As Akakura Onsen became increasingly popular as an onsen destination, it also grew in popularity among celebrities, literary and artistic figures. In 1899, Koyo Ozaki, whose serialized novel Konjiki Yasha (The Golden Demon) was a huge hit (and several times made into a movie), stayed at Kogakuro. He was enchanted by the magnificent view of Mt. Myoko, as well as the view out to the northeast over the Kubiki Plain and the Sea of Japan, and out to Sado Island, which can occasionally be seen across the sea. He introduced the charms of Akakura Onsen in his travelogue Kemuka Ryoyo. A number of other famous writers arrived in later years and wrote prose and poems celebrating the scenery.

In May of 1906, Tenshin Okakura first visited Akakura Onsen to escape the heat of the city. Okakura was a famous writer, art critic and scholar of the Meiji Period (1868 to 1912). He helped to establish the Tokyo School of Arts, was Curator of the Department of Japanese and Chinese Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and is best known outside Japan for the English-language Book of Tea. He came to love the area, building a villa and returning every summer—even spending his last days here.

Royalty arrived as well. On 1919, Marquis Moritatsu Hosokawa built a villa in what is today a wooded area within the Akakura Onsen Ski Area. Prince Takamatsu and Prince Chichibu, brothers of Emperor Hirohito, came to ski here, something that was reported in nationwide news. Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi, father of the emperor’s wife, also built a villa here in 1925, further increasing the fame of the area.

The foundation of the Myoko Club (link) villa started a major movement for the famous to build villas in Akakura Onsen. Onoe guest in a local village was writer Kyuya Fukuda, author of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains. He not only wrote some of the book while staying here, but also included the local Mt. Myoko and Mt. Hiuchi in his listing.