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Shikotsu-Tōya NP., Hokkaido
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Jigokudani is an explosion crater about 450 metres across, yet it’s also a working spring: roughly 10,000 tonnes of hot water emerge here each day and flow to Noboribetsu’s inns.
Noboribetsu’s name comes from the Ainu words “nupur-pet,” meaning a colored or dark river. The city history links it to milky hot-spring water clouding the river downstream.
When explorer Matsuura Takeshirō visited in 1845, there was no proper road to the springs; the local history says he bathed in the flowing hot water after laying a straw mat in the river.
Jigokudani’s sulfur was once mined, and lodging was built for workers and visitors. Mining in the valley ended after the area became part of the national park in 1949.
At the spring’s settling tanks, woven bamboo screens help filter the water. The source manager says metal mesh corrodes in the mineral-rich hot water—and that making the screens is now a rare craft.
Much of Noboribetsu’s spring water needs no pump: it rises naturally, then flows downhill toward town. A settling tank lets mineral deposits and volcanic ash sink before the water is supplied to hotels.
A stone by Jigokudani’s alum spring bears an 1861 date and the name of Yakushi, the healing Buddha. Local tradition says sulfur miners dedicated it after a worker’s eye trouble improved with the spring water.
The trails connect the stark valley to Noboribetsu Primeval Forest, designated a national natural monument in 1924. Its recorded flora includes about 60 tree species and 110 kinds of other plants.
In a local legend, the Yukijin are demon guardians of Jigokudani’s healing waters, sent to protect them after angering the gods. Today, demon fireworks at the valley’s overlook bring that story to life.
