Both online reservations and hot spring bathing are available! Sea fishing for tai and chinook is available!
This is a leisure-type park that stretches across the Cape Mitate area. Overnight facilities are available for most vehicle sizes, with parking space for three vehicles. The park is also equipped with toilets, water, and a dedicated 100V power supply, and a generator is available for use. Visitors can take a bath at the Cape Mitate Hot Spring Center in the park and enjoy sea fishing from the pier at the Sea Fishing Land. Breakwater fishing offers difficult catches of sea bream and chinook, some of which are 50 cm to 70 cm in length! You can buy processed goods at the hot spring center, but we also recommend eating, drinking, and buying products at "Roadside Station Tanoura," which is operated by the same designated management company, just off the Tanoura Interchange.
RV Park Otachimisaki Park Basic Information
Location
124, Taura-cho, Ashikita-cho, Ashikita-gun, Kumamoto 869-5305, Japan
Ruins of the Gozenyu (hot spring) loved by Lord Hosokawa After taking a bath, be sure to take a stroll around the hot spring town.
Driving along the coast from Otachimisaki Park toward Yatsushiro, you will reach Hinaku Onsen. It has been in existence for about 600 years, and is a simple, mildly alkaline hot spring characterized by its soft touch and faint sulfur smell. The Hinaku Onsen Center (nicknamed Banpeiyu) is located on the site of the former "Gozenyu," a hot spring run by the Higo Hosokawa clan, and has been a popular public bathhouse in the area since the Meiji era. The current building was renovated in July 2009. The first floor is a public bathhouse, the second floor is a large bathhouse (with sauna and open-air bath), and the third floor has five family baths.
address (e.g. of house)
316 Hinakunaka-cho, Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture
Public bathhouse: 200 yen for junior high school students and older, 100 yen for 3-year-olds to elementary school students Public baths: 510 yen for junior high school students and older, 300 yen for children from 3 years old to elementary school students Family bath / 1 hour 1020-1240 yen + bathing fee
Business Hours
10:00-22:00
regular closing day
3rd Tuesday of the month (or the following day if the Tuesday is a national holiday), New Year's Day
Sea picnic on a fishing boat Freshly caught seafood on an uninhabited island
The Yatsushiro Fisheries Cooperative offers "Yatsushiro Boat De-uki" as an experience plan for tourists. The event originated from the boating activity that the feudal lord used to enjoy with a fishing method called Hokotsuki, and "deuki" means a picnic on the sea. Later, it came to be held around the mouth of the Kuma River. In today's "Yatsushiro-bune deuki", participants board a fishing boat with fishermen, observe the traditional fishing methods of the Yatsushiro Sea up close, and even experience fishing. Afterwards, visitors land on an uninhabited island and enjoy fresh seafood dishes prepared by the fishermen. The tour takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes. The fish caught during the fishing experience can be taken home, so be sure to bring a cooler box. The species of fish caught vary depending on the season, so be sure to bring a cooler.
address (e.g. of house)
3-84 Shinkaicho, Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture (Yatsushiro Fisheries Cooperative)
Gamera, or Kida, Landing? The Shrine of the God of the North Star and the Big Dipper
It is the largest shrine in Yatsushiro City, and its history dates back to the Asuka Period (over 1,300 years ago). The deities worshipped at the shrine are Amenominakanushi no Mikoto and Kunitokotachitakunomikoto, deified versions of the North Star and the Big Dipper. The Shitora Sword, a sacred treasure, is inlaid with the constellations of the zodiac. The present shrine was reconstructed in 1699 and 1749, and is designated as an important cultural property by the prefecture. Although the shrine was renamed from Myokomi-gu Shrine to Yatsushiro Shrine during the separation of Shinto and Buddhism after the Meiji era (1868-1912), it is still familiarly called "Myokomi-San" by the local people. There is also a legend that the god Myoken came across the sea on the back of an imaginary animal called "Kida," which is a combination of a turtle and a snake, and the Kida dances during the Myokensai, an annual autumn festival in November. The festival is considered one of the three major festivals in Kyushu and is registered as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan and an Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO.
address (e.g. of house)
405 Myoko-cho, Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture
Museum related to Musashi Miyamoto Yatsushiro Castle Lord's garden with blooming irises
A garden and teahouse located near the ruins of Yatsushiro Castle. It was built in 1688 by Naoyuki Matsui, lord of Yatsushiro Castle, and is also known as "Hama-no-chaya" (teahouse on the beach). At that time, it was a magnificent garden with a view of the Yatsushiro Sea and Unzen over the pine forest. The pond in the garden is made of stones arranged in an expansive manner, and the stonework of Tsukuyama and the shape of the garden resembles the scenery of Katsura-rikyu Amanohashidate, showing the richly varied flavor of a feudal lord's garden in the early Edo period. Designated by the national government as a place of scenic beauty. From late May to mid-June, about 5,000 Higo irises are usually at their best. In addition, there is a Matsui Bunko museum displaying family heirlooms of the former lord of the castle, the Matsui family, including a "Senki" axis and a hand-carved wooden sword related to Miyamoto Musashi.
address (e.g. of house)
3-15 Kitanomaru-cho, Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture
Stop for a moment and take a mental break in a small museum.
If you are driving along Route 3 from Otachimisaki Park to Minamata, this is the Tsunaki Town Museum of Art, which opened in 2001 and is the center of cultural and artistic activities in the Minamata and Ashikita regions. The museum was originally started in 1984 as part of the "Town Development with Greenery and Sculptures" project to revitalize the area after Minamata disease and to create an attractive cultural space. The museum houses approximately 450 works by artists associated with Kumamoto Prefecture, including Kazuyuki Sakaino, a painter who served as director of the Second Ebihara Art Institute, as well as costumes of Thai hill tribes. In addition to exhibitions, the museum also conducts resident-participatory art projects featuring contemporary art. In addition, there is a monorail that leaves from the terrace of the museum's coffee shop and goes up to Maizuru Castle Park, which is located at the top of Jyuban Iwa, a strange rock that rises behind Tsunagi Onsen Shikisai, in front of the museum. It takes about five minutes one way, but is said to be the second steepest monorail in Japan. Why take the monorail from the museum to the top of the rock? Actually, Maizuru Castle Park is the museum's outdoor art zone. Don't forget the outdoor art.
Former Akasaki Elementary School and Irigon no Yado
Japan's Only Abandoned School Floating Above the Sea: Former Swimming Pool to be Art Space and Inn
If you want to take a short detour further, go to the Fukuhama area by the sea. Here is Akasaki Elementary School, which was closed in 2010. What is unusual about the three-story school building is that part of it is supported by concrete pillars that were raised out of the sea. Designed to resemble a cruise ship, the clock tower in the center of the school building is cut at an angle, reminiscent of the chimney of a cruise ship. On the side facing the sea, there is a round window in the corridor, from which the children used to hang their fishing lines. Currently, the school building is off-limits to visitors, but they can enter the schoolyard. In May 2023, the swimming pool and changing rooms of the elementary school will be restored by a contemporary artist as a biotope and an uninhabited inn. For more information, please contact the Tsunagi Museum of Art. (Reservations must be made online in advance.)
Shiranui Sea below Mini Spanish Village on the hill
A Spanish-style building appearing on top of a small hill, this tourist farm was started by a mandarin orange farmer in 1960, and now houses a mandarin orange farm, a pressing and processing plant, and a locally produced Spanish restaurant on the premises. The Valencia Pavilion is the farm's restaurant that boasts paella, the Spanish Pavilion where you can buy the farm's original processed products such as sangria wine and other local foods, and Gracia, a bakery that is directly managed by the farm. And every Sunday, flamenco shows and live music are performed free of charge on the patio (courtyard). In addition, there is an original beer brewery and other facilities for a relaxing stay.
Roses, the queen of flowers, are in full bloom in spring and fall Enjoy rose sweets at a roadside station
The park was developed by reclaiming Minamata Bay, where mercury sludge had accumulated, in the hope of revitalizing the area from Minamata disease. The 13,000-square-meter rose garden has about 5,000 roses of 800 varieties, and every year in spring and fall, it attracts visitors with the beauty of the queen of flowers. In spring, the vine roses, with their branches entwined around pillars and arches, bloom, creating a gorgeous atmosphere together with other four-seasonal roses in the groves. In autumn, although the vines do not bloom, the beauty of each individual rose stands out, as they say that standing autumn roses are truly beautiful. Rose Festa" and other events are held during the blooming period. The blooming season is from late April to late May in spring and from mid-October to late November in fall. Adjacent to Minamata Roadside Station, visitors can enjoy rose soft drink (350 yen) containing petal extract of the queen of roses, the damask rose, which spreads the fragrance of roses the moment you eat it.
address (e.g. of house)
54-162 Tsukiura, Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture
