Central Tottori · MisasaNo.603★★Open in map →

Misasa Onsen

onsenOff the trail — and worth it

A radon spa town on the Mitoku River in central Tottori. Its best-known bath is not inside a ryokan but out on the open riverbed beside the road bridge, and several of the town's smaller baths and drinking spouts are public too.

FromKurayoshi Station
~20 minHinomaru bus, ~20 min
Get off atMisasa Onsen bus stop (Hinomaru Bus)
From there
Misasa Onsen

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Misasa is well known inside Japan as a therapeutic spa, so it is not a hidden place. What travels less well is how much of it is open to anyone: the riverbed bath, the foot baths and the drinking spouts ask nothing at the door, so the town works as a half-day stop rather than only as an overnight one.

Where it is

10 more notes in Tottori · open the map →

What to look for — in walking order

Tamawari-no-yua small public bathhouse beside the tourist information centre, at the bus-stop end of the street
Kawara-burothe open-air bath out on the riverbed at the foot of Misasa Bridge, with a roofed changing shed
Yakushi-no-yua roadside foot bath with a drinking spout beside it, a few minutes upstream
Misasa Shrinestone steps above the street, with the Kami-no-yu drinking spout in its grounds
Kabu-yuthe bathhouse over the town's original source, at the quiet upper end away from the ryokan

How to actually get there

Tottori or Yonago → Kurayoshi Station (JR San'in Line).
Kurayoshi Station → Misasa Onsen (Hinomaru bus, about 20 min).
Bus stop → Kawara-buro, the riverbed bath beside Misasa Bridge (walk 1–2 min).
Walk upstream through the town to Kabu-yu, the bathhouse over the original source.

Hinomaru bus from Kurayoshi Station: Kurayoshi Station is the JR gateway for Misasa. From the station front, take the Hinomaru bus bound for Misasa Onsen and ride about 20 minutes to the onsen district. Check the departure board at the stand when you arrive, so you know the pattern before you walk off into the town.
Return to Kurayoshi Station: The same route runs back to Kurayoshi Station in about the same time. Note the last departure posted at the stop before you settle into the town, and leave slack at Kurayoshi if you are connecting onto a limited express.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Misasa sits in the hills of central Tottori, strung along the Mitoku River between Kurayoshi and the peak of Mount Mitoku. Its water is a radioactive spring carrying radon, and the town has built its identity as much on drinking and inhaling it as on bathing. The open-air bath called Kawara-buro lies on the riverbed itself, at the foot of Misasa Bridge, screened only by a roofed changing shed. Around it the town keeps a scatter of small public fixtures: a bathhouse at the original source, foot baths on the street, and spouts where the water can be drunk. Ryokan line the far bank, but the public water is what makes the place walkable.

How to enjoy it

Get off the bus at the information centre and walk upstream: the riverbed bath first, then the foot bath, the shrine spout, and Kabu-yu at the top of the town. The whole line is a short walk, so a bus in and a bus out from Kurayoshi — twenty minutes each way — fits a half day comfortably. Bring a small towel, since the riverbed bath gives you a changing shed and little else.

Background & history

Local tradition dates the spring to the twelfth century, when a retainer of the Minamoto family is said to have been led to the source by a white wolf. The bathhouse called Kabu-yu still stands over that original source, at the upper end of the town. In 2015 the Agency for Cultural Affairs bound Misasa together with neighbouring Mount Mitoku as a single Japan Heritage story, reading the mountain climb as purification and the hot spring as healing. The cliff-set Nageire-do hall on that mountain is the other half of the pairing.

Before you go

Cash: The riverbed bath and the drinking spouts are free to use. The town's public bathhouses charge an entry fee collected at the door. Carry cash for the bathhouse and for the bus fare.
Good to know: The riverbed bath stands in the open beside the bridge, with a changing shed but no walls, so weather is part of it and the river runs high right alongside after heavy rain. Winter brings snow to this valley. The public bathhouses keep set hours, unlike the riverbed bath.
Another way: Kurayoshi is on the JR San'in Line, reached from Tottori in the east or Yonago in the west, and the bus connection to Misasa is the same from either direction. By car it is a short run inland from Kurayoshi along the valley, and the town keeps a free visitor car park.
After you get off: The bus sets down in the middle of the onsen district, by the tourist information centre. Walk down toward the water and the riverbed bath is beside Misasa Bridge, a minute or two away.