What Is Misasa Onsen? Radon Springs, the White Wolf Legend and the Kawara Bath

Published 2026-10-04 · Sources checked 2026-10-04 · Treasure Hunting Co., Ltd.

This guide is for visitors who want to know what Misasa Onsen is and how its baths and festival work. It uses the English pages of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). All pages were read on 2026-10-04. Claims about health are the ones the pages report, and we did not check them.

The short answer

Misasa Onsen is a hot spring town in Tottori Prefecture, a short distance inland from the Sea of Japan. JNTO says it has "the highest levels of radium of any hot springs in the world" in one page, and "the world's highest levels of naturally occurring radon" in another, and that the waters are considered therapeutic. Most of what it offers is simple: baths, a stone path of inns and shops, and a nearby sacred mountain.

The legend and the date

JNTO tells it this way: a samurai named Okubo Samanosuke, a vassal of the Minamoto no Yoshitomo clan, came to Misasa on a pilgrimage to Mt. Mitoku. He met a white wolf and spared its life. That night the Myoken Bodhisattva appeared in his dream and showed him where hot springs could be found. A statue of Samanosuke and the wolf now marks the site, which has a small bathhouse, a drinking fountain and a foot bath. The pages differ on the age: one says the springs have been famous for over 850 years and have origins in the 12th century, while another says the onsen was discovered 1,164 years ago. The pages also give 1164 as the year of the legend. Treat the dates as legend rather than record.

The Kawara bath

JNTO calls the Kawara bath beside the river the ultimate onsen experience for many. It is outdoors, mixed gender, and in full view of people crossing the bridge. Bathers are naked, so bring a small towel; the page says you can undress behind a screen next to the bath or by the path. Rinse before entering, and relax as long as you like.

Three days and the radon idea

JNTO says it is said that bathing for three consecutive days improves your health, and ties this to the theory of hormesis, in which small doses of radiation are held to be beneficial. This is a claim about folk belief and a scientific theory, not something we can confirm. Simple bathhouses and ryokan baths around town can be used for a small fee, JNTO says, and the Misasakan bathhouse is popular with locals and visitors.

Healing the six senses

Misasa Onsen received Japan Heritage status in 2015. The heritage theme is called "Rokkan Chiyu", and JNTO explains that "rokkan" means the six senses and "chiyu" means to heal. JNTO adds that the sixth sense is recognised as one's spirit or soul, and that a three-night stay is said to cleanse the six senses.

Walking through town

An attractive stone path lined with inns, shops and an arcade of retro games runs through the area, with a foot bath and a small temple at the center. At Koitani Bridge, a statue of a kajika frog is said to bless single people with a spouse if rubbed, and JNTO says that in Japan a person with a beautiful singing voice is called a "kajika". The JNTO area page also suggests a walk around Lake Togo, with views of Mt. Daisen and the Sea of Japan.

The Hanayu Festival

On May 4 each year, JNTO says, Misasa holds the Hanayu Festival, designated an Important Intangible Folk Asset. Locals spend two days making two ropes from wisteria roots, each two meters in circumference and weighing two tons, then hold a tug-of-war in the onsen district between an East team and a West team. Anyone may join once the ropes are tied. The page says that if the East wins the harvest will be good, and if the West wins commerce will prosper. JNTO warns that rooms become scarce during the annual festival celebrating Marie Curie, a separate event whose date the pages we read do not give.

What we could not verify, and therefore left out

• Bath fees and opening hours.
• Whether radium or radon is the correct term for what the water contains; the pages use both.
• Any independent evidence for health effects.
• The date of the Marie Curie festival.

Related guides

• How do you get to Misasa Onsen and Mt. Mitoku from Kurayoshi and Osaka?
• What is Mt. Mitoku? The Nageiredo pilgrimage and the fire festival

Sources

All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.

1. Misasa Onsen (JNTO) — (legend, Kawara bath, hormesis, Rokkan Chiyu)
2. Misasa (JNTO) — (radon wording, Lake Togo)
3. Mitokusan Sanbutsuji Temple (JNTO) — (1,164 years)
4. Misasa Onsen Hanayu Festival (JNTO) — (tug-of-war)