Ranking list of hot springs in various regions (Shokoku Onsen Kagami)
Kaga Collection 2259-2

This is a ranking list of hot springs made in the style of a sumo banzuke. In the middle is a diagram of the Ōzeki (grand champion) of the east, Jōshū Kusatsu Onsen (hot spring).


The use of hot springs spread among the common people during the Edo Period. Numerous banzuke were published to list hot springs or rank their therapeutic benefits. They all ranked Kusatsu Onsen as being the Ōzeki of the east, and Arima Onsen as being the Ōzeki of the west, while many of them showed Hongūno Yu or Shingūno Yu of Kumano in the position of the "promoter" or "referee."
Books were also published on the therapeutic benefits of hot springs, including the book, "The Secret to Maintaining Good Health(Yōjō kun)" (published in 1713), written by Kaibara Ekiken, and "Discussions on Hot Springs(Onsen kō)" written by Hara Sōkei who was a doctor and a Confucian scholar.

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