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.
Tamagawa Hot Spring Tamagawa Hot Spring The Tamagawa Hot Spring in Senboku, Akita Prefecture, Japan is the highest flow rate hot spring in Japan. The spring has a flow rate of 150 litres/second. It feeds a 3-meter wide stream with a temperature of 98 °C. The water from Tamagawa Hot Spring is very acidic, with a pH of about 1.1. There is radioactive radium gas and other radioactive materials dissolved in the water from the hot spring. There are deposits of the radioactive mineral hokutolite near the spring. Hokutolite is composed of a type of barite (barium sulfate), including lead and traces of