Chinoike Jigoku — the Blood Pond Hell (血の池地獄) 血の池地獄
The Fudoki of Bungo (8th cent.) already mentions it as the ‘red spring’.
Chinoike Jigoku, in Beppu's Noda district, is a pond of thermal mud with an intense red colour given by iron oxides in solution. It is the oldest of Beppu's ‘hells’ documented in a written source: the Fudoki of Bungo Province, an administrative text of the Nara period (8th century), already mentions it as ‘akayusen’, red spring – over 1300 years of recorded history. The mud was traditionally extracted to make an ointment for skin diseases (today's ‘Chinoike nankō’) and to dye fabrics and wood. The site was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty in 2009. It is physically separate from the group of jigoku in Kannawa where Umi Jigoku and Kamado Jigoku are found.
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