Beppu Jigoku 別府地獄

Located in the Kannawa Onsen area, Beppu Jigoku offers a peek into the different hot springs and their unusual visual effects.

With limited options due to the challenging weather, we decided to visit the Jigoku Hells of Beppu.  From the Suginoi Hotel, it was about a 15 minute taxi ride.

You can buy a pass that will get you into all 7 Jigoku.  We opted to see just the first two on the list below and paid for those entrance fee separately.  If you choose to see all 7, it will take a while.  Walking from Umi-Jigoku to Tatsumaki-Jigoku will take about 45 minutes.

1. Umi-Jigoku (海地獄)
2. Oniishibozu-Jigoku (鬼石坊主地獄)
3. Kamado-Jigoku (かまど地獄)
4. Oniyama-Jigoku (鬼山地獄)
5. Shiraike-Jigoku (白池地獄)
6. Chinoike-Jigoku (血の池地獄)
7. Tatsumaki-Jigoku (龍巻地獄)

Umi-Jigoku (海地獄)

The first location we visited was Umi-Jigoku.  The hot spring pond is supposed to be a cobalt blue but on the day we visited we weren’t able to see it clearly.  There was a lot of steam rising from it.

On the property, there’s also a gift shop, restaurant, shrine, and hot springs where visitors can soak their feet.  It takes about 15-20 minutes to finish the visit.

Oniishibozu-Jigoku (鬼石坊主地獄)

Just a few minute walk away from Umi-Jigoku is Oniishibozu-Jigoku.  This was a much better experience for us as we could clearly see the hot spring ponds.  There were several large and small ponds with bubbles surfacing through the gray mud.  The name bozu (monk) comes from the bubbles resembling the shaven head of monks.

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We spent around 15-20 minutes browsing around the garden and started heading back to our hotel.  We didn’t have a chance to visit the rest of the Jigoku but here are images from WikiCommons for them.

Would we recommend visiting?  It’s really a toss-up.  If the weather is bad and your options are limited then check out these Jigoku.  If the weather is nice then choose one of the other activities you can do in Beppu.

Kamado-Jigoku (かまど地獄)

Oniyama-Jigoku (鬼山地獄)

Shiraike-Jigoku (白池地獄)

Chinoike-Jigoku (血の池地獄)

Tatsumaki-Jigoku (龍巻地獄)

If you enjoyed the Beppu Jigoku guide, check out Beppu Travel Guide and other travel posts from Just One Cookbook.

Beppu Travel Guide