Wakayama Hirogawa Onsen

Hirogawa, in the central Wakayama Prefecture on the Kumano coast approaches, is a small coastal fishing community whose traditional ama women divers — female free-divers who harvest abalone, sea urchin, and other shellfish from the Kumano Sea coast using breath-holding techniques practiced for over two thousand years — represent one of Japan's most ancient and distinctive maritime occupational traditions. Wakayama Hirogawa Onsen draws on chloride-rich coastal thermal waters from the marine geological formations of the central Wakayama Pacific coast, offering warming maritime baths in a coastal community whose ama diving culture, traditional Kumano coast fishing heritage, and approach to the sacred Kumano Kodo pilgrimage landscape create a culturally distinctive and naturally atmospheric spa setting. The traditional ama diving culture of the Wakayama Kumano coast, the Kumano Kodo UNESCO pilgrimage road approaching the three great Kumano shrines from the north, and the Pacific coastal scenery of the Kii Peninsula's dramatic outer coast make Hirogawa a culturally rich and naturally beautiful spa destination on the Wakayama coast.