Oku-Hida奥飛騨

Five beautiful, steaming hot springs. The mountain climbing base of the Northern Japanese Alps is located here.

Oku-Hida is located in the northern part of Gifu and is a general term for the area along the Takahara-gawa River, which is an upper stream of the Zintsu-gawa River. Hot springs such as Hirayu, Fukuji, Shin-Hirayu, Tochio, and Shin-Hodaka are scattered around the western base of the Japan Alps, a 3,000-meter-high mountain range.

The Hirayu-onsen Hot Spring is surrounded by a white birch wood at the western base of Mt. Norikura-dake, and they say that it was originally discovered in the mid 16th century when someone saw an old monkey healing its wound with water from the hot springs. Since then, it has developed and has been known as the healing springs.

The town of Hirayu has the Hirayu Folklore Museum, which consists of an old straw house from over 250 years ago that has been reconstructed. This museum is unique since it has an open-air bath attached to it. You can see Hirayu-otaki Falls not far from the town. This waterfall is 6 meters wide and 64 meters high. During winter, the temperature drops down to -15 degrees C, and the frozen waterfall is illuminated by light. The Hirayu Waterfall Ice Festival is held here every winter. The Shin-Hodaka-onsen Hot Spring is located near the Kamata-gawa River. The open-air bath within this spring is also known to many alpinists as a healing spring. This Shin-Hodaka-onsen Hot Spring is a mountain-climbing base of the Northern Japan Alps. You can enjoy 11 minutes of breathtaking aerial views by taking two ropeways from Shin-Hodaka-onsen Station (1,117 m above sea level) to Nishi-Hodaka-guchi Station (2,156 m above sea level).