Awazu Onsen Awazu Onsen Away Onsen claims to have been founded by the shugendō monk Taichō in the Nara period. Taichō was a native of neighbouring Echizen Province and is said to have been the first person to have claimed Mount Hakusan, from which the hot springs at Awazu Onsen have their source. Although it is a small resort with few more than ten "ryokan", each inn has its own well, rather than using a common source. The Hōshi Ryokan, founded in 718 AD was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest hot spring innfounded in 705.
Yamashiro Onsen Yamashiro Onsen The "onsen" has one hotel and 31 "ryokan." Yamashiro Onsen has a very ancient history, and there are several myths about its foundation. One story attributes it to the wandering Buddhist monk Gyōki in the Nara period who discovered the springs while following an injured crow and seeing it bathe in the hot waters. During the Heian period it developed as part of a Buddhist temple called , dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of medicine. It was patronised in the Sengoku period by Akechi Mitsuhide and was visited in the Meiji period by numerous literary personages. After