Kindaichi Onsen, located in Ninohe in northern Iwate, is said to have been discovered in 1626, and has been called ""samurai no yu"" as the designated therapeutic spa of the Nanbu Domain. There are currently four hot spring sources being used. The simple, hypotonic, alkaline hot spring warms your body to the core. There are inns connected to the legend of the zashiki-warashi and those with connections to Kyosuke Kindaichi and Tetsuo Miura. There are also inns where you can drop in for a soak.

Zashiki-warashi is a spirit that is said to remain in old houses and protect them, and when you stay at Kintaichi Onsen and sleep in the inner zashiki reception room at Ryokufuso, your pillow will be overturned by the zashiki-warashi and you will experience sleep paralysis; but after this you will be blessed with surprisingly good fortune. It is said that men will be successful in their life while women will marry into wealth. Zashiki-warashi is not a ghost, but a spirit of a boy in the form of an adorable child.

Also, the mysterious friends who appear in the musical ""Yuta and His Strange Friends"" (Yuta to Fushigi na Nakamatachi) of Tetsuro Miura's Shiki theatrical company refer to zashiki-warashi that are also characters of Kintaichi Onsen.

The Kintaichi Onsen plateau has a 20-hectare apple complex where you can take in the pure white scenery in the spring and the blazing reds of the autumn, and take part in harvesting apples in the orchard.

A thematic journey in the Tohoku region:Hot springs