Changes in "Gishiki Onsen" at the southwestern foot of Bandai Volcano, northeastern Japan, as depicted in topographic maps

       Bandai volcano is situated in the central part of Fukushima prefecture, Japan. The altitude of this mountain is 1816m, and it consists of Mt. Bandai, Mt. Kushigamine and Mt. Akahani.

       During a geological survey in 1987, I discovered traces of a hot spring at the southwestern foot of Bandai volcano. At that time, I investigated ancient documents regarding the old hot spring, but found no record; thus it was a "mysterious hot spring" for quite some time. After that, in 2011, I found an old sightseeing guide paper “View of Bandaisan Shrine and Enichiji” with this hot spring trace drawn at an antiquarian bookstore and purchased it. The paper on this hot spring is “A hot spring called 'Gishiki Onsen', which once existed at the southwestern foot of Bandai Volcano”.

Fig.OD-3：Changes in “Gishiki Onsen” at the southwestern foot of Bandai Volcano as depicted in topographic maps

       The figures display 1:50,000 topographical maps of “Bandaisan” published by the Imperial Ordnance Survey Department and the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Figure A corresponds to the map published in 1926, Figure B to 1933, and Figure C to 1958. In Figure A, a symbol representing a mineral spring is located at the site of “Gishiki Onsen” (←1). However, in Figure B, the symbol of the mineral spring has disappeared. In Figure C, the mountain road passing close to the hot spring changes from a narrow path to a wide road.