Fukuwata Onsen

Fukuwata Onsen in Nasushiobara City, Tochigi Prefecture is part of the celebrated Shiobara Onsenkyo cluster and holds the distinction of being the second spring encountered when ascending Route 400 along the Houki River gorge through the Shiobara Juichito — the Eleven Hot Springs of Shiobara — making it an early and important member of one of the Kanto region's most historically significant and scenically dramatic thermal spring valleys. The spring flows with bicarbonate, mildly radioactive, and carbonated thermal waters, a triple mineral combination that includes the mildly radon-bearing radioactivity associated in traditional Japanese and European balneology with immune system stimulation and general tonic effects alongside the skin-conditioning properties of bicarbonate and the effervescent quality of dissolved carbon dioxide. Fukuwata Onsen's complex triple-mineral character and its position as a gateway spring to the Shiobara gorge cluster connect it to the full depth of the Shiobara thermal tradition, a valley of springs that has attracted visitors from the Tokyo metropolitan area for well over a century, drawn by the combination of scenic gorge landscapes and the therapeutic diversity of Shiobara's extraordinary collection of varied mineral hot springs.