Nanki Shirahama Onsen

It is one of the three oldest hot springs in Japan, and was called “Muro no Yu” in old documents.

Hot spring facilities, hotels, and inns line the coast around Shirahama, a beach of pure white and silky sand.

Nanki-Shirahama Onsen can be subdivided into Shirahama, Yuzaki, Oura, Koga-ura, Tsunafuji, and Shirahama hot spring resorts, and hot springs are scattered over a wide area.

The surrounding area is a resort with many tourist attractions such as Adventure World, where giant pandas are kept, Engetsu Island, which is a national scenic spot, and Senjyoshiki.

Shirarahama and Engetsu Island have been selected as one of the best 100 sunsets in Japan, and there are many beautiful spots for sunsets, including sunsets over scenic spots, and there are hot springs where you can watch the sky and sea turn bright red as you soak in the bathtub.

It is one of the oldest hot springs in Japan, and is mentioned in the Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan) as having been visited by emperors of the time (658-701). The hot spring of Muro appears in the Manyoshu, a collection of poetry (circa 759).
Since then, many people, from aristocrats (lords of the Kishu domain in the Edo period) to commoners, have enjoyed Shirahama Onsen.

The hot spring is a non-volcanic type derived from geothermal heat, and its qualities are salt spring, carbonic acid spring, and sodium bicarbonate spring.

The Saki no Yu open-air bath is located at the edge of Yuzaki, facing the Pacific Ocean, on a rocky beach washed by the waves.
The hot spring, which is kept in a large natural rock hollow and continues to produce steam, appears in the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), Manyoshu (Anthology of Myriad Leaves), and other texts.
Visitors can bathe in this open-air bath, which has been enjoyed for more than 1,000 years, while listening to the sound of the sea and watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.

In addition, there is “Muro-no-yu,” a public bathhouse in a unique Nara-period style building where visitors can enjoy two different types of hot spring water at the same time, “Shirarayu,” a bathhouse along Shirara Beach with bathtubs on the second floor and a view of Shirara Beach from the window, and “Shirasuna,” an open-air bath for swimwear.

Muro no Yu
Standing in the center of the hot spring resort, facing the Pacific Ocean, is a unique two-story reinforced concrete building in the Nara-period style. The bathrooms are covered with Teppei stone.

The bathtub is partitioned in the middle of the bath, and is filled with two types of hot water: 83°C sodium bicarbonate spring water and 75°C salt spring water.

The hot water is effective for rheumatism, musculoskeletal disorders, wounds, burns, chronic eczema, women’s diseases, and menopausal disorders.

Saki no Yu
Near the tip of the Yuzaki Peninsula, which juts out into the Kii Channel in the south of the Shirahama hot spring resort area. It is an open-air bath with a full of wildness that gushes out in a natural sandstone depression on the rough shore facing the sea.

The bath is said to have been taken by Emperor Saimei and Emperor Nakataio in 658, and was also taken by Tokugawa Yoshimune when he was the feudal lord of Kishu.

It is a hot spring where one can bathe while feeling the waves up close, but when the weather turns bad and the waves become high, bathing is prohibited. Although it is an open-air bath, a partition is set up in the center, so men and women can bathe separately.