Meotobuchi-onsen (女夫淵温泉), this is where the road ends and where we park the car to head to Okukinu (奥鬼怒) onsen. It’s by foot that we enter this remote valley, away in the mountains, far from crowded touristic hot spring resorts.

The quiet walk at the bottom of the valley, along the torrent is very pleasant. The heat, however less burdensome than in Tōkyō, and more than that, the clarity and purity of the water is an invitation to swim. Although attractive, I’m the only one reckless or crazy enough (depends on the point of view), to dive into the freezing torrent water. Whatever the cold temperature, a so pure water, I just can’t resist to it ! And the hot spring bath are not far away to warm me later.

After a walk on a secret foot path to explore a side water stream, we arrive in the beginning of the afternoon at Hacchō-no-yu (八丁の湯) onsen. The rotenburo (outside bath), just by a waterfall, is a marvel. A great occasion to relax.

Discovery continues the next day. The trail uphill to the Kinu marshland (鬼怒沼), the highest in Japan, goes through a forest which seems enchanted.

After a more than three hours walk, the forest suddenly stops to leave the place to the bog. From a dense forest to an opened marshland, we go from one world to another without transition.

The forest doesn’t try to compete and conquer the bog’s territory, a very special ecosystem. The environment’s constraints doesn’t stop some alpine flowers, used to it, to bloom here for our greatest pleasure: eriophorum vaginatum, narthecium asiaticum, solidago virga-aurea ssp asiatica, tofieldia glutinosa ssp japonica, hosta albo-marginata

surprise, a gentiana (gentiana thunbergii var. minor) adapted itself so well to the environment that it punctuates the marshland of thousands of blue dots,

a drosera (drosera anglica), a carnivorous plant, part the bog ecosystem, can of course be found here too.

We would have like to stay longer and enjoy the view but unfortunately we have to walk down if we want to take a bath before going back to Tōkyō.

Maps

Usefull maps for this hike are:
1/25000地形図、川俣温泉、日光11号-2、 NJ-54-29-11-2 (Kawamata-onsen, Nikkō 11-2, NJ-54-29-11-2)
1/25000地形図、三平峠、日光11号-4、 NJ-54-29-11-4 (Sanpei-tōge, Nikkō 11-4, NJ-54-29-11-4)

GPX file GPS: hachonoyu-kinunuma-0810.gpx . Read the disclaimer before using the GPX files.

Facts about Okukinu

You will find all the information (onsens, access, security…) regarding the Okukinu area in this article.