Kurokawa Onsen

This hot springs village sits along the same river that waters the rice paddies between the northern mountains of Aso. The entire hot springs area is designed seamlessly with nature, with each hilltop inn and connecting halls a separate annex that attaches to the next mountain hill.

The area is teeming with rustic ryokan and unique open air baths, all available for you to sample with the ever-popular wooden onsen-hopping entry pass.

This historic hot springs resort has even been used by shogunate officiates as their official guestrooms in the Edo Period. According to the legend of the headless jizo, it’s said that the first hot spring opened when a jizo conveyed the location of the spring.

Kurokawa Onsen is acclaimed for its many varied springs, which are said to boast 7 different kinds of acidic properties (weak acid simple spring, weak alkali simple spring, sulfur spring, ferruginous spring and acid spring), as confirmed by analysis conducted by the Kurokawa Onsen Tourism Association. Come for a relaxing soak while testing out the different waters.