Last Updated: Dec 8, 2024

Yunishigawa Onsen

Tochigi’s Hidden Village with Hot Springs

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

Since Japan became one of the hottest travel destinations in the world, the collection of shrines and temples in the Nikko area has skyrocketed in popularity. Awarded the honor of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, landmarks like Nikko Toshogu Shrine and Rinno-ji now attract countless tourists. Alas, while more and more travelers are venturing a little further north to Kinugawa Onsen for Edo Wonderland and Tobu World Square, few of them ever make it as far as Yunishigawa Onsen — a place I’ve visited a handful of times and would love to gatekeep, but feel you, my dear readers, deserve to know about.

Since few of you will have ever heard of Yunishigawa Onsen before, let’s start with its history. Originally, this hot spring hamlet began as a hidden village for the defeated members of the Taira clan (a.k.a the Heike). Following their loss to the Minamoto clan at the Battle of Dan-no-Ura in Shimonoseki, a few members of this once-mighty family made their way deep into the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture. There, they discovered Yunishigawa Onsen’s heavenly hot springs and decided to make it their new home, hoping the remote valley would be far enough away to remain undetected.