From page to place: the tourist gaze at hot springs in Mayu kakushi no rei

In this article, I analyse the setting of Narai in Mayu kakushi no rei (1924) by Izumi Kyōka to show how literary representations and tourist practices interact to produce the cultural space of hot springs in modern Japan. I argue that the journey of the protagonist is mediated through guidebooks and novels that influence how he sees the place, making travel a compromise between familiar images and new experiences. At the same time, the failed attempt to build a hot-spring resort results in a mix of new structures and old architecture, creating an uncertain space that loosens social norms to invite mystery and melodrama. This uncertain space also lets the supernatural appear hand in hand with an eerie sensuality conveyed through sound and smell. Overall, most of these themes belong to a repertoire established in previous texts like Konjiki yasha (1897–1903), Hototogisu (1898–1899) and Kusamakura (1906), which had already associated hot springs with specific patterns of imagination and consumption. By looking at Mayu kakushi no rei in this genealogy, I show how representations of hot springs participated in the discourses that shaped the tourist gaze in modern Japan.