Wakayama Katsuragi Onsen

Katsuragi, in the eastern Wakayama Prefecture highlands bordering Nara and Osaka, is an agricultural community in the upper Katsuragi River headwaters zone whose traditional persimmon and plum cultivation, mountain forestry, and the remote highland setting of the Kada and Shirakami shrine traditions create a quietly cultural and agricultural spa setting on the Wakayama highland fringe. Wakayama Katsuragi Onsen draws on sodium and bicarbonate thermal waters from the geothermal resources of the Katsuragi mountain zone, providing restorative baths in a highland agricultural community whose traditional fruit cultivation, mountain forest landscape, and position at the highland junction of Wakayama, Nara, and Osaka prefectures create an appealingly remote and naturally refreshing spa setting. The traditional Katsuragi mountain persimmon and plum orchards, the forested highland trails above the Katsuragi River valley, and the access to the ancient Katsuragi road connecting Mount Kongo and the Yamato highland pilgrimage routes create a pleasantly agricultural and mountain-connected spa destination in eastern Wakayama Prefecture.