In Myoban Onsen in Beppu City,
Yunohana Medicinal Sinter has been produced
using the production method unchanged since 1725 in the Edo period.
This is the only place in the world where both the manufacturing technique of Yunohana and the
landscape have been designated as a cultural property.
Yunohana, cultural property that has been preserved for 300 years
“Yunohana Production Technique” refers to the manufacturing technique of sinter, which has been used since the Edo period in Myoban Onsen. With the previously-mentioned technique, sinter is produced by crystalizing components from hot spring steam and blue clay, in a special manufacturing facility called Yunohana-goya, or a sinter producing hut.
The entire area of Myoban Onsen is geothermal, and is covered with hot spring steam.
The production of sinter started in 1664. It was called Bungo Myoban, which means alum produced in Bungo, at that time, although it is the same thing as Yunohana today. Myoban Onsen boasted the highest production volume of alum in Japan during the Kyoho era starting in 1725. Alum closely related to people’s daily lives, used as a hemostatic agent, a dyeing material or a pigment, for example.
Sinter can be found in various hot springs in Japan but most of them are made by collecting hot spring deposits or by making a lump of sulfur into powder. Yunohana of Myoban Onsen, however, is produced by the world’s only method using a sinter producing hut, hence designated as a nationally important intangible folk cultural asset.
Beppu City is well known as a town of hot springs as it boasts the highest yield of hot spring water in Japan. The city has made a good use of hot springs in a variety of fields, to support the lives of local residents and local tourism. As a result, a unique landscape has been created, with hot spring steam drifting in various parts of the city, the natural environment such as mountains and the ocean, and the Yunohana-goya, or sinter producing hut. The landscape was designated as an important cultural view by the country, so the city can utilize and preserve the landscape, as well as pass on the pride of the local people to the next generation. In Beppu, hot springs – in other words, underground resources – mean a landscape created through tourism, Jigoku-mushi or hot spring steam cooking, and production of Yunohana. It is proof that we have developed our natural resources.
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