Looking like a gorgeous Chinese landscape painting, Jozankei is a beautiful hot spring area in Hokkaido. The history of Jozankei onsen (hot spring) dates back to 1866 when a monk discovered this beautiful place and built a healing onsen.
One of the main reasons why it is so popular is because of its proximity to Sapporo. It takes less than an hour by car and there are a few buses that run frequently between Sapporo and Jozankei.
Hot spring gushing out in the Jyozankei spa resort areas contains sodium chloride featuring transparency and mild amount of salt. It is one of the most common spring types in Japan.
There are 56 sources of hot spring in the Jyozankei onsen district. Most of them are in the vicinity of Tsukimibashi bridge and Takayamabasi bridge of the Toyohira river running the hot sprint area. Hot spring is abundantly gushing out from crannies of bedrocks in the riverbank and in the bottom of the river.
Doesn’t it look like a perfect Chinese landscape painting with the mountain range in the background, a s-shape river, forest, bridges and small houses. 像不像一張完美的中國山水畫？有層次的山、河流、小橋、樹木、及小房子。The winter in Jozankei is spectacular. The layers of mountain range and black-and-white color of the houses in the valley make it looks picturesque whichever way you take a photo. 定山溪冬天的雪景真的很美，一層層可以看到樹木的山和黑白的房子，從高處看，任何一個角度都是一幅風景水墨畫。There are a few places of interests on the onsen street where you can take a look. 溫泉街上有幾個景點可以參觀和拍照。The Goddess of Mercy Temple. 觀音廟，可以參拜。There are also foot baths where you can relax your feet for free but it was too cold to take off my shoes. Didn’t do it. 溫泉路上有免費足湯，但下大雪，天氣太冷，沒有勇氣在冰天雪地脫鞋！Another feature of Jozankei is the mascot “Kappa”. He is a half boy half frog character that you see everywhere in Jozankei. 定山溪另一特色是到處都會看到不同造型的吉祥物「河童」。他是半人半蛙的妖怪。
Every Kappa status has a name and many of them were created by a producer. This is called Bokuto Kinen Syashin, locating on Jozankei Tsukimi Bridge. 差不多每個河童像都有名稱和作者，這個名為「與我一起拍照」河童像位於賞月橋。Left: Yashiyaruzo Kappa in front of Iwato Kannondo. Right: Miss Jozankei Kappa, locating on Jozankei Tsukimi Bridge. 左： 好，開始做（某事）河童，位於 岩戶觀音堂前。右：定山溪小姐，位於賞月橋
If you are looking for a day-trip hot spring from Sapporo, Jozankei is one of the best options which is less than an hour away by car (around 1 hour by bus or train). 冬天到北海道扎幌玩，要去一個最近的溫泉區，定山溪是一個好選擇，可以即日來回。I think this is a Kappa snowman. Cute. 雪人都有當地特色，我猜它是扮河童雪人。Fire place made of snow. Will it be lit up? 雪做的火爐，真的會點火嗎？
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