was 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 Ōita District,

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kumam ...

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 ...

. Yufuin is now a district () within the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Yufu is a city in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. The modern city of Yufu was established on October 1, 2005, from the merger of the towns of Hasama, Shōnai, and Yufuin (all from Ōita District). , the city has an estimated population of 33,120, and ...

. Its elevation is approximately 400 meters above ground. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 11,342 and

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 88.77 persons per km². The total area was 127.77 km². On October 1, 2005, Yufuin, along with the towns of Hasama and Shonai (all from Ōita District), was merged to create the city of

. This controversial decision resulted in the recall of the mayor and a snap election in which he regained office. Located in a green valley beneath the spectacular Mount Yufu ( 由布岳), a short walk from the town centre is a mix of

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s, housing and upmarket ryokan, with a few temples. Mount Yufu, or Yufu-dake, can be hiked in about 90 minutes. A common evening sound is the rhythmic ringing of temple bells. Although still connected to its rural roots, Yufuin is a

tourist town A honeypot site is a location attracting throngs of tourists who, due to their numbers, place pressure on the environment and local people. Honeypots are often used by cities or countries to manage their tourism industry. The use of honeypots c ...

and a popular destination for

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

tours. There is a picturesque lake, and rivers flow down and across the valley. Some hotels have outdoor baths called

rotenburo In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

with a view of the mountain.

Spa town

Yufuin is famous for natural

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

, resulting in a local economy based on domestic tourism, gift shops and hot-spring bathing. Some ''onsen'' are available to day tourists, but many are strictly for overnight guests. There are also "sento", which are the traditional public baths used by locals. One of these, the Shitanyu, can be used by tourists, while the others are for use by local residents only. International tourist visits to Yufuin are increasing, especially by

Koreans Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply refe ...

Sights & Sounds

Yufu Mountain ( 由布岳) and Golden Scale Lake are commonly viewed and photographed by tourists.

Annual events

* July: Yufuin Music Festival ( ゆふいん音楽祭) * August: Yufuin Film Festival ( 湯布院映画祭) * October: Ushikurai Shouting Tournament ( 牛喰い絶叫大会)

Transportation options

Kyushu Railway Company The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan and the JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait ...

Yufuin Station is a passenger railway station located in Yufuin neighborhood of the city of Yufu, Ōita Prefecture, Japan, operated by JR Kyushu. Lines Yufuin Station is served by the Kyudai Main Line and is located 99.1 km from the starting point of ...

( 由布院駅) * Highway bus from

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

TV drama

* Yufuin is the setting for the NHK Japanese television drama " Kaze no Haruka"

References

External links

Yufu official website
Dissolved municipalities of Ōita Prefecture Spa towns in Japan Tourism in Japan {{Oita-geo-stub