Ugo Onsen
- Location
- Ugo, Akita, Japan
- Water type
- bicarbonate
- Temperature
- 40 °C
- pH
- 8
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
Ugo Onsen is found in Ugo Town in southern Akita Prefecture, a mountain community celebrated as the home of the Nishimonai Bon Odori, one of Japan's three great Bon dances and a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, in which mysterious masked and robed dancers perform hauntingly beautiful movements through the summer night streets, their faces hidden beneath conical kasa hats or dramatic hikuma masks. The dance's origins are disputed between Buddhist Bon memorial rites and celebration of a medieval lord's military victory, lending it an atmosphere of timeless mystique that distinguishes it from all other Japanese summer dances. The clear thermal waters here soothe visitors who come to witness this extraordinary nocturnal ritual in one of rural Akita's most culturally treasured communities.