Kinosaki Area城崎エリア
Hyogo兵庫県
A basaltic rock mass that measures 70 meters across by 35 meters high, with a historic hot spring resort.
Kinosaki is situated in northern Hyogo and has the Kinosaki-onsen Hot Spring Resort spreading along the Otani-gawa River branching off from the Maruyama-gawa River. Legend has it that the place was found in the 8th century by Dochi-shonin, a Buddhist saint. It is lined with community bathhouses, such as Ko-no-yu (hot spring of stork) that the legend says was used by storks to heal wounds, Sato-no-yu, Ichi-no-yu and Jizo-yu. The name Kinosaki became known all over the country when it appeared in a novel "Kinosaki Nite" (At Kinosaki) by Naoya Shiga, a famous novelist in the early 20th century.
At Onsen-ji Station of the Kinosaki-onsen Ropeway is the Onsen-ji Temple believed to have been erected by Dochi-shonin, in which the standing images of Eleven-Faced Kan'non (Goddess of Mercy) and Eleven-Faced Thousand-Handed Kan'non are enshrined.
15 minutes car trip from the Onsen-ji Temple, a basaltic mass formed of hardened lava lies 65 meters across and 42 meters high, in which a basaltic cave opens its mouth and draws many viewers at all time together with Byakko-do (white tiger cave) and Seiryu-do (blue dragon cave) nearby.
Directions
From Tokyo :
[Rail] About 2 hours and 20 minutes to Kyoto Station from Tokyo Station, or about 15 minutes from Shin-Osaka Station by JR Tokaido Shinkansen Line. About 2 hours and 30 minutes from Kyoto Station to Kinosaki-onsen Station by JR San'in Honsen Line.
