The hidden Japanese town that time forgot

My rental car’s GPS tries to direct me to the right place, and after sending me corkscrewing through hills spiky with pine trees on an increasingly narrow road, it announces I’ve arrived.

And I have arrived, sort of. My ryokan is indeed in sight. Only problem? The river that rushes between me and my night’s lodgings, and no bridge in sight.

My destination, Kurokawa, is a hot-spring town hunkered in central Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost large island. In the previous hour’s driving, I’ve barely seen a building, and now most of Kurokawa appears camouflaged somewhere in a valley dense with trees.

Bathing pool at Kurokawa onsen.

It takes old-fashioned map-reading to finally reach Sanga Ryokan along a road barely wider than my car. My GPS squawks in protest. It’s the last time I’ll use my car. Kurokawa is closed to traffic and, by the looks of things, I wouldn’t want to drive further anyway. These lanes would snap off a wing mirror, and I’d only find myself at another dead end.

But this is all a good thing. Being off the main road and the railway network, with infrequent buses the only public transport connection to cities, leaves Kurokawa off the beaten track, although I’m told the town nevertheless gets busy during Japan’s big holiday times. The town centre, it turns out, is a 10-minute walk up a country road from my ryokan, and compact enough to explore on foot.

Only concerted effort could produce a place this charming. Most Japanese onsen, or hot-spring resorts, have been taken over by big boxy hotels. Not Kurokawa. Big hotels are banned. So are pachinko parlours, neon signs and loud colours.

Kurokawa is green and brown, moss-encrusted and quiet. Its buildings look as if they’ve grown out of the ground. Stone steps lead between one hillside lane and another. The restaurants are low-key. So are the souvenir shops, which sell the likes of rice crackers and local pottery. You couldn’t find a greater contrast to Japan’s big cities.

A ryokan at Kurokawa onsen.

The town is full of ryokans or traditional inns with both private and public hot-spring baths. I buy a wooden token for access to some of them and clop around the village to try them out. If bathing naked with strangers isn’t for you, you can book a private bath.

Nothing is fancy about Kurokawa’s 28 rotenburo, or outdoor baths, which have a refreshing take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Not much commercial tourist flummery or luxury here. This is hot-spring bathing as it must have been for the last thousand years.

A couple of rotenburo sit in small caves. One looks on to a waterfall so modest it barely deserves the name. Several overlook the river.

Visitors strip off in rickety wooden change rooms that appear to have been built by goblins. Then they rinse themselves in thorough Japanese style and wade into hot pools, some of which are roofed, and some open to the trees.

Water scoops at Kurokawa onsen.

The best are out of town. Hozantei, a three-kilometre walk, has gorgeous views over the river that so stumped my GPS. Yamamizuki is larger and has a wonderful location right beside the rushing water. If you round it off with a visit to Iyashi-no-Sato Kiyashiki, you’ve probably sampled Kurokawa’s three nicest rotenburo.

Later I’m back at my ryokan, which is as cosy as a hobbit’s home and heated by cast-iron stoves. Its buildings are small, shingled and enveloped in deep forest. For dinner, I’m served sashimi and soup, grilled trout, duck with local vegetables, pickles and rice.

Time for another plunge. I sit in one of the ryokan’s pools as steam rises and trees rustle. I watch leaves twirling in the wind and feel I ought to write a haiku. Or cultivate my Zen, in preparation for tomorrow’s battle with my GPS.

The details

Fly
Japan Airlines flies from Melbourne and Sydney to Tokyo Narita with onward flights to Fukuoka, 100 kilometres from Kurokawa. See jal.co.jp

Tour
Inside Japan Tours organises tailored, self-guided adventures in Kyushu based on interests, budget and destination, and provides back-up support, although you explore on your own. See insidejapantours.com; welcomekyushu.com

The writer was a guest of Japan Airlines, Kyushu Tourism and Inside Japan Tours.