Totsugawa Onsen Nara

Totsukawa, a remote mountain village in the deep interior of the Kii Peninsula in southern Nara Prefecture, was once famous as Japan's largest village by area, stretching across a vast river watershed where pristine river gorges of extraordinary scenic beauty have been preserved by the region's isolation. Totsugawa Onsen draws on sodium and bicarbonate thermal waters rising from the geothermal depths of the Kii mountain range, providing simple open-air baths and riverside onsen that embody the Japanese concept of hitou — a hidden, undiscovered spa known only to those who seek it. The Nakatsu and Totsukawa river gorges, carved through ancient Precambrian rock, create a wilderness landscape unlike anywhere else on Honshu island.