About Yuchelin
Evaluating the true value of onsen water, and carrying it into the future.
Mission
Japan is home to about 7% of the world's volcanoes and is a nation of hot springs. Yet when choosing an onsen, have you ever judged by the quality of the water that actually reaches the bath? The size of the facility, its amenities and service are talked about; the value of the water itself has rarely been.
Yuchelin is a non-profit association that evaluates and certifies the value of the water itself, from the source to the bath, independently of any commercial interest. Beyond reading the analysis report, experts visit each facility to check the distance and time from source to bath, and the state of heating, dilution, circulation, disinfection and cleaning.
To make the value of the water visible, and to carry onsen culture to the next generation and to the world. That is our mission.
Message from the Representative Director
Japan has an extraordinary variety of hot springs, each with its own origin and character. Beyond the type of spring and its constituents, every source differs in temperature, flow and the way the water emerges. Yet these differences, and the depth of appeal behind them, are not being conveyed to bathers as fully as they deserve.
There are inns and facilities that hold a superb source and devote enormous time and effort to protecting it, sometimes in harsh natural surroundings, guarding the water with uncommon passion and care and continuing to manage and offer it with integrity.
Even so, some of these hot springs quietly disappear, their value never fully understood, never widely known.
What Yuchelin sets out to do is to make this hard-to-see value of the water itself visible, and to shine a light on it.
“Today, let's choose an inn by its water.”
We believe there is room for a new way of choosing a hot spring.
Our aim is not to compare every hot spring by a single yardstick and simply rank them.
It is to add a new measure to the way hot springs are chosen: the quality and character of the water, which until now has not been properly valued.
Through this project, we hope to give those who run hot springs an occasion to look afresh at the character and value of their own water, to turn it into confidence and pride, and to convey its appeal accurately. And we hope to create an environment in which bathers can feel the individuality of each spring and choose one that suits their own tastes and purposes.
By taking part in Yuchelin, we also want to create places where knowledge about hot springs is shared, to raise onsen literacy in Japan, and to prompt people to notice the value and appeal of the hot springs of Japan, the greatest onsen nation in the world.
Above all, we want to shine a light on the superb sources and on the people who have protected, refined and passed on their waters, and to carry that value to the next generation.
That is Yuchelin's mission.
To evaluate the value of onsen water correctly, and carry it into the future.
By adding a new measure to the way hot springs are chosen, Yuchelin will convey the diversity and depth of Japan's hot springs and pass on to the future a bathing culture the world can be proud of.
Kyoko Kitade, Representative Director, General Incorporated Association Yuchelin
Activities
Evaluation & Certification
Three stages — research and analysis, on-site inspection, expert evaluation — to verify and certify the value of the water.
Award
Results are announced once a year as the Yuchelin Award and shared in Japan and abroad.
MAP & Media
Yuchelin MAP for finding certified onsen, plus seasonal news from the facilities, delivered to members.
Members & Regions
Working with supporting members, onsen regions, researchers and businesses to pass on onsen culture and support sustainable local development.
Initiatives in 2026
Founding Crowdfunding
Gathering founding members to support the beginning of Yuchelin. Funds go to the founding-year Award, the official site and MAP, and the 2027 nationwide survey.
Yuchelin Award 2026 (online)
Announcing the certified onsen of our founding year. Part 1 is free to watch.
Yuchelin MAP
A members-only service to find certified onsen on a map.
Roadmap
Founding year
Incorporation. Launch of the Council, the founding crowdfunding and Yuchelin Award 2026.
Nationwide survey and inspectors
Start of a nationwide survey of onsen and full operation of the inspector program.
Sharing with the world
Continuing certification and communicating the value of Japan's onsen culture in Japan and abroad.
Detailed criteria and the list of certified onsen are published on the Award site (yuchelin.org).
yuchelin.org →