{ "slug": "miyakowasure", "name": "Miyakowasure", "url": "https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/miyakowasure", "location": "Tohoku", "prefecture": "Akita", "region": "Tohoku", "geo": { "lat": 39.3167, "lng": 140.65 }, "tier": "A", "score": 8.4, "score_scale": "1-10", "unscored": false, "confidence": "med", "evidence": { "units": 4, "op_stays": 2, "member_stays": 1 }, "kinrt_rank_claim": null, "rooms": null, "property_type": "Onsen ryokan", "style": "Secluded onsen ryokan", "features": { "in_room_onsen": "Yes", "meals_in_room": null }, "summary": "A ten-room hideaway in remotest Akita with a source-fed open-air onsen in every room, memorable regional cooking and total silence. KI-NRT called it worth a return, both reviewers left happy, and 8 of 10 fellow guests during his stay were repeaters. The interiors have not been touched since the 2005 opening, and the Edwardian furniture jars against the tatami, so the rooms are tired. You stay for the bath and the quiet and put up with the rooms.", "aspect_scale": "1-5", "aspects": { "cuisine": { "label": "Food", "score": 4.5, "text": "Dinner is traditional, creative and built on Akita specialties: cold Inaniwa udon with aged nameko, shark fin with daikon and a Hinai Jidori chicken hot pot. The star was the Iwana Nanban-age, a white-spotted char twice-fried in a tangy vinegar sauce and crisp enough to eat head to tail, which KI-NRT called sublime. Breakfast held its own with three grilled fish and a wild-mushroom dashi, and NZJuniorDoc found the food as good as Satoyama Jujo's." }, "onsen": { "label": "Bath", "score": 5, "text": "Every one of the ten rooms has an open-air bath fed directly and continuously from the source, and nine of them look over the turquoise Tama River. Kusabue, the top room, is the only one with an indoor bath too, and its hinoki outdoor pair is a traditional tub plus a reclining bath; KI-NRT thinks in-room onsen doesn't get much better than this. The communal Hiba-wood bath is open 24 hours, and the bookable private rock bath is a jacuzzi." }, "service": { "label": "Service", "score": 4.5, "text": "Service was excellent overall, largely thanks to Maki Fujiwara, who was hostess, dinner server and breakfast server, grew up near Lake Tazawa and is proud of her region, and annotated the menu with furigana; KI-NRT notes that the same person at both meals is increasingly rare. The one hiccup was a robotic, inflexible man at check-in who insisted on fixing meal times before the private bath slot until KI-NRT firmly asked him to follow their lead." }, "room": { "label": "Room", "score": 2.5, "text": "Nothing in the rooms has been renovated since the inn opened in 2005, and it shows. Even Kusabue, the top room, pairs a tatami room with a carpeted Western living room of flamboyant Edwardian furniture (a chandelier, a glittery lamp, pieces that have clearly aged), and with no dedicated bedroom the futons go down after dinner, a setup KI-NRT has never warmed to. He wanted a complete interior redesign." }, "setting": { "label": "Place", "score": 4.5, "text": "A narrow, winding 4km gravel road past a reservoir dead-ends at the inn, so the seclusion is absolute, and when you step out of the car there are no buildings, power lines or traffic noise, just forest and the turquoise Tama River. The grounds have hydrangeas, sakura and onsen fountains and an inner courtyard with a dry rock garden. Indoors the traditional architecture is mixed with flamboyant Edwardian furnishings, which KI-NRT found jarring." } }, "transit": { "cities": [ { "city": "Tokyo", "hours": 3.1, "time": "3h05", "transfers": 0, "estimated": false, "text": "Akita Shinkansen 'Komachi' direct Tokyo→Kakunodate (~3h, one seat). Snow-prone on the single-track stretch past Morioka." }, { "city": "Kanazawa", "hours": 5.1, "time": "5h05", "transfers": 1, "estimated": false, "text": "Hokuriku Shinkansen Kanazawa→Ōmiya (~2h01), cross to a through 'Komachi' Ōmiya→Kakunodate (~2h36; Ōmiya→Morioka ~1h51 + Morioka→Kakunodate ~45 min, one train) + ~12-min taxi. Just one change at Ōmiya despite the length. ⚠ Komachi on snow-prone single track past Morioka." }, { "city": "Kyoto", "hours": 6.1, "time": "6h05", "transfers": 1, "estimated": false, "text": "Reverse of: The price of Akita: 'Komachi' Kakunodate→Tokyo (~3h04), Tōkaidō 'Nozomi'→Kyoto (~2h15) — the longest leg of any route, on the deep-snow Akita branch; a full travel day." }, { "city": "Sendai", "hours": 2.25, "time": "2h15", "transfers": 0, "estimated": false, "text": "Reverse of: Akita Shinkansen 'Komachi' Kakunodate→Morioka→Sendai as one through train (~2h05, no change), then a ~12-min taxi/inn car at the Kakunodate end (reserve)." } ], "note": "" }, "photos": [ { "url": "/img/miyakowasure-0-c456655d.jpg", "tag": "bath", "width": 400, "height": 266 }, { "url": "/img/miyakowasure-1-e61e883f.jpg", "tag": "setting", "width": 400, "height": 266 }, { "url": "/img/miyakowasure-2-9d7c7e9a.jpg", "tag": "room", "width": 400, "height": 300 }, { "url": "/img/miyakowasure-3-1d334417.jpg", "tag": "bath", "width": 400, "height": 266 }, { "url": "/img/miyakowasure-4-32b20de3.jpg", "tag": "food", "width": 400, "height": 283 } ], "links": { "website": "https://taenoyu.com/miyakowasure/en/", "map": "https://www.google.com/maps?cid=8645720109165975015", "jp_site": { "source": "Ikyu", "score": 4.75, "reviews": 72, "url": "https://www.ikyu.com/00001102/review/", "as_of": "2026-07-10" }, "flyertalk_reviews": [ { "post": 453, "author": "NZJuniorDoc", "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36770645-post453.html" }, { "post": 597, "author": "KI-NRT", "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/37201711-post597.html" } ], "flyertalk_discussion": [ { "post": 364, "author": "KI-NRT", "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36373164-post364.html" }, { "post": 770, "author": "KI-NRT", "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/37739812-post770.html" } ], "tripadvisor": [ { "rating": 5, "stay": "July 2025", "url": "https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1022324-d1165914-r1020887742-Miyakowasure-Semboku_Akita_Prefecture_Tohoku.html" } ] }, "as_of": "2026-09-07" }