Tsuetate Onsen. Direct Kyushu Sanko buses depart from Fukuoka Tenjin and Fukuoka Airport. After a two-and-a-half-hour journey, you'll arrive at this retro Showa-era hot spring resort, teeming with steam. It's almost like stepping back in time. Backed by virgin forests and rocky cliffs, both banks of the Tsuetate River are lined with around 20 hot spring inns, including the maze-like alleyway known as "Sedoya." The more you walk and get lost, the more enjoyable the town becomes. Tsuetate Onsen resort since its founding around 1,800 years ago. The water is a mildly alkaline simple spring, characterized by its high content of metasilicic acid, a natural moisturizing ingredient. A traditional "steam bath" is a must-try. Steam baths are so integral to life in this area that it's said, "If you catch a cold, the first thing you do is take a steam bath."

Kurokawa Onsen is working to thin and restore its bamboo forests in order to preserve the environment. The "Yuakari Light Up," which began in 2012, has become a popular winter tradition. The sight of "ball lanterns" made from woven bamboo that have been cut down and "tube lanterns" that are 2 meters long, lit on the banks of the Tanohara River is a mystical sight that everyone wants to post on social media.

If you follow the national highway along the Tanohara River, a tributary of the Chikushi River, you will suddenly come across a hot spring town lined with around 30 hot spring inns. A distinctive feature is the "Kurokawa Onsen Ichiryokan" concept, which treats the entire hot spring area as "one hot spring inn." The scattered inns are treated as "detached rooms," and the narrow paths connecting the inns are likened to "corridors." The concept is to allow visitors to enjoy the natural scenery of the hot spring town and the open-air baths of each inn while walking back and forth between the detached rooms on these corridors, and the "bath pass," which can be purchased at inns or the inn association, is your passport. There are eight types of spring water: weakly acidic simple springs, weakly alkaline simple springs, sulfur springs, bicarbonate springs, chloride springs, sulfate springs, iron-containing springs, and acidic springs. It's fun to explore the different types of spring water and experience the differences.

"Japan's most lush hidden village." If you want to fully immerse yourself in that atmosphere, why not try the Sagara Thirty-Three Kannon Pilgrimage, a registered Japan Heritage site? This pilgrimage began in the Edo period, and after visiting all 33 Kannon shrines, you make a circuit of the Hitoyoshi-Kuma region. There is no set order for the pilgrimage. The Thirty-Three Kannon Pilgrimage is held every year around the spring and autumn equinoxes, and most of the Kannon statues can only be viewed on the simultaneous public viewing days. Some of the Kannon statues at each Kannon shrine date back to the early Heian period.

Surrounded by the steep Kyushu Mountains, the Sagara clan, lords of Hitoyoshi Kuma, repelled invasions from foreign enemies and ruled for 700 years, a rare feud in Japanese history, until the Meiji Restoration. The many temples and shrines remaining in the area and the permission to brew Kuma shochu were apparently designed by the Sagara clan to win the hearts of the people. This relationship fostered a spirit of community development that united the lord and the people, fostering a culture of worshiping, enjoying, and cherishing shrines, temples, Buddhist statues, and kagura. At the same time, with an enterprising spirit, they absorbed Kyoto culture and developed their own unique food culture, pastimes, and transportation network. The hot springs date back to 1910. The mildly alkaline carbonated spring water is known for its skin-beautifying properties, and the moist, smooth feeling it leaves after bathing is popular.