Onyado Kawasemi
A · 8.3 / 10anchor a leg
A twelve-room Iizaka Onsen ryokan where every room has an open-air onsen bath and meals served in the room, set around a pond garden, with a kitchen whose Japanese reputation drew KI-NRT there. He left an admirer, and the fresh-tatami upkeep surprised him for a place in the boonies. Against that stands the January 2025 stay by jpit2107, who found it luxurious but dated and soulless, very comfortable yet not charming, in a locale not worth the trip from Tokyo on its own. It belongs as one stop on a Tohoku circuit, which is how KI-NRT places it in his own Tohoku routes.
Scores
Food 4 / 5
The executive chef joined when the ryokan opened 27 years ago and has run the kitchen for over a decade. KI-NRT found dinner exceptional, though not head and shoulders above the best ryokan meals he has had, and liked how local and inventive it was: a lobster clay pot under a savory sabayon, a shinjo soup built around a foie gras cake. Breakfast was uninspiring. A January 2025 guest called the food good, heavy on status ingredients like karasumi.
Bath 4.5 / 5
Every one of the twelve rooms has its own open-air onsen bath, and KI-NRT thought so much of the one in his Wabisuke suite, which looks over the pond and garden and is stylish and in good condition, that he never tried the gender-separated communal bathhouse, since he could not imagine it being better. He called the onsen awesome. A January 2025 couple had their first private onsen here and found it lovely, and the shared bath nice too.
Service 3.5 / 5
The one drawback in KI-NRT's stay was the nakai who served the room, an older lady who was formulaic, rushed her explanation of each course as if she wanted it out of the way, and did not read the situation, so she was not as warm as the butlers at other top properties, though nothing about her was rude. The operation around her runs to a very high standard, and the staff skew older than at Satonoyu. The January 2025 couple had no complaints.
Room 4 / 5
The rooms are traditional but felt fresh to KI-NRT, with the smell of new tatami and none of the wear of old properties; you sleep on futons and sit on zabuton, since there is no chair. Book Wabisuke, one of the two special rooms (the other is a maisonette, which he does not like), with three living areas and a private deck over the pond and garden. A January 2025 couple found their room very comfortable but dated and soulless.
Place 4 / 5
The property is built around a manicured garden with a gorgeous pond in the middle, very green with moss and trees, and flowers in front of the rooms (azaleas outside KI-NRT's in May); he calls it every bit as picturesque as Satonoyu, whose beauty is natural where Kawasemi's is tended. The surroundings do the ryokan no favors, though. A January 2025 couple found Iizaka Onsen, at least in winter, about as charming as a suburban cul-de-sac.
Getting there
- Tokyo — 2h, 1 transfer. Tōhoku Shinkansen Tokyo→Fukushima (~90 min), change to the Fukushima Kōtsū Iizaka line→Iizaka Onsen (~20–25 min, runs ~every 30 min).
- Kanazawa — 4h10, 2 transfers. Hokuriku Shinkansen Kanazawa→Ōmiya (~2h01), Tōhoku 'Yamabiko' Ōmiya→Fukushima (~1h07), then the Iizaka tram (~23 min) + shuttle. Two changes (Ōmiya, Fukushima→tram); the Tōhoku trunk is snow-reliable.
- Kyoto — 4h40, 2 transfers. Reverse of: Iizaka line→Fukushima, Tōhoku Shinkansen→Tokyo, Tōkaidō 'Nozomi'→Kyoto.
- Sendai — 1h15, 1 transfer. Reverse of: Fukushima Kōtsū Iizaka Line→Fukushima (~23 min), Tōhoku Shinkansen→Sendai (~25 min), plus the inn's ~10-min courtesy pickup at the Iizaka end.
Sources
FlyerTalk review #1 · FlyerTalk review by jpit2107 #661 · TripAdvisor 5★ (May 2022) · Ikyu 4.75 / 5 · #66 · #364 · #386 (thread mentions)