The old sightseeing guide paper “View of Bandaisan Shrine and Enichiji”: depicting the former hot spring 'Gishiki Onsen' at the southwestern foot of Bandai Volcano, northeastern Japan

       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-1：An old sightseeing guide paper titled "View of Bandaisan Shrine and Enichiji"

        The publication year of the sightseeing guide paper is 1906 (Meiji 39). This sightseeing guide paper consists of a picture and accompanying commentary. The picture depicts Enichiji Temple in the foreground and Mt. Bandai and Mt. Nekoma in the background. In addition, the Gan-etsu Railway (now JR Ban-etsu West Line), which commenced operations in 1899 (Meiji 32), is illustrated on the lower left side of the picture. The commentary is related to Enichiji Temple. The picture shows the Bandai volcano drawn from the southwest direction, and illustration of a wooden house and a word “Gishiki Onsen” are drawn in the middle of its foot. Furthermore, Enichi-ji Temple was closed in 1869 (Meiji 2) due to the anti-Buddhism movement. After that, it was reestablished as a temple in 1904 (Meiji 37). The old sightseeing guide paper was published in 1906, closely after the temple was revived.