Hirugano Onsen Gifu Shirotori
- Location
- Shirotori, Gifu (Chubu), Japan
- Water type
- sodium chloride, bicarbonate
- Temperature
- 42 °C
- pH
- 8
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Dense, salty water — you float without effort.
Hirugano Onsen Gifu Shirotori is a highland hot spring retreat in Shirotori Town (now part of Gujo City) in the Shokawa valley of Gifu Prefecture, situated in the high mountain country of the Ryōhaku Mountains near the UNESCO World Heritage village of Shirakawa-go, where the extraordinary gassho-zukuri farmhouses with their steeply pitched thatched roofs designed to shed the region's massive snowfall have been preserved in a living agricultural village listed among Japan's most remarkable traditional architectural landscapes. The Hirugano highlands, situated at an elevation of approximately 900 meters, support a distinctive plateau ecosystem of marshland, flower meadows, and highland pasture that provides stunning natural beauty across the seasons from spring wildflowers through brilliant autumn foliage to the deep snowscape that transforms this area into one of central Japan's finest ski destinations at the Hirugano and Dainichi ski resorts. The sodium-bicarbonate thermal waters here offer a warming retreat in the high mountain country of the Shokawa valley, combining the UNESCO heritage magnificence of the Shirakawago area with the elemental pleasure of hot spring bathing after days spent exploring some of central Japan's most dramatically beautiful highland landscapes.