Mikuni Onsen Fukui

Mikuni, a historic fishing port in the Sakai City area on the Sea of Japan coast of Fukui Prefecture, was one of the most important ports of the Hokuriku region during the Edo period, its ships carrying Echizen rice and goods across the Japan Sea to the Osaka-Kyoto commercial networks in an era of maritime prosperity on the northern coast. Mikuni Onsen Fukui draws on chloride-rich coastal thermal waters from the marine geological formations of the Fukui Sea of Japan coast, offering warming maritime baths in a port town whose historic townscape of merchant houses, sake breweries, and the Mikuni Shrine preserve the character of the Edo-period commercial port. The spectacular Tojinbo basalt columnar cliff formation nearby — one of Japan's most dramatic sea coast geological wonders — the annual Mikuni Festival featuring enormous papier-mâché gods atop elaborate floats, and the fresh snow crab and saba mackerel cuisine of the Fukui coast make Mikuni a richly rewarding thermal destination in northern Fukui Prefecture.