Kawayu Grand Hotel Kumano

Kawayu Grand Hotel Kumano, in the legendary onsen village of Kawayu near Hongu in the Kumano heartland of Wakayama Prefecture, sits beside the Oto river where bicarbonate thermal water seeps up through the very gravel of the riverbed — a geological phenomenon that allows visitors to dig their own private baths in the river shingle during summer, while winter brings the famous Sennin-buro, a giant communal rotenburo excavated in the riverbed large enough for a thousand bathers. The naturally warm bicarbonate waters, emerging in alignment with the profound volcanic and geothermal geology of the Kii Peninsula, have been revered as sacred thermal gifts within the Kumano pilgrimage tradition for over twelve centuries. The Hongu area's position at the spiritual heart of the Kumano Kodo — where the great Hongu Taisha Grand Shrine and its vast torii gate stand amid ancient cryptomeria forest — makes Kawayu one of Japan's most powerfully evocative onsen settings.