Yunotsu Onsen

Published: Aug 11, 2026

Updated: Aug 11, 2026

YunotsuonsenWorld Heritagepreservation districtIwami Ginzan

Representative image — not a photograph of this location.

Yunotsu was the port that shipped silver out of Iwami Ginzan, and when the mine was inscribed by UNESCO the town went in with it. It is the only hot spring town in Japan that is also a nationally designated Important Preservation District — a single narrow street of wooden inns, a Taisho-era bathhouse and stone-walled lanes, running down a valley to a small harbour, with essentially no modern development in it.

There are two public baths and they are different propositions. Motoyu Senyakuto is the old one: undecorated, extremely hot, no additives, no dilution, and locals who have been coming for decades and will tell you which tub is which temperature. Yakushiyu occupies a 1919 Western-influenced building and holds the top rating from the Japan Spa Association for entirely natural, free-flowing water. Neither is a resort facility. The town has almost no nightlife and that is precisely why people who like onsen come here rather than to Tamatsukuri.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Motoyu Senyakuto: 5:00 AM – 9:00 PM, reception to 8:20 PM, closed 9:00 AM – 3:30 PM | Yakushiyu: 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Closed: Yakushiyu open year-round | Confirm Motoyu's rest days locally

Entrance Fee

Motoyu Senyakuto: ¥500 adults, ¥250 children | Yakushiyu: ¥600 adults, ¥300 children

Best Season

Year-round | Autumn and winter for the empty street at night

Visit Duration

2–3 hours for both baths and the preservation district | Overnight recommended

Getting There

Access Information

Yunotsu-cho, Oda. Yunotsu Station on the JR Sanin Line is around 15 minutes on foot or a short taxi ride from the town. Motoyu Senyakuto: 5:00 AM – 9:00 PM with reception to 8:20 PM and a break from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM, ¥500 adults and ¥250 children. Yakushiyu: 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM, open daily, ¥600 adults and ¥300 children.

Insider Guide

Premium

**Motoyu is hot in a way that catches people out.** The water arrives undiluted and the main tub runs at a temperature most visitors can only manage in short spells. There is a cooler tub — watch which one the regulars use first and follow them. Enter slowly, two or three minutes at a time. **Mind the Motoyu break.** It closes between 9:00 AM and 3:30 PM. Turning up at lunchtime means Yakushiyu or nothing, which is a fine outcome but not the one most people planned. **Do both.** They are a few minutes apart and the waters and the buildings are genuinely different — Motoyu for the bath, Yakushiyu for the 1919 building and the roof terrace. An afternoon covers both with a walk through the preservation district between them. **Stay the night if you can.** Yunotsu empties completely after the last train and the street at night, lit and silent, is the reason to be here rather than day-tripping from Izumo. The inns are small and traditional; book ahead. **It connects to the mine.** Iwami Ginzan is about 20 minutes away by car and the two were a single system — ore down to the port, silver out by sea. Doing the mine and then the port town in that order makes the history legible.

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