Yuda Onsen: Day-Use Hot Spring Baths & Prices

Spreading through the center of Yamaguchi City, this hot spring keeps the legend of a white fox that soaked night after night to heal its wounds. Said to have opened about 600 years ago, it is known for its abundant water and skin-friendly quality, and is counted among the "Three Famous Springs of Bocho" as the prefecture's largest hot spring.

Highlights

Free foot baths dot the town, easy to drop by between strolls. Inoue Park holds monuments connected to poets Nakahara Chuya and Taneda Santoka, lending a literary air. Spots that evoke the spring's story, such as "Kitsune no Ashiato" (Fox's Footprints) with its white-fox motif, are also popular.

Seasonal Enjoyment

Cherry blossoms in the park in spring, cooling off at evening foot baths in summer, foliage strolls nearby in autumn, and town walks amid rising steam in winter make it enjoyable year round.

Access and Basic Information

About 10 minutes on foot from Yuda Onsen Station on the JR Yamaguchi Line. It is also close to the Yuda Onsen Smart IC on the Chugoku Expressway, and being in the city center, it makes a convenient base for sightseeing and dining.

A Word of Advice

Letting the smooth water blend slowly into the skin with ladled rinses makes the moist afterglow last longer.

Practical Travel Notes

• Water quality: Alkaline simple spring (about pH 9.1). The source temperature is high at about 63C, and many facilities use the "Yuda Onsen mixed spring" blended from several sources, a gentle water on the skin.
• Foot baths and day-use bathing: About five free foot baths dot the hot-spring town, and there is a paid foot bath, "Kitsune no Ashiato." Inn day baths and day-use facilities are also available (the former public bath "Kame no Yu" closed in 2020).
• White fox legend: A monk is said to have found a white fox soaking each night to heal its wounds, and the spring is said to have opened about 600 years ago.
• Access: About 10 minutes on foot from Yuda Onsen Station on the JR Yamaguchi Line. The Yuda Onsen Smart IC on the Chugoku Expressway is convenient, and many local buses run as well.
• Parking: Available at facilities and in the city center.

Practical Information for Your Visit

• Spring quality: Alkaline simple spring (pH 9.1). It is high in sodium and chloride ions and also rich in metasilicic acid and metaboric acid
• Benefits: Neuralgia, muscle pain, joint pain, frozen shoulder, motor paralysis, joint stiffness, bruises, sprains, chronic digestive disorders, hemorrhoids, sensitivity to cold, convalescence after illness, recovery from fatigue, and promotion of general health
• Source temperature and volume: There are 7 sources with a maximum temperature of 72 degrees, and the yield is 2,000 tons a day
• Day-use bathing (Onsen no Mori): 10:00-24:00 (reception closes at 23:30), open all year round. Bathing fees are 1,000 yen for adults and university students, 850 yen for junior and senior high school students, 500 yen for elementary school students, and 300 yen for infants (from age 0 to preschool age), all including a face towel and inclusive of consumption tax and bathing tax. Junior and senior high school students not accompanied by a guardian may be asked to show their student ID. The night service for entry from 22:30 onward Monday to Thursday is 850 yen
• The baths at Onsen no Mori: A natural rock open-air bath and 9 kinds of indoor baths, a far-infrared sauna, and a soft-water cold plunge bath. The cascading water bath in the open-air area has been out of use since September 2025 for hygiene management reasons
• Amenities at Onsen no Mori: The men's bath has body soap and shampoo-conditioner in one at the washing area, and hair tonic and lotion in the powder room. The women's bath has body soap, shampoo-conditioner in one and conditioner at the washing area, and lotion and milky lotion in the powder room. An extra bath towel is 200 yen, a small towel 100 yen, and a post-bath robe 350 yen
• Super bedrock bathing: 700 yen for 2 hours (admission charged separately). Includes mineral water, a samue outfit, a bath towel and 2 face towels
• Parking at Onsen no Mori: 17 spaces on the grounds, plus Shimoyuda Parking (123 spaces across the first and second floors)
• Paid footbath: "Kitsune no Ashiato" (2-1-3 Yuda Onsen, Yamaguchi City) is open 8:00-22:00, 200 yen for adults and 100 yen for elementary and junior high school students
• Free footbaths: The ones on Yu-no-machi-dori, in Inoue Park, and in front of the Yuda Onsen Tourist Information Center are all open 10:00-22:00. Yu-no-ka-dori is open 8:00-22:00 and has two footbaths, as well as Yuda Onsen's only hand bath, which was newly installed in 2019. The footbath in front of Yuda Onsen Station is open 10:00-22:00, and you may catch a close-up view of the SL "Yamaguchi" steam locomotive
• Drinking the water: The footbaths in front of the Yuda Onsen Tourist Information Center and in front of Yuda Onsen Station each have an attached drinking spring. The tourist information center sells towels and small guinomi cups for drinking the water
• Public bathhouses: "Kameno-yu", the public bathhouse that once stood in the town center, closed on October 31, 2020, and its operations were transferred to Super Hotel Yamaguchi Yuda Onsen, making it a bath for hotel guests only. At present there is no public bathhouse open to everyone
• Access: About a 15-minute walk from Yuda Onsen Station on the JR Yamaguchi Line to the Yuda Onsen Tourist Information Center. By car, the Yuda Onsen Smart IC on the Sanyo Expressway is the nearest exit
• Tourist information center: The Yuda Onsen Tourist Information Center is open 9:00-18:00 (tel. 083-922-1811). Rental bicycles are also handled here
• How long to allow: 1 to 2 hours for bathing alone, or half a day if you combine a footbath tour with a stroll around town
• Address: Onsen no Mori is at 4-7-17 Yuda Onsen, Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture (tel. 083-920-1126)

Information Sources

The spring quality, pH, benefits, number of sources and maximum temperature, the yield of 2,000 tons a day, the reason the water is so hot despite being non-volcanic in origin, the hot water distribution system from the storage tanks built in 1984, and the content of the white fox legend were confirmed on the official website of the Yuda Onsen Ryokan Cooperative Association and on the explanatory pages of the official Onsen no Mori website. The locations, hours and fees of the 6 footbaths and the contact details and access for the tourist information center come from the footbath list and access pages of that same cooperative association's official website. The opening hours, bathing fees, amenities, bath layout, bedrock bathing and parking at Onsen no Mori come from the price list and bath introduction pages of that facility's official website, and the suspension of the cascading water bath was confirmed in the news section of the same site. The closure and transfer of Kameno-yu is based on reporting in the local press. Details are subject to change, so please check the official information before you set out.