Dogo Onsen, Matsuyama, Ehime Pref., Japan

Dogo Onsen boasts a proud history of approximately 3,000 years and is believed to be the oldest hot spring in Japan. Located in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, it became a famous tourist attraction in Ehime Prefecture through Natsume Soseki's novel "Botchan." Its earliest place name was "Nikitatu," meaning "a port with hot springs." References to it appear in waka poems from the 7th to 8th centuries collected in the Man'yoshu anthology, and the surrounding area was also known as Onsen District.