Manza Onsen Hokokukan

Hokokukan is a traditional bathing inn in Manza Onsen, Tsumagoi Village, Gunma Prefecture, at an elevation of about 1,800 meters. Manza is one of Japan's highest hot spring resorts and has long been known as a therapeutic bathing area with strongly acidic sulfur water, and Hokokukan keeps the atmosphere of an old-style tojiba.

The water is an acidic, sulfur-bearing sodium sulfate spring (hydrogen sulfide type) from the source called Nigayu. It has a pH of about 2.2 and wells up naturally at roughly 74.5 degrees Celsius, giving a milky white bath and a strong sulfur aroma. The baths are free-flowing.

The inn has separate men's and women's indoor baths, a large cypress mixed-gender open-air bath with views of Mt. Motoshirane and the Manza mountains, and a women-only open-air bath. Day-trip bathing costs 800 yen for adults and 400 yen for children, from 8:30 to 16:30 (last entry 15:30). The inn has about 35 guest rooms, a shop, vending machines and parking for about 30 cars.