Osorezan Onsen Shukubo Kichijokaku

Kichijokaku is the temple lodging (shukubo) within the precincts of Osorezan Bodaiji, the sacred mountain temple at the center of the Shimokita Peninsula in Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture. The grounds spread out beside Lake Usori, a caldera lake at roughly 209 meters above sea level, and Osorezan is counted alongside Mount Hiei and Mount Koya as one of Japan's three great sacred sites. The temple is said to have been founded in 862 by the monk Jikaku Daishi Ennin, and it is administered today by Entsuji, a Soto Zen temple. The hot spring itself burst forth during drilling at the Osorezan sulfur mine, which operated from the Meiji era into the early Showa period.

The water is classified as an iron- and sulfur-bearing sodium chloride spring. It emerges at 74.4 degrees Celsius with a total mineral content of 2,458 mg/kg and a strongly acidic pH of about 2.2, varying roughly between 1.9 and 2.7 from bathhouse to bathhouse. Depending on the day the water shifts between a bluish milky white and a translucent emerald green, and it carries a powerful hydrogen sulfide smell. Every bath is free-flowing from the source, and the water is traditionally said to help with neuralgia, rheumatism, digestive complaints and skin conditions.

Kichijokaku has separate men's and women's indoor baths called Minori-no-Yu, where a tub large enough for about thirty people holds cloudy water at around 42 degrees, with washing stations and showers provided. In addition, four small bathhouses stand within the temple grounds: Kotaki-no-Yu, Hienuki-no-Yu, Yakushi-no-Yu and the mixed-gender Hanazome-no-Yu, all of which overnight guests may use. A stay costs 17,000 yen per person with two vegetarian Buddhist meals, plus a 900 yen entrance fee for the grounds. The temple opens from May 1 to October 31; from November until late April it is closed by snow and neither lodging nor bathing is possible.