Kisen Onsen Shugendō Meijin
Filled a Sendatsu-chō (8 onsens) on the Kisen Onsen Shugendō route
The Kisen Onsen Shugendō (紀泉温泉修験道) is a stamp-rally program founded in 2015 by Nishiguchi Masatoshi of Hanayama Onsen Yakushi-no-yu (花山温泉 薬師の湯) in Wakayama City, inspired by the Beppu Hatto Onsen-do and designed to overlay the Kii Peninsula's great pilgrimage routes — Kumano Kodō, Kōyasan, and Ise — with a bathing circuit. The program spans the historical provinces of Kii (紀, modern Wakayama) and Izumi (泉, southern Osaka), and has since extended into Nara and Mie. Forty-nine facilities were participating as of 2020, with a long-term goal of 88.
How to earn
This badge is awarded by Onsen Oni moderators to users who have filled a Sendatsu-chō (先達帳, "pilgrim's book") and received the Meijin (名人) certification from Hanayama Onsen. Send evidence of your completion (the filled Sendatsu-chō, Meijin certificate, or commemorative towel) through the feedback channel and moderators will grant the badge. Because the program climbs toward the higher Sendatsu (先達) rank at eleven books / 88 total stamps, this badge is repeatable — the number on your tile shows how many Sendatsu-chō you've completed. Reach eleven to match the apex rank.
The rules
- Buy a Sendatsu-chō (先達帳) for ¥200 at any participating onsen. Each booklet holds 8 stamps.
- Collect one stamp per bath at a participating facility. No double-dipping in the same book.
- 8 stamps (one filled book) → apply for 名人 (Meijin) — application fee ¥2,000, commemorative items including the special Kisen Onsen Shugendō towel.
- 11 filled books = 88 stamps → apply for 先達 (Sendatsu), the apex title. Around twenty people held the Sendatsu rank at the program's fifth anniversary in 2020.
- Applications are submitted to the program office at Hanayama Onsen Yakushi-no-yu.
About the name
紀 is the old province of Kii (modern Wakayama and southern Mie); 泉 is Izumi (southern Osaka). 修験道 (Shugendō) is the Japanese tradition of mountain asceticism whose practitioners walk sacred ranges as spiritual training — a fitting metaphor for bathing one's way across the Kii Peninsula's hot-spring mountains.