Matsuyama Funaya Onsen

Matsuyama Dogo Onsen in Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku island is Japan's oldest hot spring resort, with a history of therapeutic bathing documented in Japan's oldest chronicles dating back over 3,000 years, making it arguably the oldest continuously operating hot spring in the world — its fame is referenced in the Man'yōshū (Japan's oldest poetry collection, 8th century) and Natsume Soseki's novel 'Botchan' (1906), where the writer memorably described bathing in the main hall. The sulphurous thermal waters of the main Dogo Onsen Honkan — a spectacular three-storey wooden building with a white heron roof ornament dating to 1894 and recognised as Japan's first national heritage hot spring building — provide an onsen bathing experience of extraordinary historical and architectural distinction. The Dogo Onsen complex includes special reserved bathing rooms that were historically used by the Imperial family, giving the springs a connection to Japanese imperial history unmatched by any other onsen in the country. Matsuyama's 12th-century Matsuyama Castle on the hill above the city, the haiku tradition of Masaoka Shiki (who was born here), and Shikoku's 88-temple pilgrimage circuit create an incomparable cultural context for Japan's oldest and most historically resonant hot spring bathing experience.