Hanasaku Iroha Invented a Festival, and Yuwaku Onsen Made It Real

What you're looking at

Hanasaku Iroha (2011) sends Ohana to work at Kissuiso, her grandmother's inn in the fictional Yunosagi Onsen. Yuwaku Onsen, a small hot-spring village in the hills behind Kanazawa, is the model.

The show's best-known export is its Bonbori Festival, where wish slips called nozomi-fuda are burned. Yuwaku made it real. The first Yuwaku Bonbori Festival was held on October 9, 2011; the main festival is in October, with lanterns lit from mid-July. It has run most years since (2020 was cancelled), and the 12th was held on October 19, 2024.

The inns, then and now

• Kissuiso is said to be modeled on the Hakuunro Hotel, which opened in 1932 and has since been demolished. Its baths were based on Kanaya, which closed on June 11, 2024.
• Shuhokaku, cited as the model for the rival inn Fukuya, closed in March 2018 and reopened later that year as Honkan Saishin.

We found no production statement confirming these, so treat them as commonly cited models.

Getting there

Buses run from Kanazawa Station to Yuwaku Onsen. It's at the end of the line, so check return times.

Before you go

• The inns are working businesses. Book a stay or a bath rather than photographing guests.
• Festival dates move. We couldn't confirm a 2025 festival or a 2026 date, so check with Kanazawa's tourism office before planning a trip around it.

Also nearby

• Yuwaku Inari Shrine and Gyokusen-ko pond, the festival's sites: lanterns are lit at the shrine and wish slips are burned at the pond.
• Kanazawa Yuwaku Edo-mura, a city-run open-air museum of Edo-period buildings next to the former Hakuunro site.
• Nishigishi Station on the Noto Railway, the model for Yunosagi Station, is far away on the Noto Peninsula. Its toilet, damaged in the 2024 Noto earthquake, was rebuilt inside the station.