Chinoike Jigoku (Blood Pond Hell)

Chinoike Jigoku, the "Blood Pond Hell," is the oldest natural hell in Japan, documented in records more than 1,300 years old. Its startling deep-red colour comes not from anything sinister but from iron oxide and magnesium suspended in the boiling clay that lines the pond floor. Superheated water forces the red mud upward, staining the surface a rusty crimson and sending pinkish steam curling into the air - a genuinely otherworldly sight and one of the two hells located in the quieter Shibaseki district, a short hop north of the main Kannawa cluster.

The pond covers roughly 1,300 square metres and reaches temperatures around 78 degrees Celsius near the surface. For centuries the red clay was harvested for medicinal use, and the site still sells a locally produced "blood pond ointment" (chinoike nanko) said to soothe skin ailments - a souvenir with a lineage as old as the hell itself. A raised wooden viewing terrace lets visitors look down over the steaming red water, framed by green hillside and the occasional flash of the site's small shrine.

Because it sits apart from the five walkable Kannawa hells, Chinoike is usually paired with Tatsumaki Jigoku next door, and the two share a car park and general area. Together they make a natural second half to the Beppu Jigoku Meguri, reached by a ten-minute local bus ride from Kannawa. The setting is more relaxed than the busier Umi Jigoku, with a pleasant footbath, a two-storey gift shop and a small restaurant serving jigoku-mushi steamed dishes cooked in the geothermal heat.

Photographers should aim for the middle of the day, when strong overhead light saturates the red and the contrast against the surrounding forest is at its most dramatic. On overcast days the colour reads more brown than blood-red, so timing matters here more than at the blue Umi Jigoku. In winter the cold air thickens the steam, adding drama even if the red is muted.

Chinoike carries real historical weight. It appears in the Bungo Fudoki, an eighth-century regional gazetteer, making it not just a tourist curiosity but a landmark that has drawn visitors since the Nara period. That continuity - a natural phenomenon admired for over a millennium - is part of what earned Beppu's hells their status as a collective Place of Scenic Beauty.

The viewing terrace and paths are largely flat and accessible, with a modest set of steps up to the upper platform. Allow around 30 minutes for Chinoike alone, or closer to an hour if you combine it with Tatsumaki and linger over the footbath. For anyone touring all seven hells, the Blood Pond is the emotional climax: after the blue ponds, crocodile pools and mud cauldrons of Kannawa, its brooding red surface feels like the deepest, most primal corner of Beppu's underworld.