Hanamaki花巻

Hanamaki-onsen-go Village provides visitors with attractive, comfortable accommodations and relaxing hot springs.

Hanamaki City, located in the center of the Kitakami Basin in the mid-western part of Iwate Prefecture, is a city of parks centered on hot spring zones dotted along the Dai-gawa River, a tributary of the Kitakami-gawa River, and the valley of Yunosawa.

Around a dozen hot springs, beginning with the Hanamaki-onsen Hot Spring and including Dai, Shidodaira, Osawa, and Namari, are known collectively as the Hanamaki-onsen-go Village which has many different types of accommodation and is a favorite spot for tourists in the Tohoku region (the northeastern region). In the village are Hanamaki Airport, providing the only air access to Iwate Prefecture, and Shin-Hanamaki Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line. Together they form the gateway to Iwate Prefecture.


Hanamaki is also known as the home of fable writer Kenji Miyazawa, who was born here at the beginning of the 20th century. Kenji's large number of poems and fables are enjoyed by many readers even today for the fresh use of language, unrestrained imagination, and deep social insight. In Hanamaki, there are many places that appear in Miyazawa's fables, including his parents' house, the Miyazawa Kenji Memorial Museum, Kenji Miyazawa Dowa Mura (the village of fables), Poran-no-hiroba Square, and the IHATOV Center. These places attract visitors all year round.