is a hot spring resort in the city of Awara,

Fukui Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 (1 June 2017) and has a geographic area of 4,190 km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, Gi ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

History

The history of Awara Onsen is relatively short. In 1883, a farmer digging an irrigation well hit an 80-degree C saline hot spring. By the following year, several ''onsen'' hotels had already opened and attracted visitors for especially for long-term health care. With the opening of the

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Rai ...

Mikuni Line in 1911 and the Keifuku Electric Railway Mikuni Ishihara Line (currently the

Echizen Railway is a third-sector railway operating company located in Fukui, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. It owns and operates the Katsuyama Eiheiji Line between Fukui and Katsuyama and the Mikuni Awara Line between Fukui and Sakai. History In 1992, Keifuku Ele ...

Mikuni Awara Line The is a railway line operated by Echizen Railway in Fukui Prefecture. The line extends 27.8 km from the city of Fukui to Mikuni-Minato station at Sakai with a total of 22 stations. It was operated by Keifuku Electric Railway until 2001; Ec ...

) in 1928, the area developed rapidly. However, the area suffered great damage in 1948 Fukui earthquake, and most of its historic buildings were lost in a great fire of 1956. The onsen hotels were rebuilt with modern materials afterwards, and the onsen remains a popular tourist designation for visitors especially from the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

and Chubu regions of Japan. Awara Onsen does not have joint management of the hot springs. Each hotel has several hot spring wells. For this reason, each hotel has hot springs with different elements,

External links

*
Awara City Tourist Cooperative site
Hot springs of Fukui Prefecture Tourist attractions in Fukui Prefecture Spa towns in Japan Awara, Fukui {{fukui-geo-stub