomi" ( above ) is needed.

"Yumomi" is stirring hot water with wooden planks to cool it down. Though cold water could be added to bring the temperature down, it would reduce medicinal effects of natural hot water, they believe. In the 19th century, a German doctor of medicine recommended the hot water of Kusatsu Onsen for health.

In Netsu-no-Yu, Yumomi, carried out to a few folk songs ( Yumomi Songs ), is so popular among tourists.

Also Sai-no-Kawara is popular among tourists. Hot water gushes out of onsen hot springs here and there in Sai-no-Kawara as above. Such hot water makes a hot spring river. It is fun to walk through paths on its riverside.

In Sai-no-Kawara there is a Rotenburo, outdoor public baths, which is also popular. In the Rotenburo, surrounded by forests, tourists would enjoy Hanami ( Sakura Viewing ) in spring, green leaves in summer, colored leaves in autumn, snowfall in winter.

In Kusatsu Onsen, most of hotels have their own onsen baths, while there are more than 10 onsen public baths such as Otaki-no-Yu ( above ), which has several kinds of baths including open-air bath. Its hot water is drawn from the Nikawa hot spring source.

Otaki-no-Yu is open 9:00 am - 8:00 pm.
Admission Yen 900.
Towels for rent Yen 250.

There is an active volcano, Kusatsu-Shirane Mountain ( above ) to the west of Kusatsu Onsen. Rainwater, warmed by volcanic gas, gushes out of hot springs around and in Kusatsu Onsen. The volcano erupted in A.D.2018.

In Kusatsu Onsen resort town, Soba ( Buckwheat Noodles - above ) is popular among tourists. Soba is one of Japanese noodles. There are more than 10 restaurants who serve Soba in the town. Among them, some use buckwheat flour ground with their own stone mill.