Onsen Hopping in Kurokawa

Kurokawa is a village of about 30 small inns in a river valley in the mountains of Kumamoto. It is not near a train station. You have to want to go there.

What makes it different is a decision the innkeepers made together many years ago. Instead of each inn competing with big signs and concrete buildings, they agreed to treat the whole village as one inn: dark wood, no bright signs, and trees everywhere. Walking in, it feels older than it is.

The wooden pass

You buy a round wooden pass called a nyuto tegata for 1,500 yen. It lets you use the outdoor baths of any three inns in the village, even if you are not staying there. It is valid for six months, so you do not have to use all three in one day.

Each bath is different. I chose:

1. One built into the rock beside the river, with the water running past just below.
2. One inside a small cave, dark and very hot, where I could not see the other end.
3. One high on the hill with an open view of the valley.

Between baths you walk through the village in the cold with wet hair, which is part of the fun.

In late November

I went at the end of November. The autumn leaves had mostly fallen but the mountains were still red-brown, and it was cold enough that steam came off my skin when I got out of the water.

In winter the village lights hundreds of small bamboo lanterns along the river in the evening. That runs from December to April. I missed it by about two weeks, which is my own fault for not checking the dates.

If you have never used an onsen

• Wash and rinse fully at the shower before entering the bath.
• No swimwear.
• The small towel does not go in the water. Put it on your head or on the side.
• Tie up long hair.
• Tattoos are still a problem at some inns. Kurokawa is more relaxed than most places, but check first if this matters to you.

Getting there

Buses run from Kumamoto, from Fukuoka (Hakata) and from Aso Station. From Aso it is about 50 minutes. There is no train. A car is easiest if you have one.