is a hot spring resort district in northern Japan about to the northwest of downtown

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

History

Local legend attributes the foundation of Sakunami Onsen to the wandering Buddhist priest

Gyōki was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-d ...

in 721 AD In the early

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

. The '' Azuma Kagami'' records that

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

visited the area during his campaign against the

Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese noble family that ruled the Tōhoku region (the northeast of Honshū) of Japan during the 12th century as their own realm.

at Hiraizumi. Sakunami has a number of

ryokan A is a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically features ''tatami''-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear nemaki and talk with the owner. Ryokan have existed since the eighth century A.D. du ...

which were founded in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

under the auspices of the

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of ...

. The ''onsen'' cluster is on the steep banks of the Hirosegawa River that eventually flows through downtown Sendai.

Transport

Trains on the

Senzan Line The is a railway line in Japan. Part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) system, it runs from Sendai Station (Miyagi), Sendai Station in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture to Uzen-Chitose Station in Yamagata, Yamagata, Yamagata, Yamagata Prefec ...

from Sendai Station to

Yamagata Station is a railway station in Yamagata, Yamagata, Yamagata, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Yamagata Station is served by the following lines. * Yamagata Shinkansen * Ōu Main Line * Senzan Line * A ...

stop at Sakunami Station, a trip that takes roughly 40 minutes from Sendai.

References

External links

Official home page
Geography of Sendai Hot springs of Miyagi Prefecture Spa towns in Japan Tourist attractions in Sendai {{Miyagi-geo-stub