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Towada-Hachimantai NP, Akita
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Japan’s largest mud volcano began as a hot-spring pond: compressed steam has heaved its sediment into a growing mound since 1917–18. Its mud is 8 m deep, and expelled material reaches about 94.5°C.
Local legend says Oname means “mistress” and Motome “wife”: 2 women leapt into the steaming valley over one man, and he prayed for their afterlives. The tale is said to explain the name Goshogake.
The steaming path even has a local snack: at nearby Goshogake Onsen, the inn’s shop sells handmade black eggs boiled in its own spring water—a tiny taste of the volcano.
Oyunuma is actually several ponds, their banks built from mud lifted by escaping steam. Its east side is quiet now, with submerged mud pots as clues to past activity, while the west remains over 83°C.
An old onsen saying sums up Goshogake’s healing reputation: “Arrive by horse, leave in wooden clogs.” It pictures a traveler arriving unwell, then well enough to walk down the mountain.
An unexpected cross stands above the bubbling landscape. Goshogake Onsen’s trail map says its Christian founder had it erected in 1949 as a prayer for world peace.
At Konya Jigoku, the indigo mud gets its color from sulfur and iron-sulfide deposits mixed with altered rock. Escaping steam periodically pushes this mineral slurry into bubbling bursts.
The volcano warms more than scenery: nearby Goshogake Onsen channels natural heat and steam beneath ondol-room floors, keeping them above 30°C year-round. Spring minerals even crystallize on the walls.
Greenery survives beside the sulfur fumes: trail records list iso-tsutsuji azalea, crowberry, snowberry, sulfur lichen and Kita-goyo pine among plants able to endure the gas.
