Shirabu Onsen
- Location
- Yonezawa, Yamagata, Japan
- Water type
- silica
- Temperature
- 42 °C
- pH
- 7.5
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Rich in trace elements — gentle on the skin.
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
Shirabu Onsen is an exceptionally historic mountain hot spring southwest of Yonezawa city in Yamagata Prefecture, home to Higashiya Ryokan — one of Japan's oldest continuously operating inns, founded in 1312 during the late Kamakura period, a jewel of traditional Japanese architectural heritage that has welcomed samurai, poets, and weary pilgrims for over seven centuries. The siliceous thermal waters are smooth and skin-beautifying, flowing through the historic inn's wooden bathing facilities in an atmosphere of extraordinary historical continuity that connects modern visitors to the bathing traditions of medieval Japan. The surrounding forested mountain landscape of the Shirabu Valley, with its pristine streams and autumn foliage, provides a fittingly timeless natural setting for one of Japan's most genuinely ancient onsen inns.