Ureshino Onsen appears in an 8th-century record, and Ureshino City describes its history as more than 1,300 years long.
- 8th century
Recorded in the Hizen no Kuni Fudoki
The Hizen no Kuni Fudoki, a record of the province written in the Nara period, says there is a hot spring on the east bank of the Shiota River that cures people's illnesses. It is thought to describe Ureshino Onsen.
- Legend
Empress Jingu and the name "Ureshino"
Legend says Empress Jingu, returning from battle, saw her soldiers' wounds healed by the hot spring and cried out "Ureshii no!" ("How happy I am!"). This is said to be the origin of the name.
- Edo period
A post town on the Nagasaki Highway
Ureshino prospered as a post town on the Nagasaki Highway between Nagasaki and Kokura. Because sugar was carried along it from Nagasaki, the road is also called the "Sugar Road".
- 1690
Kaempfer passes through
The German physician Engelbert Kaempfer travelled the Nagasaki Highway to Ureshino and wrote that tea gardens lined the road.
- 1826
Siebold passes through
Philipp Franz von Siebold, a physician and naturalist, passed through Ureshino on the Nagasaki Highway from Nagasaki to Kokura and left notes about its hot springs.
- Taisho period
A Western-style public bath is built
A Gothic-style Western public bathhouse was built in the hot-spring town.
- 2000–2021
Three free foot baths open
Siebold's Foot Bath opened in 2000, Yushuku Hiroba with its foot steam bath in 2012, and Yuttsura Hiroba in 2021.
- 2010
Siebold-no-Yu opens
Siebold-no-Yu, recreating the Taisho-era bathhouse, opened in April 2010.
- 2022
Ureshino-Onsen Station opens
On 23 September 2022, the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen opened, and Ureshino City, which had no railway until then, gained Ureshino-Onsen Station.
A post town and a bath for travellers
In the Edo period, Ureshino was Ureshino-juku, a post town on the Nagasaki Highway.
Travellers on the road are said to have stopped here and soaked away the tiredness of the journey.
According to Ureshino City, there were more than twice as many hot-spring inns then as there are today.
Zuikoji Temple in the hot-spring town served as the official lodging for Nagasaki magistrates and feudal lords.
Onsen yudofu, the town's famous tofu simmered in hot-spring water, is said to have begun when people found this way of cooking tofu in the Edo period.
Siebold and the waters of Ureshino
Siebold was a German physician and naturalist who came to Japan in 1823.
In 1826, travelling the Nagasaki Highway, he passed through Ureshino and recorded notes on its hot springs.
Ureshino City describes him as one of the first people to collect data on the waters of Ureshino.
The public bath Siebold-no-Yu and Siebold's Foot Bath are both named after him.
Siebold-no-Yu, recreating a Taisho-era bathhouse
Siebold-no-Yu is a two-storey wooden public bath across the river from Ureshino Onsen Park.
It is a Gothic-style building with the romantic atmosphere of the Taisho era, and its pointed orange roof is easy to spot.
Recreating the public bathhouse built in the Taisho period, it opened as Siebold-no-Yu in April 2010.
Every year on 1 April, its opening anniversary, the large baths are free.
A place to recover
The poet Saito Mokichi came to Ureshino to recover from illness, and is said to have regained his health here.
In the Iwayagawachi area of Ureshino, a stone monument carries the tanka poem he wrote in Ureshino.
A hot-spring town with a Shinkansen station
On 23 September 2022, the Takeo-Onsen to Nagasaki section of the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen opened, giving Ureshino City its first railway station, Ureshino-Onsen Station.
From Ureshino-Onsen Station to LAPPY is 5 minutes by car. Cars cannot reach the guesthouse itself, so you will get out nearby and walk.
Sources: Ureshino City website (tourism, multilingual commentary and tea pages), Saga Prefecture website (history of the Nishi-Kyushu route), Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei and Nipponica encyclopedias (via Kotobank), and the Ureshino City sightseeing map. Legends are presented as stories that have been handed down.
