Niihama Onsen
- Location
- Niihama, Ehime, Shikoku, Japan
- Water type
- sodium chloride
- Temperature
- 41 °C
- pH
- 7.3
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Dense, salty water — you float without effort.
Niihama Onsen is situated in Niihama, a city on the northern Ehime coast known as the birthplace of Japan's modern copper mining and chemical industries through the famous Besshi Copper Mine — opened in 1691 by the Sumitomo family and operated for 283 years until 1973, during which time it became one of the world's largest copper mining operations and the financial foundation of the Sumitomo zaibatsu industrial empire that survives today as one of Japan's largest corporate groups. The mine's industrial heritage is preserved at the Marutama Mine Museum and in the city's strong tradition of industrial engineering culture, while the annual Niihama Taiiko Festival — one of Shikoku's three great festivals, featuring enormous decorated golden drums (taiko-dai) weighing over two tons each carried by teams of men in a spectacular nocturnal procession of strength and community pride — adds a dimension of traditional festival culture to this industrial heritage city. The onsen here provide silica-rich mineral bathing in a city whose copper mining legacy and festival tradition make it one of Shikoku's most historically significant and characterful coastal industrial communities.