Regions & prefectures
JapanRegions & prefectures
Ōita
More hot springs and more thermal water than anywhere else in Japan.
- Capital
- Ōita
- Status
- Prefecture
- Region
- Kyūshū and Okinawa
- Must-see
- The "hells" of Beppu
- Local specialty
- Toriten, dried fish, shiitake
Ōita records the country’s highest number of springs and the greatest thermal flow: Beppu alone has more than two thousand vents, and steam rises from drain grates and gardens. The heat is also used for cooking, jigoku mushi steaming straight from the source, and for dyeing. The cliffs of Usuki further south hold some sixty Buddhas carved into tuff between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.
What to see there
Places, dishes and traditions tied to this territory.
In the magazine
Articles that cover this topic.