One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Kyogoku京極町
Tens of thousands of tons of Yotei spring water a day
Shiribeshi region · Powder, canals and the bluest coast in Japan.
Kyogoku's Fukidashi Park gushes tens of thousands of tons of Yotei spring water daily — bring bottles like the locals do.
Kyogoku lies on the eastern foot of Mt. Yotei, and its whole reputation flows from one spot: Fukidashi Park, where snowmelt that has filtered through the volcano gushes out of a mossy bank at a rate of tens of thousands of tons a day. The water is on Japan's list of a hundred famous springs, and people drive from Sapporo with empty bottles. Around it are potato fields, a public hot spring and a roadside station. Come for the water, stay for a slow afternoon in the park.
- Region
- Shiribeshi (後志)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~84 km · 1.3 h summer / 1.5 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~52 km · 48 min summer / 1 h winter
- Best season in Shiribeshi
- December–March for powder, June–August for Shakotan blue and uni. Otaru works in any season.
Kyogoku at a glance
Drive estimates: straight-line × 1.35, at 65 km/h (summer) / 55 km/h (winter). How we calculate
What to see in Kyogoku
Fukidashi Park
ふきだし公園
The spring itself: a wooded park with boardwalks around the outflow, where the water surges out of the rock at a constant cold temperature all year. Fill your bottles at the taps, then walk the ponds and bridges below.
Michi-no-Eki Meisui-no-Sato Kyogoku
道の駅名水の郷きょうごく
The roadside station stands at the park entrance and sells the town's potatoes, tofu and coffee made with the spring water, plus the empty containers people forgot to bring.
Kyogoku Onsen
京極温泉
A public hot-spring bath a short walk from the park, with baths that look straight at Mt. Yotei. The easiest onsen stop on the eastern side of the mountain.
Mt. Yotei Kyogoku trail
羊蹄山京極コース
The steepest and shortest of the routes up the volcano begins at a campground on the park side of town, gaining the crater rim through birch and then alpine scrub.
Getting to Kyogoku
Route 276 links Kyogoku with Kutchan to the west and Kimobetsu to the south. From Sapporo take Route 230 over Nakayama Pass, then Route 276, about two hours. No railway in town; the nearest JR station is Kutchan on the Hakodate Main Line's mountain section, which is due to close after the Shinkansen extension. New Chitose Airport is roughly two hours.
Shiribeshi region: Otaru is 40 minutes from Sapporo by train; Niseko is about 2 hours by car or winter bus. Shakotan needs a car.
When to visit Kyogoku
The spring flows the same in every month, so the choice is about the park: June for fresh green and the coldest contrast in the water, October for maples over the ponds. September brings the potato harvest. In winter the park is snowbound but the taps still run.
What to eat in Kyogoku
Potatoes dominate the fields, and the town sells them fresh, as croquettes and as starch. The spring water goes into tofu, coffee, sake brewed elsewhere from Kyogoku water, and simply into bottles. Sweetcorn and beans fill out the late-summer stands.
Kyogoku in context: the Shiribeshi region
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Shiribeshi packs three world-class reasons to visit into one compact peninsula. In winter, Niseko's legendary powder falls beneath the perfect cone of Mt. Yotei, drawing skiers from every continent. Year-round, Otaru's canal glows under gas lamps, its herring-boom mansions and sushi counters an easy trip from Sapporo.