Japan's Only World Heritage Hot Spring is Wakayama Prefecture's Tsuboyu

An ancient onsen bath called Tsuboyu is the only Japanese hot spring listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a  World Heritage Site. With thousands of years of spirituality tied to water, many Japanese onsens are awash with antiquity. At Tsubuyu, you can soak in traditions that exist nowhere else. 

For centuries, pilgrims have performed ablutions here, and so can you.

Location

Tsuboyu Onsen is located in a remote, tiny village called Yunomine Onsen (onsen can refer to a bath, a bathing facility, or a municipality with various bathing locations), which has a small number of inns and unique hot springs.  The Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau webpage states that "Yunomine Onsen was discovered about 1,800 years ago, and is thought to be one of the oldest hot springs in Japan." Yunomine Onsen is in a valley within the Kii Mountain Range, home to unique pilgrimage trails, shrines and temples, and springs of great antiquity. The region's significant locations comprise the Cultural World Heritage Site, officially named Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. 

Trail sign for one of the numerous pilgrimage routes

Justification for Registration as a World Heritage Site

UNESCO explains its decision to accept Japan's request for the area to be listed as a World Heritage Site for the following reasons, stated on a UNESCO webpage:

Outstanding Universal Value Brief synthesis  

Set in the dense forests of the Kii Mountains on a peninsula in the southernmost part of mainland Japan, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, three sacred sites – Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan, and Koyasan – are linked by pilgrimage routes to the ancient capital cities of Nara and Kyoto. Together these sites, the connecting pilgrimage routes, and surrounding forests form a cultural landscape that reflect the fusion of Shintoism, rooted in the ancient tradition of nature worship in Japan, and Buddhism, which was introduced from China and the Korean Peninsula. The sacred sites are connected by 307 km of pilgrimage routes which cover a total area of 506.4 ha. With the surrounding forest landscape, they reflect a persistent and extraordinarily well-documented tradition of sacred mountains maintained over 1,200 years.

Criterion (ii) :The monuments and sites that form the cultural landscape of the Kii Mountains are a unique fusion between Shintoism and Buddhism that illustrates the interchange and development of religious cultures in East Asia.

Criterion (iii) :The Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in the Kii Mountains, and their associated rituals, bear exceptional testimony to the development of Japan’s religious culture over more than a thousand years.

Criterion (iv) : The Kii Mountains have become the setting for the creation of unique forms of shrine and temple buildings which have had a profound influence on the building of temples and shrines elsewhere in Japan.

Criterion (vi) : Together, the sites and the forest landscape of the Kii Mountains reflect a persistent and extraordinarily well-documented tradition of sacred mountains over the past 1,200 years."

How does bathing in Tsuboyu feel?                                                                                        

 

For someone whose favorite aspect of Japan is its bathing culture, I was thrilled to bathe in the same tiny, thermally heated, mineral-water-filled natural bathtub that thousands of people have used over thousands of years. I could (I know it is psychological) sense the history. For many Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc., entering sacred religious spaces is an uplifting experience. That was how it was for me, even though I do not follow any religious teachings. 

Looking up at the roof above the spring

Getting close to nature is a spiritual experience for me, and this "bathtub" was natural. It is like a tiny cave in the ground surrounded by a basic wooden hut. The oval-shaped bath was carved into rock alongside a creek. Bathers rest upon a layer of heated rock and gravel. My toes felt hot water seeping through the gravelly rock as I stared upward at the rustic wooden ceiling. The bath would be perfect for one person and a little tight for two people, unless the two are intimately related. Three people can enter at once, but I do not recommend it. If the natural temperature is too hot, you can add some cool tap water. The water reportedly changes color with heat and lighting, but when I was there, it was clear with a slight sulfur aroma.

Outside historic Tsuboyu Onsen

The history and location attract numerous visitors. To ensure visitors have a chance to bathe, bath time is limited to 30 minutes per party. Yunomine Onsen village is small, so finding the ticket booth is quick and easy. Pay 800 yen for an adult and 400 yen for a child. You will be given a number and an estimate of how much time you will have to wait. Many visitors spend less than the allotted 30 minutes soaking. While waiting, you can relax in a small shack by the bath entrance, and you might see hikers or pilgrims ascending or descending the Kumano Kodo hiking trail that passes by Tsubonoyu. A tsubo

Yunomine Onsen has other bathing areas that are worth visiting. Unfortunately, I had a long journey back home and could not stay as long as I wanted, meaning I will return to try out the other baths in this mysterious area of Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. 

For directions and more information on the three public baths, a hot spring used for cooking, and the lodges with in-house onsens, examine this useful webpage prepared by the Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau.

If you are interested in bathing in one of the best cave baths in Japan, please read the following post about a hotel facility also located in Wakayama Prefecture.

Onsen (Hot Spring) Addict in Japan: Beautiful Japanese Onsen Baths in Seaside Caves

This post introduces a riverside hot spring in a town famous for traditional river rafting experiences. Onsen (Hot Spring) Addict in Japan: Riverside Onsen in Remote Kitayama, Wakayama: おくとろ温泉　やまのやど Okutoro Onsen Yamanoyado

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