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Joshin’etsukogen NP, Nagano
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Near the trail’s end, a young macaque learned to soak in Korakukan’s outdoor bath; staff built a monkey-only pool to keep wild visitors out of the human bath. The inn opened in 1864.
The route is officially called 湯道遊歩道 (Yumichi Trail). It also served to bring irrigation water and hot-spring water to villages below, a practical role for this path locals have long maintained.
Nearby in the gorge, Shibu Jigokudani Geyser sends near-boiling water and steam skyward continuously—not in occasional bursts. Japan designated it a Natural Monument on April 8, 1927.
Yokoyu River did the sculpting here: its erosion carved Jigokudani’s steep gorge from quartz diorite, the same rock layer from which the valley’s hot springs emerge.
In a study of 12 adult female macaques at Jigokudani, priority access to the hot spring was associated with lower stress-hormone levels—a scientific twist on the winter warm-up.
A macaque soak is for warmth, not washing: the park says monkeys don’t bathe to clean themselves, and some never enter the pool. Even keen bathers mostly skip it in warm weather.
A 1970 LIFE magazine cover carried Jigokudani’s bathing macaques around the world. The 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics brought another wave of international attention to the valley.
