Myoken Onsen

Which Myoken Onsen

There are two places called Myoken Onsen in Japan. This page covers the larger and better-known one, in Kirishima City, Kagoshima Prefecture, on the Amori River between the Hayato and Makizono districts. The other, Innai Myoken Onsen in Usa, Oita Prefecture, is a small separate spring. If you were sent here looking for Kirishima’s inns such as Myoken Ishiharaso, Tajima Honkan or Orihashi, you are in the right place.

What to expect

Myoken Onsen is not a town so much as a line of inns along a green river gorge. Route 223 follows the Amori River north from Hayato toward the Kirishima mountains, and the ryokan sit on both sides of it, many with baths right above the water. There is no nightlife and no main street. The area is part of the Shinkawa Keikoku (Shinkawa Gorge) hot spring group, along with Anraku, Shinkawa and Shiobitashi, and in 1967 it was designated a National Health Hot Spring Resort.

The spring opened in 1895, on the old site of a Myoken shrine. Many inns began as toji-ba, places where people stayed for weeks to bathe and cooked their own meals, and several still offer self-catering rooms. At the other end of the scale are high-end ryokan with detached villas.

The Kirishima City Tourism Association notes that every inn uses its own source. The water is mostly a sodium, calcium and magnesium bicarbonate spring, sometimes called a “beautiful skin” bath in Japan.

Where to bathe

• Orihashi Ryokan (2233 Shimonakatsugawa, Makizono-cho, tel. 0995-77-2104): a long-running inn whose Kizu-yu and Take-no-yu indoor baths are open to day visitors for ¥500 adults and ¥250 elementary school children, 10:00 to 15:00 (last entry 14:00; from 11:30 on Tuesdays and Fridays). One indoor bath each for men and women, fed straight from the source, no outdoor bath. Closed irregularly, about 50 free parking spaces, no booking needed. One review site lists a higher price for an outdoor bath at the inn, so confirm what you are paying for.
• Myoken Ishiharaso (4376 Kareigawa, Hayato-cho, tel. 0995-77-2111): an upmarket inn with seven springs of its own, each feeding a different bath, including the large Amafuridono bath and outdoor baths. Bath-only day visits cost ¥1,800 adults and ¥900 children (elementary school and under), tax included, cash only, from 11:30 to 15:00 with last entry at 13:30. Hours are strict because they overlap with check-in and check-out. Towels, shampoo and hair dryers are included. Lunch-and-bath plans start at ¥12,000 and must be booked by phone.
• Shusuiyu (4389-1 Kareigawa, Hayato-cho, tel. 0995-77-2512): a toji-style inn with self-catering rooms, open to day bathers 8:00 to 22:00, with source-fed water and about 20 parking spaces. The tourism association does not publish its price.
• Myoken Onsen Nemu: lists day bathing from ¥1,000, 10:00 to 15:00, with a large rock bath and private baths.
• Tajima Honkan: a toji inn founded over a century ago with three different springs. We could not confirm current day-bathing prices; call ahead.

The water at Ishiharaso

Ishiharaso publishes more detail than most. Its Amafuridono source is a sodium, calcium and magnesium bicarbonate spring with 2,264 mg/kg of dissolved minerals. It comes out at about 133°F56°C and is cooled to about 108°F42°C through a heat exchanger rather than by adding cold water. The inn says nothing is added and the water is not stored or chlorinated. The bath is fed at about 150 litres a minute and turns over its water in about an hour.

Getting there

• By car: from the Kyushu Expressway, leave at Mizobe Kagoshima Airport IC and take Routes 504 and 223, about 11 km (7 miles), roughly 15 minutes. Kirishima Shrine is about 20 to 30 minutes further north.
• By train and bus: the nearest station is JR Kareigawa on the Hisatsu Line, but JR Hayato on the Nippo Line has better connections. The onsen bus from Hayato takes about 17 to 20 minutes and runs only a few times a day. From Kareigawa it is about 10 minutes by car. Some buses also link Kagoshima Airport with Myoken.
• Taxi: Ishiharaso arranges a shuttle taxi for staying guests (¥3,000 per car from the airport or Hayato Station since August 2023), but warns that bookings can be refused because of a driver shortage in Kirishima.

When to go

Myoken is open all year and is at its quietest on weekdays. Day bathing at most inns fits into a late-morning to mid-afternoon window, after guests check out and before new ones arrive, so plan around that. Summer in Kagoshima is hot and humid; the riverside baths are at their best from autumn to spring. Heavy rain can raise the river quickly in the June to July rainy season and during typhoons.

Onsen etiquette

Wash before you get in, bathe naked in the single-gender baths, and keep small towels out of the water. In Ishiharaso’s mixed Mukunoki outdoor bath, women are given a one-piece yuami-gi wrap at the front desk; return it and used towels to the collection box afterwards. The inns we checked publish no tattoo policy. Call before you go if this affects you.

Where to stay nearby

Staying the night at one of the riverside inns is the best way to see Myoken. Budget-minded travellers can book a self-catering toji room; others can splurge on a riverside room with its own bath. For more variety, Kirishima Onsen is in the mountains to the north, and the sand baths at Ibusuki, including Sunamushi Kaikan Saraku, are south of Kagoshima city.

Safety notes

• Heat: sources here run hot. Test the water and keep soaks short.
• River: the Amori River can rise fast after rain. Riverside outdoor baths may close in bad weather.
• Footing: wet stone steps and tub edges are slippery, especially in the riverside baths.
• Buses: service is sparse. Note the last bus or book a taxi in advance.