Since ancient times in Japan, a place where a fumarole and the source of a hot spring exist at the same time has been called Jigoku (hell). People bathe in the hot springs, the product of hell, and murmur “Gokuraku, gokuraku“ (it is like being in heaven). Hot springs blur the boundary between life and death. I was born and grew up in Beppu, a city with a high concentration of Jigoku. The traces of hell that appear here and there throughout the city continue to grow like living things, reflecting the patterns of death.
