Nanki-Shirahama Onsen

A coastal bath in the written record

Shirahama is one of the three oldest hot springs Japan keeps citing alongside Arima in Hyōgo and Dōgo in Ehime. The waters here appear in the 8th-century Nihon Shoki, which records the visit of Empress Saimei and the future Emperor Tenji in 658 (Saimei 4), and again in the Man'yōshū, which praises the coast under its older name Muro-no-yu (牟婁の湯), also called Yusaki Onsen. The poems mention seven natural springs along the rocky shoreline, the Yuzaki Shichitō; of those seven, only one is still working today, the cliff-edge Saki-no-yu. The modern "Shirahama Onsen" label is a 20th-century consolidation that bundles several historic baths and newer resort springs under a single brand, but Saki-no-yu is the thread that runs all the way back to the imperial visits.

A Pacific resort with free baths along the shore

The geography is Pacific coast, not mountain valley. Shirarahama (白良浜) is a 600-metre crescent of brilliant white sand facing the open sea; the original beach was eroding through the late 20th century, so the prefecture began importing quartz sand from Perth, Australia in 1989 to rebuild it, a project that ran for about fifteen years. Saki-no-yu itself is set into the rocks directly above the surf, with the waves breaking a few metres below the rim of the tub. Around the resort, free ashiyu foot baths are scattered along the seafront promenade, including the popular Shirasuna beside the beach, so casual sampling of the water costs nothing.

Around the bath

A short drive from the spring quarter, Engetsu-tō (円月島) is a small offshore islet pierced by a natural moon-shaped hole; the sun setting through the gap around the spring and autumn equinoxes is one of Wakayama's postcard images. South of town, the Sandanbeki cliffs drop fifty metres to the Pacific, with an elevator down to a sea cave once used by Heian-era Kumano pirates. Families tend to add Adventure World, a combined zoo-safari-aquarium that holds Japan's largest captive group of giant pandas.