History of Unazuki Onsen

Located at the entrance to the Kurobe Gorge, Unazuki Onsen is a hot spring resort that opened in 1923.
It draws hot water from the Kurobe Nagi Hot Spring located upstream of the Kurobe River, and has a long history of being a favorite of many writers and artists.

In the early Showa period (1926-1989), a lawsuit (the Unazuki Onsen Wooden Pipe Case) arose over the use of land for wooden pipes used to draw hot water. In the judgment, a landmark decision was made to prohibit "abuse of rights" for the first time in Japan, and the Civil Code was revised after the war to stipulate the prohibition of the law of abuse of rights in Article 1, Paragraph 3 of the Civil Code. The "Unazuki Onsen Mokkan Incident Monument" was erected near the site of the incident on the shore of Lake Unazuki at the Unazuki Dam. (From the Unazuki Onsen Ryokan Association website)

Shintaro Yamaoka and Yamada Min, two men who were instrumental in the development of the power supply, were soaking in the hot water one night and discussing what name they should give to this newborn hot spring. The moon was beautiful that night, and they decided to add the character "Unazuki" to the original name "Unazuki," in the hope that it would become a "place of the famous moon" along with Uji and Nara. (From the Unazuki Onsen Ryokan Association website)

The source of the Unazuki Onsen is located about 7 km upstream of the Kurobe River from the hotel, in a place called Kuronagi. The hot water was drawn from a wooden pipe hollowed out of a red pine tree for about 50 years since 1923. About 3,500 of these pipes, each about 2 m long, 60 cm thick, and weighing about 150 kg, were joined together and buried using only human labor. Over time, it became difficult to obtain excellent red wood to replace them, and today all of them are made of polyester.