How do onsen and sento stamp rallies work in Japan

How a stamp rally works

The format is much the same across programs. You get a stamp book, bathe at a participating facility, show the book and get that facility's stamp. Kyushu Onsendo's rules add that some unstaffed baths leave the stamp out so you can press it yourself. When the book holds enough different stamps, you apply to the organizer for a rank or a certificate, usually by mail with a fee, and the book comes back to you along with the certification.

The key rule is that stamps count baths, not visits. Kyushu Onsendo allows one stamp per facility and treats duplicates as invalid. Tokyo's Sento Ohenro certifies by the number of different sento and does not let you stamp the same bath twice. Going back to your favorite bath is still a good soak, but it does not move you up.

Some programs have run for years. Tokyo's sento association has let 88-sento finishers choose between a badge and a towel since August 2010, and one regional goyuin round describes itself as in its 16th year. Others are seasonal rallies with fixed dates and a limited stock of prizes.

Beppu Hatto Onsendo: 88 baths to Meijin

Beppu, in Oita, is made up of eight hot spring districts known together as Beppu Hatto. According to the program's official site, about 150 facilities take part in its Onsendo, and bathing at 88 of them earns the title Onsendo Meijin, or master. Stamps go into a booklet called the Spaport, sold at Wonder Compass Beppu by the east exit of Beppu Station and at the Beppu City Tourism Association.

Ranks come every eight baths. Beppu's tourism site says you reach first grade at eight stamps, and Beppu's Enjoy Onsen site describes ten ranks, one every eight stamps, before master. The official site says each rank brings a certificate and a towel in that rank's color, and that certification costs 800 yen per rank. You can also skip the lower ranks and apply only for Meijin, for 2,200 yen. Applications go by registered mail or bank transfer, or in person at the Onsendo office on weekdays.

The rewards go past 88. A new master can have a portrait photo displayed in the Onsen Hall of Fame at Hyotan Onsen, and the official site lists further titles for repeat laps, starting with Eisei Meijin, permanent master, at 11 laps and going up to 88 laps. The Enjoy Onsen site describes the master's towel as black, like a black belt, with your name embroidered in gold thread.

There is a phone option too. Onsen Hunter is a GPS browser game tied to the program: after bathing you open it, and after about 15 seconds a stamp button appears. The official site asks you not to also stamp the Spaport for a bath you logged in Onsen Hunter, and notes that rank applications through Onsen Hunter cover one lap only.

Kyushu Onsendo: 88 baths across seven prefectures

Kyushu Onsendo, whose official site is published by the Kyushu Tourism Organization, is a separate 88-bath circuit spread across Kyushu. Its stamp book, the goyuin-cho, costs 100 yen at major JR Kyushu stations, tourist information centers and some participating facilities. You choose which baths to visit and in what order.

Its ladder also moves in steps of eight, from Minarai, apprentice, at 8 stamps to Sennin at 88. From 16 stamps up, each rank also needs stamps from a minimum number of different prefectures, two at 16, rising to seven from 72 upward. Certifying the first rank costs 500 yen, each rank from 16 to 80 costs 1,000 yen, and Sennin costs 1,500 yen the first time and 1,300 yen after that.

From 16 stamps, each rank comes with a small prize. The list starts with a strap and a tenugui hand towel and runs through soap, a bath bucket, coffee milk and an onsen egg to a can of beer at 64 stamps, with title plaques for the top three ranks.

Applications go by mail with a postal money order, or in person at the certification desk in Beppu, and the organizer says the book comes back with the certificate and prize in about a week to ten days. It also asks you not to bathe several times in one day, warning that yuatari, bath fatigue, can leave you drained, and to soak only as much as still feels good.

Tokyo's Sento Ohenro and seasonal sento rallies

For sento, the standing circuit is the Tokyo Sento Association's Sento Ohenro. According to the association, about 410 member sento kept an Ohenro stamp as of March 2026. You get a stamp in your stamp note each time you bathe, and certification goes by the number of different sento. The note is free as a printable PDF on the association's site, or it can be mailed to you if you send 140 yen in postage stamps.

The first certificate comes at 26 sento. At 88, and again at every multiple of 88 up to 880, you send the note with a 1,000 yen postal money order and get a certificate plus a red badge or an original tenugui towel in navy, purple, green or blue. Bathe at every member sento, not counting ones that are closed or under renovation, and the association sends a certificate and a blue badge with no fee.

Ohenro can run alongside other rallies, and the association asks you to get both notes stamped. There is also an app version, though the association notes that app participants are not added to its published list of certified bathers.

Seasonal rallies come and go. In autumn 2026 the association is promoting the Yamanote Line sento stamp rally, which runs from October 10, Sento Day, to November 30 and covers every Yamanote Line station plus 33 sento along the line. The loop is split into three areas, Shinagawa and Shibuya, Tokyo and Ueno, and Shinjuku and Ikebukuro, and each area needs one station stamp and one sento stamp on the rally sheet. Two areas earn a sticker at Tabata Station, and all three earn a Tokyo sento collection card at Takanawa Gateway, while stocks last.

Goyuin and onsen town trails

Goyuin Meguri borrows the idea of goshuin, the seals people collect at shrines and temples, and gojoin, the ones collected at castles, and applies it to hot springs, according to its official site. You join by asking the front desk for a goyuin card, and the area, dates, content and prizes differ by region.

The rounds are regional and dated. The Iga, Yamato and Matsusaka round for 2026 to 2027 covers seven onsen, four in Mie and three in Nara, from July 18, 2026 to June 30, 2027. It is in its 16th year, and completing it earns a face towel plus a draw for bath ticket sets for ten people. The Echizen Wakasa round covers nine onsen in Fukui from October 1, 2026, and the Norikura round covers six in Nagano until October 31, 2027.

Some onsen towns run trails that reach beyond the baths. Nozawa Onsen's stamp trail has 27 plaques at landmarks and historic sites around the village. You lay the book's sheets over each plaque and rub an impression with a small wooden pestle. The book costs 420 yen before tax at the tourist information center, and finding more than ten earns a towel with the yu design by the artist Taro Okamoto.

Common stamp rally mistakes

Counting the same bath twice. Duplicates do not count in Kyushu or in Tokyo, so a second stamp from the same bath will not move you toward a rank. In Beppu, if Onsen Hunter recorded a bath, do not also stamp the Spaport for that visit.

Forgetting the prefecture rule. In Kyushu, the upper ranks need stamps from seven different prefectures, so 88 stamps from fewer will not qualify you for Sennin.

Missing an end date or a closure. Goyuin's Gifu round ended on April 30, 2026. When one bath on the Iga round closed for maintenance in early 2026, it kept stamping books Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00, but arrangements like that vary, so check the organizer's notices before a long drive.

Mixing books. Kyushu treats stamps from other programs as invalid, and Tokyo's association asks you to get each note stamped separately when you run two rallies at once. If you also want one record of every bath across all of them, keep a separate personal log. Yulog is one option: an unofficial personal stamp book app, not affiliated with Goyuin, Kyushu Onsendo, Beppu Hatto Onsendo or any local rally, where you copy in the rally you are walking and it suggests matches from your own entries, linking one only when you confirm. Nothing in it counts toward an official rank.

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