Kawayu Onsen
- Location
- Tanabe, Wakayama, Japan
- Water type
- silica
- Temperature
- 75 °C
- pH
- 7.5
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Rich in trace elements — gentle on the skin.
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
Kawayu Onsen in Tanabe city, Wakayama Prefecture, is a uniquely geological thermal experience where bathers can dig their own private sand bath in the riverbed of the Oto River, whose sandy substrate is heated from below by geothermal energy to create a naturally occurring hot bath in the middle of a flowing mountain stream in the heart of the Kumano pilgrimage landscape. The siliceous geothermal activity heating the river bottom also feeds more conventional bathing facilities along the riverbanks, where the soft, skin-smoothing mineral water can be enjoyed in traditional indoor and outdoor baths surrounded by the cedar forests of the Kii Mountains. The ritual of digging your own bath in a sacred pilgrimage river while surrounded by ancient forest creates an experience that distils the essence of Japan's deep connection between natural geothermal energy and spiritual landscape.