The Edo Period, and the opening of Akakura Onsen

In 1814, toward the end of the feudal Edo Period, Genpachi Nakajima, village headman of what will become Akakura Onsen, and other local leaders submitted a petition to Masanori Sakakibara, the lord of Takada Domain in Takada, today Joetsu City, to develop onsen inns.

At the time, Mt. Myoko was controlled by Hozo-in Temple in Sekiyama, just north of Akakura. Entering the mountain was prohibited apart from specific days each year.

In 1814, permission was given to Nakajima’s group to build the onsen resort; the price to purchase the land and access to the onsen water was 800 ryo, with another 300 ryo to be paid to Seki-no-yu, today’s Seki Onsen, because the new development was expected to negatively impact Seki. It’s almost impossible, unfortunately, to make a modern conversion of the value of the gold ryo coin; in general, one ryo was the same value as one koku of rice, or the amount consumed by one person over a year.

Construction began in March of 1816; by September of that year the onsen water was flowing and two public baths were completed. The water was carried down from the source on the north side of Mt. Myoko by bamboo and wood piping brought in from sources on Sado Island and Toyama Prefecture—the total distance of between six to seven kilometers is remarkable. The total cost, perhaps some 5,200 ryo, was a major, and almost onerous—development project for the Takada Domain. An onsen magistrate, Ojiro Matsumoto, was appointed, making this the only onsen in Japan run by a feudal domain.