William　　Reading Kirk’s post about Suizenji brought to mind the cause of the many springs in Kumamoto. Simply: we get much rain, particularly in the mountains. The water sinks through the volcanic soil and seismic cracks of both Aso and Kimpo into a gigantic artisanal reservoir which flows towards the Kumamoto alluvial fan, where a 30,000 year old underlaying layer of basalt covered by a thin layer of sediment forces the water to the surface. Kumamoto is the only city in Japan whose entire water supply is artisanal (that is, from wells). Hailing from California, where water is the most valuable commodity, I appreciate this very much. A couple of images of where your oh-so tasty Kumamoto water comes from, and an introduction to the Suizenji-Ezuko Spring Group: https://www.city.kumamoto.jp/kankyo/hpkiji/pub/detail.aspx?c_id=5&id=20470 https://www.web-gis.jp/GM1000/LandMap/LandMap_19_009.html