is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in

Tōhaku District is a Districts of Japan, district located in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 65,944 and a population density, density of 109.54 persons per km2. The total area is 602.02 km2. Towns and vil ...

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hirosh ...

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 ...

. It is also home to the official treasure of

Sanbutsu-ji is a Buddhist temple in the town of Misasa, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. The of Sanbutsu-ji, built in the Heian period is designated a National Treasure of Japan. By tradition Sanbutsu-ji was founded by the Buddhist ascetic and mystic of the l ...

, the

Misasa Onsen is a town located in Tōhaku District, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It is also home to the official treasure of Sanbutsu-ji, the Misasa Onsen, and Okayama Hospital. The name "Misasa" (literally "three mornings") originates from the belief that one ...

, and Okayama Hospital. The name "Misasa" (literally "three mornings") originates from the belief that one who stays to enjoy three mornings in the town's famous hot springs will find all of his ailments cured. As of June 1, 2016, the town has an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 6,407 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of 27.4 persons per km². The total area is 233.46 km². Misasa is for the most part a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

resort, boasting springs of

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather t ...

-rich water, exhausting

radon Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...

, a

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...

gas. Locals believe that bathing one in such waters can be good for one's health, although there is no scientific consensus on whether doing so is detrimental or helpful to one's health (see

Radiation hormesis Radiation hormesis is the hypothesis that low doses of ionizing radiation (within the region of and just above natural background levels) are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, that are not ...

). For this reason, the town of Misasa organizes a yearly

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

festival – Marie Curie discovered radium. The film ''

Koitanibashi is a 2011 Japanese film directed by Kōichi Gotō. Cast * Takako Uehara * Kensei Mikami Production The film was shot in Misasa, Tottori is a town located in Tōhaku District, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It is also home to the official treas ...

'' was shot in Misasa.

Education

Primary schools

* Nishi Elementary School * Higashi Elementary School * Minami Elementary School

Junior high schools

* Misasa Junior High School

Universities

Institute for Planetary Materials An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

Okayama University is a national university in Japan. The main campus is located in Tsushima-Naka, Okayama, Okayama Prefecture. The school was founded in 1870 and it was established as a university in 1949. History Okayama University was originally founded as t ...

Neighboring municipalities

** Tottori **

Kurayoshi is a city located in the central part of Tottori Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 48,558 and a population density of 180 persons per km², making it the third largest city in Tottori. The total a ...

Yurihama is a town located in Tōhaku District, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. As of October 31, 2019, the town had an estimated population of 16,837 and a density of 216 persons per km2. The total area is 77.95 km2. Yurihama was created on October 1, ...

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

Kagamino is a town located in Tomata District, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. On March 1, 2005, Kagamino absorbed the town of Okutsu, and the villages of Kamisaibara and Tomi, all from Tomata District, to form the new town of Kagamino, with a combined ...

Maniwa 270px, Maniwa City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Kuse area of Maniwa is a city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 42,477 in 17568 households and a population density of 51 persons per km². The total are ...

Places of note

: A radium-rich hot spring. * Oshika Valley : It is named a special location, or "meishou" (名所) by the government, and is about 4 km long. *

: A temple located on a cliff on the north face of Mount Mitoku, it is designated as one of the

National Treasures of Japan Some of the National Treasures of Japan A is the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (a special body of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scien ...

Twin towns

Misasa is twinned with: *

Lamalou-les-Bains Lamalou-les-Bains (; Languedocien: ''L’Amalon'') is a commune in the Hérault département in the Occitanie region in southern France. Geography Lamalou-les-Bains is located 53½ miles west of Montpellier in the Orb valley of the southern C� ...

, France, since 1990 * Jōyō, Kyoto, Japan, since 2012

References

External links

Official town website

Official town website
{{Authority control Towns in Tottori Prefecture Tōhaku District, Tottori