The legends of Unzen Onsen passed down through the ages paint a chilling picture.
In this mountain resort town, stories of demons, white snakes rising from the mist and Buddhist monks using the boiling waters and steaming pools — onsen (hot springs) colloquially known as “jigoku” (hells) — as metaphors for divine condemnation are not simply folklore. Instead, they are ways of reckoning with the dual nature of the town’s dramatic landscape.
“The fumes of the hells can blur the borders between reality and imagination,” says Emanuele Ercole Carloni, a guide and interpreter with travel outfit Unzen Destination Service, during my recent visit in early February.
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