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Shikotsu-Tōya NP., Hokkaido
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At upstream Oyunuma, sulfur springs reach about 130°C beneath the pond; its surface is roughly 40–50°C. Overflow cools as it runs through the forest to the footbath—a volcanic source supplies both the heat and the cooling.
In 2006, a typhoon toppled trees along Oyunuma River, and their wood was used to develop this natural footbath. The detail comes from an account by a local volunteer-guide leader.
Upstream at Oyunuma, miners once floated boats and lifted sulfur from the pond floor in buckets. Noboribetsu’s city history says mining ceased after national-park designation in 1949; the pond’s overflow now feeds this footbath.
In 1845, explorer Matsuura Takeshirō reportedly laid a mat in Noboribetsu’s flowing hot-spring water and bathed there. City history records this in the wider resort district, not specifically at today’s footbath.
The forest around the footbath forms part of Noboribetsu Primeval Forest, a national Natural Monument since 1924. About 60 tree species and 110 herbaceous species grow here—a rich backdrop to the steaming stream.
Noboribetsu’s name comes from Ainu nupur-pet, “dark-colored river.” City history links it to hot-spring water clouding the Noboribetsu River—not this Oyunuma stream, but another sign of the region’s geothermal waters.
