Namazu Onsen
- Location
- Toyama, Toyama Prefecture, Japan
- Water type
- sodium chloride
- Temperature
- 41 °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.
Namazu Onsen—Catfish Spring—takes its name from the namazu, the giant underground catfish (Namazu) of Japanese mythology whose thrashing movements beneath the earth cause earthquakes—a creature whose mythological role as the agent of seismic energy makes it the perfect namesake for a thermal spring whose geological origin is directly connected to the same tectonic forces that cause Japan's earthquakes and volcanic activity. In Japanese mythology, the namazu is controlled by the deity Kashima-Daimyojin who pins it with a sacred stone, and the occasions when the god's attention lapses are the moments when the catfish thrashes and the earth shakes—connecting this spring's catfish name to the seismic and geothermal energy of Japan's tectonic landscape. The catfish spring name frames thermal bathing as a participation in the mythological energy of Japan's earthquake geology.