Shimane · Matsue, TamayuNo.836★★★Open in map →
Tamatsukuri Onsen
— Matsue's riverside hot-spring town
A hot-spring town along a river south-west of Matsue, known since ancient times for water that is kind to skin. The riverbank, the open foot baths and the shrine at the top of the valley are all free to anyone walking through.
- FromMatsue Station
- ~30 minJR local, then a short bus
- Get off atTamatsukuri-Onsen Station (JR Sanin Line)
- From there
- Tamatsukuri Onsen
Where it is
14 more notes in Shimane · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- The Tamayu River promenadea paved riverside path linking the inns from the lower end of the town to the upper
- The open foot bathsbasins fed from the source in small squares on the bank, free and unticketed
- Tamatsukuriyu Shrinea wooded shrine at the head of the valley, with the wish stone and its spring water in the precinct
- Izumo Tamatsukuri Historic Parkthe excavated bead workshops that gave the valley its name
How to actually get there
- Matsue Station → Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station (JR Sanin Line local, westbound, two stops).
- Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station → the hot-spring town (bus about 10 minutes, or taxi about 5).
- Walk the river upstream past the foot baths to Tamatsukuriyu Shrine, then back down for a bath.
- JR Sanin Line from Matsue Station
- From Matsue Station take a westbound JR Sanin Line local two stops to Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station. The town is not at the station: Shimane's tourism office puts it at about ten minutes by bus, or five by taxi, from the exit.
- Return from Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station
- Buses and taxis run back down the valley to the station. The station is unstaffed for part of the day, so use the ticket machine on the platform side. Local services on this line thin out in the evening, so fix your return train before you settle into a bath.
About the place
Tamatsukuri Onsen fills a narrow valley south of Lake Shinji, where the Tamayu River runs between two facing lines of inns. The water is a sulfate-chloride spring, and the town has traded for generations on how soft it leaves the skin — locally it gets called a hot spring you could bottle as lotion. Because the source is piped along the river rather than locked inside the inns, the public side of the town is unusually generous: open foot baths sit in small squares on the bank, and the promenade runs end to end without a single gate. The name is literal. Tamatsukuri means jewel-making, and this valley cut the beads that ancient Izumo used in ritual.
How to enjoy it
Arrive in the late afternoon, walk the river once for the foot baths, then take a bath before the evening check-in rush — many of the inns open their baths to day visitors, though it is worth asking on the day. Do the shrine leg first if the wish stone matters to you, since the office there keeps its own hours. After dark the bank is lit and the same walk works again as an after-dinner loop.
Background & history
The Izumo no Kuni Fudoki, the province's eighth-century gazetteer, already describes hot water in this valley, and the line still quoted from it says that one bath makes a person beautiful and a second cures every ailment. Long before that the valley was a workshop district: its craftsmen shaped the curved magatama beads that Izumo used in ritual, and the shrine at the head of the town is dedicated to the deity of that craft. The excavated workshop sites are now a public park a short way from the river.
Before you go
- Cash
- Walking the river and using the foot baths costs nothing. Day-use bathing at the inns is charged separately and the rate differs from house to house, so ask at the door. Keep cash for the bus.
- Before you go
- The foot baths are outdoors and unroofed, and the lowest steps of the river path go under after heavy rain. Winter on this side of the country is grey and cold, which is exactly the season the town was built for.
- Another way
- From the Izumo side, take the JR Sanin Line east from Izumo-shi Station to the same station. Drivers leave the Sanin Expressway at Matsue-Tamatsukuri, about seven minutes from the town.
- After you get off
- From Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station the town lies south along the valley — about ten minutes by bus or five by taxi from the forecourt. Walking it is possible but takes far longer than the map suggests.