Hawatazaki Onsen
- Location
- Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Japan
- Water type
- sodium chloride
- Temperature
- 40 °C
- pH
- 7.3
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Dense, salty water — you float without effort.
Hawatazaki Onsen was an iodine-rich mineral spring facility formerly housed in Hotel Raiya in the coastal district of Katanorizawa, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, positioned along National Route 7 as it traces the Japan Sea coastline, with local tradition claiming it was the 100th hot spring to open in Yamagata Prefecture — a milestone that reflected the remarkable density of geothermal resources underlying this coastal Tohoku region. The facility closed permanently in 2007 after ceasing operations, leaving behind the memory of an iodine-bearing hot spring on one of Japan's most rugged and scenically dramatic coastlines, where the Dewa Sanzan sacred mountain range rises inland from the narrow coastal highway and the Sea of Japan breaks against rocky shore. Hawatazaki Onsen's historic place as an alleged hundredth Yamagata spring, its Japan Sea coastal setting, and the iodine-rich mineral character of its waters connect it to the broader thermal heritage of a Tohoku prefecture where geothermal resources are as much a part of the landscape as the ancient mountain pilgrimage traditions of the three sacred Dewa peaks.