Letters Home: Beppu, hot spring town, Oita Prefecture

This column is going to focus on the charms of yet another onsen town called Beppu, located in Oita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu.

I have had the great fortune to visit this hot spring town numerous times because my home in Fukuoka is just a hop, skip, and a jump from this lovely traditional hot spring town.

There are a number of outstanding and traditional features in this charming and appealing town, but one of the most unusual and different things to do here is to have a hot sand bath at Takegawara Onsen. The onsen name comes from the fact that the original building had a bamboo (take) tiled roof.

Today, the building boasts an ornate Chinese inspired gabled entrance (photo below), with extremely high ceilings in the foyer or reception area. It has a very early-Showa Era (1926-1989) vibe to it.

And it is tattoo friendly! So, bathers with tattoos are able to enjoy its benefits. In fact, Beppu seems to be a very tattoo friendly city, in general. Many traditional onsen in Japan have a strict “no tattoo” policy which makes it frustrating for people with tattoos to enjoy the various onsens in Japan. It is always best to inquire first to make sure tattoos are allowed.

The onsen itself dates back to 1879, but the current building was rebuilt in 1938, so it still has that very old-timey and vintage look and feel to it. If you want the pristine, antiseptic hot spring spa experience with sleek and modern fixtures, this is not the place to go. It looks and feels like the year 1938 as soon as you enter inside, which is what makes it so unique and endearing. (see photos)

Reservations are necessary for a hot sand bath treatment, but reservations are only taken in person at the reception desk (no telephone or internet reservations are done). So, it is best to stop by early in the day to make your reservation for a sand bath, go exploring around the city, then make your way back at your reservation time to partake in the sand bath.

Bathers are given cotton robes called “yukata” that they put on before lying down, face up, in a partially dug out indentation in the sand. Attendants (sunakake-san) then shovel sand over the entire body (that is hot and wet) up to the neck; the sand has been heated naturally by the thermal springs below.

I took a dear friend and her daughter who were visiting from the U.S. there and they loved the experience (photo above).

The purpose is to sweat toxins and impurities out of the body, and it is believed to improve blood circulation by increasing the oxygen levels. As expected, people who suffer from arthritis, rheumatism, and sore muscles find relief by having a hot sand bathing treatment. Because the sand is so hot, it opens up the skin’s pores, so many people also enjoy a hot sand treatment as part of a regular beauty regimen.

Both men and women use the same sand baths, but since you are covered in the cotton yukata, it is very discreet. Near the sand pit area is a small hot spring bath on each side of the changing areas to soak in after finishing the sand bath. 

It is still expected that you rinse off with hot water outside the bath before entering into it, even though there is sand everywhere in the actual bath. Proper etiquette and custom require you to try to rinse off as much sand from your body as you can before lowering yourself into the mineral bath.  There is a small bucket outside of the bath that you can use to scoop water from the actual bath to rinse your body off.

There are other hot sand spas in Beppu, and another one that I tried was out on the beach that gives bathers a lovely view of the ocean, which is quite relaxing to lie there, covered in hot sand, and listening to the waves crash onto the beach.

Another “must do” experience in Beppu is to visit the Jigoku Onsen or the “The 7 Hells of Beppu.” These are various hot springs located near one another that feature different colors and mineral properties, but these are much too hot to enter (hence the moniker “hells” in its name). 

These hot spring pools (photos above) are a testament to the very powerful geothermal activity that takes place just below the surface.  Visitors are treated to steam shooting up from the ground all over the city.

In the “Hells of Beppu” visitors can purchase eggs that were hardboiled in the waters. I remember a very strong odor of Sulphur, too, in and around some of the open air onsens connected with the “hells.”

The most well-known onsens around Beppu are “Umi Jigoku,” “Chinoke Jigoku,” “Tatsumaki Jigoku,” and “Shiraike Jigoku.”

Many visitors follow a prescribed route, Jigoku Meguri — "Hell Tour” — to visit all the onsen areas. Beppu basically consists of eight onsen towns, all offering various therapeutic properties, called Beppu Hatto.

Umi Jigoku is a rich cobalt blue hue that looks like the ocean, hence its name, which in English is “Sea Hell” because of its rich and vibrant color. In contrast, the Chinoke Jigoku, or “Blood Pond Hell” is red due to its natural iron and magnesium oxide content creating its mysterious and unusual color.  It is actually red-hot mud at the bottom which gives the pond the appearance of being red, even though the water itself is clear.

Again, it is much too hot to actually soak in. The mud is gathered and sold as a natural remedy called “Blood Pond Ointment.”

The Tatsumaki Jigoku is more of a geyser than an actual onsen pond bath. Like most other geysers around the world, it erupts consistently every 30 to 40 minutes after enough pressure builds up from below the earth for it to release and blow (photo). A concrete roof was placed above it for safety reasons as it could explode scalding hot water up to dozens of meters into the air.

And the last “hell” onsen I will introduce here is the Shiraike Jigoku. This heart-shaped pond (main photo) boasts a nearby tropical fish aquarium, as well as a Japanese art gallery that can be visited when touring this onsen. It also features traditional Japanese gardens that surround the pond.

The gardens are very meditative as they create a welcoming and peaceful atmosphere. Even though the water itself is clear, it gives the appearance of being white, hence its name of “white pond.”

I would recommend a two- or three-day stay in Beppu because there is so much to see and do.

Another hot spring town, Yufuin, is easily accessible by train from Beppu and it offers a quaint and charming experience due to its many shops and zigzagging, medieval streets.

Yufuin will be the topic of my next column, to finish out my series of hot spring towns.