[H-CG25] Cultural Hydrology

[HCG25-02] Geographical distribution of carbonated springs in Japan and the history of their commercialization

*Masaya Yasuhara¹ (1.Rissho Univ.)

Keywords:Natural carbonated water, Geology, Origins of carbonated water, Commercialization, Exports

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) production areas are distributed throughout Japan, mainly around the Quaternary volcanoes and in the Ryoke and Sanbagawa metamorphic belts (Fukuda et al., 1982). Thanks to their large amounts of CO₂ and high purity, Isobe in Gunma Prefecture and Kawachinagano in Osaka Prefecture have a history of production of carbon dioxide gas and dry ice. Natural carbonated water is produced when CO₂ is blown into groundwater and the groundwater gushes to the surface. Japanese people have long utilized natural carbonated water for bathing purposes, but not for drinking purposes. In the Meiji era (1868-1912), however, commercialization of natural carbonated water began throughout Japan, with the aim of selling it to embassies of foreign countries in Japan, hotels and restaurants used by foreigners, and to ships on overseas routes as ‘safe water that does not spoil even if it crosses the equator’. Examples of such commercialization were found in Jitsusawa, Miyagi Prefecture; Kanayama, Fukushima Prefecture; Kasagi, Kyoto Prefecture; Nunobiki, Takarazuka, Arima, Hirano, and Kagobo, Hyogo Prefecture; Tombara, Shimane Prefecture. While there were some cases in which the business was relatively short-lived due to problems such as the distance to consumption areas (Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, etc.), means of transportation, and immature bottling techniques (CO₂ leakage due to inadequate sealing), Hyogo Prefecture's carbonated water was the most successful case, as it had the nearby port of Kobe and sought overseas sales channels. According to Suzuki (2021), 94% of the 250,000 dozen cases of natural carbonated water was exported from the port of Kobe in 1911, and most of these were from Takarazuka, Nunobiki, and Hirano. The main export destinations were Philippines, Singapore, and China, and the water was also exported to North America, Europe, and Australia (Suzuki, 2021). The trade area of natural carbonated water, therefore, is in contrast to that of ‘mountain salt (land salt)’ (Yasuhara, 2023), which is also a ‘blessing of the earth’ for Japan located in a geologically mobile zone.
The CO₂ in natural carbonated water is thought to have originated from volcanic gases in the past. This is evidenced by the fact that early bottles of Takarazuka's carbonated water were labeled 'Bottled at the volcanic spring Takaradzuka'. Around 1980, the question arose concerning the origin of natural carbonated water (CO₂) gushing from various places in Hyogo, Kyoto and Osaka Prefectures, which were far from the Quaternary volcanoes. In the 2000s, advances in isotope geochemistry have revealed that the origin of CO₂ in such forearc regions is the dehydration of fluids from oceanic plates (slabs) subducting beneath the continental plates (e.g., Jarrard, 2003; Kusuda et al., 2014). In this presentation, I would also like to introduce recent research results on the geochemical properties and origins of natural carbonated water (CO₂) throughout Japan.