Hachikuro Onsen

Hachikuro Onsen—Eight Black Spring—takes its name from a combination that in Japanese place-naming tradition can evoke the deep, dark character of volcanic terrain, the eight-fold intensity of powerful black mineral water, or the visual drama of dark volcanic rock stained further by mineral deposits. Sulfurous thermal waters in Akita Prefecture carry the volcanic potency of the Tohoku volcanic arc's geological activity, providing the hydrogen sulfide mineral character associated with Japan's most powerful and therapeutically assertive volcanic springs in the snow country of Japan's northern Tohoku region. The eight-black name suggests a spring of particular geological depth and mineral intensity, its dark volcanic character concentrated by the eight-fold force implied by the naming tradition of emphasizing multiplicity to convey exceptional power.