The lord of the domain came here to take the cure from 1638: the thatched Honjin is still standing.
The oldest of the seven baths of Nyūtō Onsen-kyō. Its name, ‘the crane's hot water’, comes from a hunter who saw a crane healing its wounds in these waters. The second lord of the Akita domain was already coming here for treatment in 1638, and the Honjin (the thatched inn where his guards stayed, still rebuilt by hand every few decades by specialist craftsmen) is still standing. The mixed outdoor bath, fed by a milky spring, never closes because of the cold.
Founded in the valley of the Sendatsu River, for decades it was reserved for the Satake clan, lords of the Akita domain, before appearing in the records as an inn open to ordinary guests around 1688: the oldest document among the onsen of the valley, now grouped together under the name Nyūtō Onsen-kyō.
ℹ️ Day bathing (without an overnight stay) 10:00–15:00, open all year. Admission 700¥ for adults, 300¥ for children (tax included). Not reachable on foot from a station: you get there by car or on the inn's shuttle bus from Tazawako or Kakunodate.
🚉 鶴の湯本陣 · in front of the station
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Lake Tazawa12.5 kmphoto by (Tea-making tea) 掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0