Kochi Onsen Central

Kochi Onsen Central is located in Kochi City, the prefectural capital of Kochi on the Pacific coast of Shikoku, a city of fierce local pride rooted in its historical identity as the domain of the Tosa clan and the birthplace of Sakamoto Ryoma — the visionary young samurai whose diplomatic brilliance in brokering the Satchō Alliance between the Satsuma and Chōshū domains in 1866 made the Meiji Restoration possible, and who was assassinated at 31 before seeing the new Japan he helped create, becoming Japan's most beloved historical hero and the subject of endless television dramas, novels, and popular commemoration. Kochi Castle is one of Japan's original 12 surviving feudal castles, and the Sunday Hirome Ichiba market — a covered food hall of legendary energy and conviviality where locals gather to eat katsuo no tataki (seared bonito, the city's signature dish) and drink Tosa sake from distinctive wide flat cups — embodies the warmly outgoing spirit that Kochi residents call 'isamashii.' The onsen provide silica-rich mineral bathing in a city of extraordinary historical personality and Pacific coastal energy.