Nasu’s Hot Springs

Nasu's hot springs in the hills above Nikko have been documented since 738, when a hunter is said to have followed a wounded white deer to the sulfuric Shika no Yu spring. By the late Edo period, seven springs in the area were ranked among the best in eastern Japan. Each source has a distinct mineral composition. Kita Onsen, discovered in 1696, has an open-air bath the size of a swimming pool and another surrounded by tengu masks. The most remote, Santogoya Onsen on Mt. Asahi's western slope, sits at 1,500 meters elevation and requires a two-hour hike from the Nasu Ropeway summit station.