Travel Guide Bessho Onsen

This spa is said to date back to the 9th century. It is said to have been chosen as the headquarters of Yoshimasa Hōjō, governor of the Shinshū region in the Kamakura period. A member of the Hōjō clan, he managed to impose the Kamakura culture and style, especially in the construction of some temples. Some of them are still visible. The Japanese call this area the Kamakura of the Shinshū. Some ruins of a castle and several old houses still keep the memory of the past, such as the Kokubunji, a three-story pagoda. This hot-spring town remains one of the most beautiful of its kind; it is very easy to reach from Tōkyō as well as from Nagano, and the traveller, who has not yet enjoyed the hot springs, is well advised to make a detour.