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Yoshino Kumano NP, Wakayama
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Legend says Oguri Hangan arrived in a wooden cart, disfigured by illness; Terute-hime bathed him in Tsuboyu for 49 days until he regained his form. Their tale was retold in storytelling theater, joruri, and kabuki.
Near Tsuboyu, Yunomine’s open-air Yuzutsu is a geothermal kitchen: spring water close to 90°C cooks eggs and vegetables on site, and nearby shops sell ingredients to put in the hot-water well.
Tsuboyu’s water is said to show 7 shades in a day. Japan’s Onsen Association explains that hot-spring colors can shift with chemistry and can look different as light and humidity change.
UNESCO’s nomination dossier says a pilgrim’s journal records a bathing booth at Yunomine by the early 12th century. The 1.8-km Dainichigoe route links this purification spring with Kumano Hongu Taisha.
Each April 13, the Yunobori rite purifies a sacred child at the Yunomine hot spring, then carries them on a father’s shoulders over 3.4 km of steep Dainichigoe trail to Kumano Hongu Taisha. The child may touch the ground only during ritual acts.
At Tokoji beside Tsuboyu, mineral deposits from the spring are enshrined as a Yakushi Buddha. Local tradition says hot water once welled from the figure’s chest, inspiring the old name Yunomune, later shortened to Yunomine.
Yunomine’s 1,800-year origin story credits its discovery to Oatono Sukune, a Kumano governor in the 4th century. A monument honoring him still stands in the village.
