Yugawara Onsen

photo by Quercus acuta · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by Tighten up! from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY 2.0

It is the only hot spring in eastern Japan mentioned in the Man'yōshū, the oldest anthology.

Centuries of literary figures have passed through the only hot spring in eastern Japan mentioned in the Man'yōshū (eighth century), the oldest collection of Japanese poetry: Natsume Sōseki retreated here in 1915–16 and used it as the setting for his last novel, Meian, which was left unfinished (the last scene he wrote is a meeting between the protagonist and an old love at a local inn). Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Tanizaki Jun'ichirō and Yosano Akiko also stayed here.

A hot spring resort on the south-western coast of Kanagawa, on the border with Shizuoka Prefecture; known for centuries, it became a place of rest for writers and intellectuals from Tokyo in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

ℹ️ The area (street, shops, paths) is always accessible; the ryokan offer day bathing with their own hours.

🚉 公園入口 · 3 min walk

Sources: fujinkoron.jp · yugawara.or.jp · yugawara.or.jp

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