Minobu Onsen Yamanashi

Minobu Onsen is a spiritually infused hot spring in Minobu town, deep in the Fuji River valley of Yamanashi Prefecture, home to Kuonji Temple on Mount Minobu — the head temple of Nichiren Buddhism, one of Japan's most influential Buddhist schools, where the great 13th-century monk Nichiren spent his final years and whose cherry blossoms are designated a National Natural Monument. The bicarbonate thermal waters provide soothing warmth and skin-nourishing properties for pilgrims and visitors who climb the 287-step stone stairway through ancient cedars to Kuonji's magnificent temple complex. The combination of profound religious heritage, the misty mountain scenery of the Fuji River valley, and genuine thermal bathing makes Minobu Onsen a particularly meaningful destination for followers of Japanese Buddhist pilgrimage tradition.