
Atami Onsen is a hot springs resort in
Atami
is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 36,865 in 21,593 households , Shizuoka prefecture Japan.
Description
Atami Onsen overlooks
Sagami Bay
lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the i ...
on the
Izu Peninsula
The is a mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the island of Honshu, Japan, the largest of the four main islands of Japan. Formerly known as Izu Province, Izu peninsu ...
, located approximately west of Tokyo. There are approximately 500 hot springs in the Atami geothermal spring system. The hot spring system discharges per minute.
History
Legend has it that during the
Nara period
The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...
(749 CE), Manmakino
kami
are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...
of Hakone
Gongen
A , literally "incarnation", was believed to be the manifestation of a buddha in the form of an indigenous kami, an entity who had come to guide the people to salvation, during the era of shinbutsu-shūgō in premodern Japan.Encyclopedia of Shin ...
prayed to
Yakushi Nyorai
Bhaiṣajyaguru (, zh, t= , , , , ), or ''Bhaishajyaguru'', formally Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabha-rāja ("Medicine Master and King of Lapis Lazuli Light"; zh, t=藥師琉璃光(王)如來, , , ), is the Buddha of healing and medicine i ...
. This prayer is said to have redirected the hot springs from the ocean inland to the current site of the , leading to the establishment of Atami Onsen and the later construction of . Manmakino kami is also credited with bringing samples of the water back to Edo.
In the 17th century, Shogun
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...
wanted to recreate their alleged healing properties, so he tried to build a similar onsen in Edo (Tokyo).
Geothermal energy
The geothermal system has been excavated through boring and pump extraction.
Water profile
Some of the spring sources are hot
brine springs or chloride springs.
Gallery
File:Yuzen-jinja 001.jpg, Yuzen shrine at Atami Onsen, enshrines the kami Sukunabikona
File:Geyser in Atami.jpg, Geyser in Atami Onsen, 1899
File:230127 Oyu Atami Onsen Atami Japan01s3.jpg, The Oyu Geyser at Atami Onsen
File:230127 Ozawa-no-yu Atami Onsen Atami Japan03s3.jpg, Ozawa-no-yu hot spring in Atami Onsen
References
Further reading
Yuhara, Kozo.
Hydrological Study of Atami Hot Springs' (1960)
{{coord, 35.10336, 139.07906, display=title
Geothermal areas
Hot springs of Japan
Resort towns
Spa towns in Japan