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Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan NP, Niigata
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Seki’s famous reddish bath can look almost clear just after the tub is cleaned, then turn tea-brown as iron-bearing water meets the air. That color shift is chemistry unfolding right in the bath.
Seki’s local tourism association links the beloved song “Four Seasons” (四季の歌) to its ski slopes: lyricist Toyohisa Araki broke a bone skiing and wrote the song while hospitalized, inspired by Myōkō’s seasons; he reportedly gave it to a nurse in thanks.
An Edo-period hot-spring ranking preserved by the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History lists “Seki-no-yama-no-yu” (関の山の湯) among 95 springs from across Japan. Seki’s old name had made it onto a nationwide roll call centuries ago.
Seki’s hot-spring town shifted location 3 times: floods drove it near Sekiyama Shrine; in 1897 it moved because the water was too cool; then an Army encampment forced another move. The village’s address has a history of its own.
Local tradition remembers a “tomeyu” custom: for 14 days in May or June, people were forbidden to bathe because mountain deities were believed to be using the hot spring. They reportedly stayed indoors until the divine visitors had left.
Seki was a stop on a sacred mountain route: Myōkō City records that yamabushi traveled from Sekiyama Shrine through the hot spring toward Mt. Myōkō for training. After the ascetics disappeared in the Edo period, villagers took on “temporary yamabushi” roles in local rites.
Local tradition calls Seki one of warlord Uesugi Kenshin’s “hidden baths,” where he is said to have rested after battle. The story is tied to Kenshin’s devotion to Mt. Myōkō and the nearby shrine; it is a local account, not a documented visit.
A 9.1 km national-park route passes hot springs with clear, milky-white, and tea-brown water; Seki supplies the iron-rich brown. It’s a striking little color chart of how different springs can look within a compact mountain area.
