What to know
Kurokawa Onsen (黒川温泉) is one of Japan's most charming hot spring towns, situated in central Kyushu about 20 kilometers north of Mount Aso. The town has made a concerted effort to preserve a pleasant, traditional atmosphere, avoiding the massive concrete hotels, neon signs, and garish colors found in many other Japanese resort towns.
Instead, Kurokawa's landscape features natural colors and materials: wooden buildings, earthen walls, stone steps, and a river flowing through. The compact town center lies in a forested valley and is easy to explore on foot, except for a few ryokan located farther out.
The streets are lined with ryokan, public bathhouses, charming shops and cafes, a small shrine, and bridges that lead directly to ryokan entrances over the river. Walking around in a yukata and geta sandals provided by your ryokan is especially enjoyable. An information center offering maps and other resources is also located in the town center.
Kurokawa is famous not only for its attractive townscape but also for the outstanding outdoor baths (rotenburo) of its ryokan, some situated right beside a rushing river or impressive for their size. The larger baths with good views tend to be a bit outside the town center, while some central ryokan offer smaller but historic baths once enjoyed by the feudal lords of nearby Kumamoto Castle.
Overnight guests can enjoy their own ryokan's baths as often as they like, but both overnight visitors and day-trippers can also explore other baths during the day by taking part in a "Rotemburo Meguri" (tour of outdoor baths).
For this, a wooden pass (tegata) is sold for 1500 yen, granting admission to three different ryokan baths of your choice (valid for up to six months). It is available at the information center and at over twenty participating ryokan. Alternatively, individual baths cost around 600 yen each. Check at the information center for any closures on the day of your visit.
In addition to the ryokan baths, Kurokawa has two very simple, unmanned public bathhouses with small indoor baths: Jizoyu in the very center of town, and Anayu along the river just above the center, which was rebuilt after being destroyed in a storm in 2020. Admission to either bath is 200 yen.
Below is a list of some of Kurokawa's best baths: