# Ryokan Finder — full catalog, all 199 inns
# Overall scores 1-10 (evidence-adjusted); aspect scores 1-5.
# Source: KI-NRT's FlyerTalk 'Japan Luxury Ryokans' thread. Data as of 2026-09-07.
# Machine-readable: https://ryokancatalog.com/catalog.json · index: https://ryokancatalog.com/catalog.md

## Myoken Ishiharaso — Kirishima, Kagoshima (Kyushu)
S · 9.5/10 · 19 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/myoken-ishiharaso
A 19-room inn on the Amori River at the edge of Kirishima National Park, with hot springs gushing from the rocks and mallards paddling past the baths, which two “otherworldly” stays made a permanent fixture of KI-NRT's personal top ten. Seven springs rise beneath the property and reach the baths untouched by air or tap water, which makes it the most technically obsessive onsen in Japan. The kitchen never repeats a dish, and trilingual attendants like Clement can explain each course and the water itself.
- Food 5/5: Not a single dish was repeated between KI-NRT's two stays, and he says every course qualifies as a signature dish: a clear soup of sea bream and cabbage wrapped in a sheet of mochi, seared buri raised on black vinegar (quite possibly the best he has had) and a handmade monaka wafer unlike any other. One couple call it the best food they have had at any ryokan, a 2025 guest one of the best meals of his life; one dissenter found dinner unmemorable.
- Bath 5/5: Seven springs rise beneath the property and reach every tub without touching air or tap water (heat exchangers cool the 55°C source), so the carbonated 'Bijin no Yu' keeps its bubbles and mineral film; KI-NRT calls it quite possibly Japan's best onsen technically. There is a communal indoor bath, a mixed outdoor bath by the river, a drinking station and two rental baths, of which Mutsumi no Yu is the one to book. The sauna is tiny.
- Service 5/5: Clement, ten years at the inn and fluent in English, French and Japanese, gave KI-NRT an hour-long education on the spring and typed English menus for another couple; KI-NRT thinks he ought to be made part-owner and recommends asking for him in advance. The room attendant handles every meal and the bath bookings, and a 2025 guest called the service impeccable. The one gripe came from a guest whose English-speaking staff were not Japanese.
- Room 4.5/5: The rooms are contemporary but warm, and you choose mostly by view. Rurimurasaki, the 120m² top suite, sits on the level closest to the river, though KI-NRT found its wet-room lounge overkill and, like every river room in the main building, it faces Wasure no Sato Gajoen. Hanezu (80m², rebuilt in 2023 with an onsen-steam hammam) faces the street. Kirara in the annex sees only forest; one couple preferred the aged Tsubiya to the modern Suou.
- Place 4.5/5: The inn sits on the bank of the Amori River at the edge of Kirishima National Park, with hot spring water gushing out of the rocks and mallards paddling down the waterfalls a few feet from the baths; one couple found the setting spellbinding. There is no onsen town to stroll and no major sight close by, so KI-NRT suggests it for people who have been to Japan several times, and Wasure no Sato Gajoen sits across the river from the main building.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h45 (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 0h55 (0 transfers) · Nagasaki 4h30 (3 transfers) · Kumamoto 2h30 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 4h (2 transfers) · Kanazawa 6h30 (4 transfers)

## Asaba — Shuzenji, Shizuoka (Chubu)
S · 9.4/10 · 12 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/asaba
A 500-year-old Shuzenji inn that KI-NRT keeps permanently on his list of top ryokans and calls the pinnacle of Japanese architecture, hospitality and cuisine near Tokyo, arranged around a koi pond, a night-lit bamboo grove and a working Meiji-era Noh stage where Living National Treasures still perform. Since the 2023 rebuild every one of the 12 suites has a private onsen and there are no bad rooms left: Hagi and the villa Tenko for brook-side calm, Hagoromo for the stage view.
- Food 5/5: Izu-rooted kaiseki served in your room: Suruga Bay abalone with its liver sauce over sticky rice, spiny lobster with a broth from the head, and farm wasabi that KI-NRT ate on its own. He calls the food divine, the tried-and-true kaiseki formula done to wonderful effect, and the breakfast dashimaki tamago possibly the best he has ever had. One couple found it a little short of Myoken Ishiharaso; another put it above every Fufu kitchen.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every suite has had its own onsen since the 2023 rebuild (Tenko's is much larger than Hagi's, and Moegi's has no view), so the one communal open-air bath now gets little use. It is a large natural-rock rotenburo on a private stretch of the pond with the bamboo grove beyond, alternating between men and women every few hours, and KI-NRT had it to himself at 4PM and 10PM. Two indoor gender-segregated baths and a family bath complete the set.
- Service 4.5/5: A kimono-clad nakai-san looks after each room and serves both meals there; KI-NRT's, Noriko, pre-heated his shoes moments before he went out, and he says the Aman ninjas have nothing on Asaba's kimono-clad ladies. It is refined but warm, with no hint of snobbery. The one drawback is English. One couple had requests vanish in translation and called the service good but not great, and a 2025 returnee's bag was nearly left behind at checkout.
- Room 4.5/5: Twelve suites remain after the 2023 renovation, each with its own onsen, and KI-NRT says there are no bad rooms left. Hagi and the 220m2 villa Tenko are the quiet picks, ground-floor with nothing above them and a babbling brook outside instead of the stage. The rebuilt 126m2 Hagoromo is the modern one to get for the Noh stage, with an open-air bath on the terrace. The futons may be the best one couple ever slept on.
- Place 5/5: Behind the main building a koi pond holds the Noh stage, brought from Tokyo in the Meiji era, with a waterfall on the left and a bamboo grove and forested hill behind; Living National Treasures perform on it several times a year, and at night it is lit and the bamboo looks otherworldly. Inside is light and airy, with a Lee Ufan mural at the entrance and a 1978 Yayoi Kusama painting in the lounge. Winter leaves the grounds barer and less colorful.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h45 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h40 (0 transfers)

## Tayuta — Amakusa, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
S · 9.4/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tayuta
A 12-villa Amakusa newcomer, opened in September 2024 by a Kumamoto wedding company with no previous ryokan experience, where every suite runs 86–119 m² with a source-fed golden Kinsen onsen bath and island-dotted sea views, and chef Yuuki Nakano's 16-course dinner left KI-NRT stunned. After one stay in the top suite he called it just about perfect, one of a handful of times he has ever been able to say that, and promised it a comfortable place on any future personal top-ten list.
- Food 5/5: Dinner is 16 immaculately plated courses from chef Yuuki Nakano, haute cuisine KI-NRT could not pin to one label: a foie gras sphere in edible volcanic ash, a sushi course with spectacular Ariake nori and the plumpest tiger prawn he has ever eaten, and then a surprise shio ramen he emptied without hesitation. Breakfast is nearly as ambitious, built around seafood. Reserve Amata, the only private dining room, with counter seating and great views.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every villa has its own free-flowing, source-fed bath of the Kinsen spring, which comes up from 820 metres underground, clear at first and then golden as its iron oxidises (the source is 35°C, so the tubs are heated). Japanese guests praise how gentle the water is on the skin, and KI-NRT counts himself a believer. The Amakusa Suite adds a lovely open-air bath plus a private pool and sauna on the terrace (only it and the Sunset Suite have those).
- Service 5/5: Most of the staff came over from the owner's wedding business instead of from hotels, and they watched over KI-NRT constantly in the best possible way, always nearby and never intrusive. Miki Sato described each dinner course with so much joy she seemed about to eat it herself, kitchen apprentice Koma Toda beamed with pride explaining the breakfast dishes, and the GM was a regular, approachable presence. He puts it beyond omotenashi standards.
- Room 4.5/5: The 12 villas run from the 86 m² Harbor Suite to the 110 m² Amakusa Suite, which has heated floors, and the roof lines, landscaped grounds and duplex-style villa pairs remind KI-NRT of Kerry Hill's Amanemu. Amanemu keeps the edge indoors, with vaulted ceilings, somewhat more upscale furnishings and lighter tones against Tayuta's darker palette, and the one odd choice in the top suite is a single sink, a small miss in a new luxury build.
- Place 4.5/5: The villas sit on Higai-jima in Amakusa, close above the island-dotted sea, with ocean views that KI-NRT thinks beat Amanemu's, and there is a bonfire pit outdoors for chilly evenings. It sits closer to the water than Amanemu (Amanojyaku is closer still, all but hovering over it), and the seascape feels wonderfully immediate. Amakusa is remote, with plenty to do if you have a rental car, and it produces what he calls perhaps the world's best uni.
- Transit: Fukuoka 1h55 (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 2h20 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h25 (3 transfers) · Kumamoto 1h10 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 5h (1 transfer)

## Takefue — Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
S · 9.3/10 · 12 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/takefue
A vast, lamp-lit bamboo-forest estate near Kurokawa and KI-NRT's favorite ryokan in Japan across three visits, the rare property that is itself the destination, where a butler of a nakai-san runs everything and every bath is private, though the fully exposed ones can shut in deep-winter snow. One guest proposed here; another left plotting a spring return. At $1,300–$1,800 a night it's priced near the very top of its class, and guests call it worth it.
- Food 4/5: KI-NRT has always put the food a small notch below the best ryokan kitchens, though on his 2024 stay the kaiseki was better than he remembered and the desserts the most elaborate he has seen (five pastry chefs for 11 rooms). Two-night guests can order a soft-shelled turtle dinner, and the French toast at the Western breakfast gets raves. Other guests run from the one kaiseki meal to have in Japan to hit-or-miss, with average sushi.
- Bath 5/5: Bathing is all private: every room has its own onsen (Shien-an has four) and three rental baths are booked by the hour. Chikurin no Yu, a big two-part bath in the lit bamboo forest, is the one to book at all costs, and KI-NRT calls it one of the most blissful private open-air onsens anywhere; the pool-sized Chikujo no Ma is for the four special rooms only. Yuzu floats in the tubs at night. Deep-winter snow can shut the fully exposed baths.
- Service 4.5/5: Your nakai-san is a real butler here: she serves every meal including breakfast, books the rental baths and walks you to them. KI-NRT's, Ms. Funama, had become GM by his third visit, and he puts the staff a close second to Sanso Murata, his best anywhere. When a blizzard caught one couple's rental car, the inn had chains driven up from the nearest town. A one-night guest found the staff stretched, with a 20-minute lull at dinner.
- Room 4.5/5: The four special rooms (Shien-an, Kokyuan, Tenku and Sayo) are the ones to book, though old-world Omachian holds its own. Shien-an, with a Western bedroom, an irori hearth and four onsen, is one of the grandest rooms KI-NRT has ever stayed in, and one couple called the hardware the best of Asaba, Myoken and Takefue. Its shower and indoor bath sit in a separate unheated building, and two winter guests saw snow blow in through the sliding doors.
- Place 5/5: A vast, secluded estate in its own bamboo grove a short drive from Kurokawa Onsen, and the one ryokan KI-NRT would spend all day at without wanting to go out: foot baths along the walkways, free ice cream, and a courtyard whose waterfall and bamboo are lit at night so it looks like something out of a fairy tale. Stone steps rule it out for limited mobility, and one river-loving couple found it less soul-nourishing than its fame suggests.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h30 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h20 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 4h35 (2 transfers) · Kumamoto 1h50 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 5h15 (2 transfers) · Kanazawa 6h30 (3 transfers)

## Sanso Murata — Yufuin, Oita (Kyushu)
S · 9/10 · 12 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (convertible indoor/open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sanso-murata
A 12-room Yufuin inn whose plain grounds hide the best service KI-NRT has encountered anywhere in Japan (four staff rushing out with umbrellas in a storm, a butler dedicated exclusively to your room for every meal) and a spectacular kaiseki kitchen that shows off Kyushu's meat, fish and produce. After two nights of "pure bliss" he agrees without hesitation with Japan's own word of mouth that this is a top-10 property in the country. The magic is all indoors, and each of the 12 rooms has its own character.
- Food 5/5: The kaiseki dinner was spectacular on both nights, authentically Japanese but gorgeously presented and prepared to bring out the best in the local, seasonal meat, fish and produce, from the subtle yet complex clear soup (KI-NRT is sure there is something secret in the dashi) to the incredible marinated Oita wagyu. Dinner can be served in your room, and your butler explains each course in detail. He calls it a place that will delight any foodie.
- Bath 4/5: Each of the 12 rooms has its own onsen bath fed by natural hot spring water. KI-NRT's, in Hou, was technically indoors, but the glass doors slide open so it becomes semi open-air, and since it was relatively warm during his April stay it was good to have a breeze flow in from outside while soaking. He calls the onsen wonderful, and for onsen buffs he suggests following a night here with a ryokan in nearby Beppu.
- Service 5/5: KI-NRT gives Murata first place for service of every ryokan he has stayed at, with Takefue a close second. Arriving in a storm, four staff rushed out, three with umbrellas and one to park the car (all of 30 meters away), and the next day three more met them in pouring rain. One butler, Aika Goto (with her trainee Aki Nagashima), served their room and only theirs at dinner and breakfast, with no rotation between rooms.
- Room 4.5/5: Hou is a 155 m2 two-story maisonette (Sou next door is 130 m2): a Western living and dining room, a separate tatami room and the onsen bath downstairs, and the bedroom with two Western beds upstairs. It is tastefully decorated, though the Western furnishings "don't scream high end," and each of the 12 rooms has its own character, Hou and Sou the most modern and Western, so choose carefully. A later guest called Gyo divine.
- Place 3.5/5: The grounds are nothing to write home about, serene but neither manicured nor full of character, and there is no great view. The inn sits on a small hill a five-minute drive above Yufuin (one of the top onsen towns in Kyushu) in a sleepy, secluded pocket with few tourists. Galleries and cafes surround it, several owned by Murata, including a soba restaurant a short walk away, and a later guest called the lounge's sound system incredible.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h10 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h10 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h (0 transfers) · Kumamoto 2h25 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 4h (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 6h (3 transfers)

## Wabizakura — Kakunodate, Semboku, Akita (Tohoku)
A · 8.9/10 · 10 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/wabizakura
A ten-room destination ryokan in the quiet Akita countryside near Kakunodate's samurai district, where the owner drilled 1,000 meters to give a town with no onsen its own hot spring, piped to every room. KI-NRT built an entire trip around it and gave it top honors in Tohoku (by a hair), with kaiseki that produced the best fish dish of his life. Reservations are really difficult to get, and repeat guests keep it that way.
- Food 5/5: The kaiseki is built on local wild mountain vegetables, fish and beef, and KI-NRT found the meals divine. The sake-steamed sea bream head was the single best fish dish of his life, plump and juicy and flavored to perfection, in a town nowhere near the ocean; the rice came steamed with snow crab, whitebait and wild parsley, and the wasabi-leaf jelly was phenomenal. He ranks Wabizakura with the very best ryokan meals he has ever had.
- Bath 4.5/5: Kakunodate is not an onsen town, and Wabizakura has hot-spring water only because the owner kept drilling until, about 1,000 meters down, he hit a high-quality spring. All ten rooms have a bath fed by it, and KI-NRT must have jumped in and out of his about ten times in one chilly afternoon. The one drawback is that the tubs are not open-air: you slide the glass windows open for a semi-open-air feel instead of a soak in the crisp outdoor air.
- Service: KI-NRT stayed once and praised the serenity and privacy of the place, and guests in the two royal suites (Naotake and Shozan) can have every meal served in the suite's own dining room, which he counts among the luxuries of life, but nobody in the thread has written about the staff themselves.
- Room 4.5/5: The rooms are warm and contemporary, bright and airy and very tastefully done, with zen Japanese decor and modern comforts: floor heating, auto climate control and the latest washlet toilets. The common areas, by contrast, are very traditional and dimly lit in the Samurai-era manner, but extremely stylish. KI-NRT stayed in Naotake, one of two 81-square-metre royal suites (Shozan is the other) with a dining room for in-suite meals.
- Place 4/5: Wabizakura is very isolated in the quiet Akita countryside, about ten minutes by car from Kakunodate, the former samurai district that is one of the top cherry-blossom spots in Tohoku (full bloom in 2024 began April 16). The traditional entrance gate and architecture give the property an old-Japan look that is still fresh and modern. There is no garden, though, and the landscaping is not as immaculate as at many other luxury properties.
- Transit: Tokyo 3h05 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 5h05 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 6h05 (1 transfer) · Sendai 2h15 (0 transfers)

## Shinsen — Takachiho, Miyazaki (Kyushu)
A · 8.9/10 · 15 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/shinsen
A family-run 15-room gourmet inn in central Takachiho, spread across three distinct garden areas, where every meal is served in a rotating series of private dining rooms and the caviar comes from its own locally raised sturgeon. KI-NRT counts the cooking among the top dining experiences of his life. The one drawback is that there is no real onsen, only heated baths, and that alone leaves it just outside his national top ten. He has a return booked for late 2026, and a new Beppu annex opening mid-2026 could stretch the staff a little.
- Food 5/5: KI-NRT counts Shinsen among the top three dining experiences of his life, potentially number one. The house-brand caviar, from sturgeon raised in Takachiho, was far and away the best he has had, the ayu from the Gokase River was the best of his life, and the wild hamachi sashimi and A5 Ozaki-ranch beef were incredible (Bristom calls the Takachiho beef probably his favorite dish ever). Breakfast is elaborate, though not as memorable as dinner.
- Bath 4/5: There is no hot spring anywhere on the property, and the private open-air hinoki tub off the Manyo villa runs heated water that the inn says has onsen-like minerals. The bathing itself is still a pleasure, in the open air with a view of the villa's rock garden and easy control of the temperature, and KI-NRT called his terrific while Bristom enjoyed his a lot. One winter guest found the bath thermostat set to 20°C, so check it on arrival.
- Service 5/5: Bristom calls this the most memorable service of all his travels: his host Ms Mirei was there from arrival to departure, serving both meals in the private dining room. KI-NRT found the omotenashi a perfect balance, discreet yet anticipatory, dignified yet down to earth, and everyone from the parking attendant to the okami was lovely. The okami, Kumi Sato, runs a tight ship, and the house is unusually flexible, down to a laundry service.
- Room 4.5/5: Manyo, the top room, is a detached 100-square-metre villa that KI-NRT found contemporary, luxurious and cavernous, with a bedroom with two double beds, a living room and a tatami room, sliding walls to close each off, a large patio with a zen rock garden beyond it and the open-air hinoki tub to the side. His only nitpicks were a single sink where most top suites have two, and a second toilet in a detached hut in the yard, which he found useless.
- Place 4.5/5: The 15 rooms are in three buildings a minute's walk apart in central Takachiho, near the famed gorge, each with its own landscaping: a Ryoan-ji-style dry rock garden fronts the main building, and the Bekkan adds manicured planting and a small red bridge. Every meal is in a different private dining room, and KI-NRT loved a Bekkan room whose window faces a garden lit from the ground at night. The yokagura dance is three minutes' walk away.
- Transit: Fukuoka 3h30 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 4h10 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 5h (3 transfers) · Kumamoto 2h (0 transfers)

## Sankara Hotel & Spa Yakushima — Yakushima, Kagoshima (Kyushu)
A · 8.9/10 · 29 rooms · Auberge · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sankara-hotel-spa-yakushima
A 29-room auberge resort in the foothills of UNESCO-listed Yakushima, with an ocean-view pool and French-inspired cooking, which KI-NRT calls as close to an Aman as a Japan property can get, except that the food is better than at most Amans. There is no onsen anywhere on the property and the rates are steep even for a property of this class, but both of his stays were exceptional ("no aspect of our experience caused a blemish"), he thinks the restaurant ought to have a Michelin star, and he would go back for the food alone.
- Food 5/5: Dinner at Okas is chef Kenji Hayashi's French-inspired cooking built on local ingredients, and the tasting menu changes completely every day without ever turning rich or heavy, so KI-NRT meant to eat there once and went every evening of both stays. He calls the Pain Rustique the finest dinner bread he has ever had, says Okas ought to have a Michelin star, and until Sanso Amanosato thought this was Japan's best auberge kitchen.
- Bath 3/5: There is no onsen at Sankara, which KI-NRT calls a pity since top properties usually have one, so the indoor and open-air baths in the Sankara Suite are ordinary hot water. Instead there is a large, beautiful outdoor pool (you see it, and the ocean, from the lobby) and a serious spa, where his masseuse remembered his treatment from two years before. mdlgto, a 2016 guest, adds that the undeveloped tidal onsen elsewhere on Yakushima are magical.
- Service 4.5/5: Service is warm, attentive and refined, at what KI-NRT calls an Aman-like level: airport transfers are complimentary and private, and a fleet of cars can be rented from the hotel by the hour. No butler is assigned, but two years on the staff had kept his preferences, so a bottle of wine was waiting instead of the Champagne they knew he dislikes. Most of the staff were the same on his second visit, which he says speaks well of the management.
- Room 4.5/5: Book the 104 m² Villa Suite (KI-NRT had Room 10) over the 126 m² Sankara Suite. The Villa Suite is clean, spacious and tastefully furnished, its ocean panorama is unobstructed, and the amenities are top notch down to the toothbrush. The Sankara Suite adds separate living and dining rooms, an open-air bath and a spa room, but roofs sit in its line of sight, and he found the spa room overkill when the actual spa is a short covered walk away.
- Place 4.5/5: Sankara sits in the foothills of a mountain range on Yakushima with the ocean below, a Bali-esque resort whose buildings are modern in function but muted and earthy in tone, so they have a sense of place without dominating the landscape. Yakushima itself is a UNESCO World Heritage island, unbelievably green, whose famous moss forests inspired Princess Mononoke, and KI-NRT ranks its scenery and hiking among the most incredible in Japan.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h45 (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 2h30 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 4h (3 transfers) · Kumamoto 3h20 (2 transfers)

## Fufu Nikko — Nikko, Tochigi (Kanto)
A · 8.8/10 · 24 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fufu-nikko
Fufu's 24-room Nikko property, opened in 2020 on the old grounds of the Tamozawa imperial villa, gave the town its first true luxury inn, modern and hotel-like where most ryokans are traditional, with an onsen bath in every room and a short walk to Tosho-gu. The flaws are small, a very good kitchen that runs to a Fufu formula and pre-arrival emails that go unanswered, and guest after guest comes away glowing. One couple called it everything a luxury ryokan could and should be, and it has a place on KI-NRT's own top ten.
- Food 4.5/5: KI-NRT called the dinners exceptional and puts them in the top ten of all his ryokan meals, with every ingredient explained by his server Chie Watanabe; his one wish was the option of eating in the room. Two members were cooler on the kaiseki, which a 2023 guest found a bit formulaic and close to Fufu Kawaguchiko's, while the teppanyaki (a huge awabi in 2024) is the dinner members single out. A free champagne hour is included.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every room has its own onsen bath, and the two Luxury Premium Suites have both an indoor and an open-air bath fed with free-flowing natural hot spring water, facing the forest with complete privacy even with the curtains up. There are shared baths as well, which a 2023 guest found really amazing, the outdoor one especially, and because everyone bathes in their room they sit mostly empty.
- Service 4.5/5: Everyone who has stayed reports proactive, attentive service once you arrive: a welcome drink in the lounge at check-in, staff who anticipate what you need, and small surprise gestures a 2024 couple would not spoil by describing. KI-NRT found it warm and personal, though a tad corporate next to a family-run inn, since no butler is assigned to you. The one recurring failure is before arrival, where emails can go unanswered entirely.
- Room 4.5/5: The base Stylish Suite is already a very large room, with two big beds, a large living room and a bathroom whose private hot tub looks out at the view, and a 2023 family saw no need for anything bigger. The two 140-square-metre Luxury Premium Suites face the forest, private enough to leave the curtains open with the lights on; KI-NRT says to ask for number 306, the end unit. Rooms are Western in style, with beds.
- Place 4.5/5: Fufu Nikko stands on the former grounds of the Taisho-era Tamozawa imperial villa, and its architecture echoes the villa, so a 2023 guest found the decor expressed a vivid sense of place. The building is modern but understated and blends into the forest; one couple likened it to a luxury safari tent or the best of the Amans. Tosho-gu and Nikko's other great shrines are a 15-minute walk away, and KI-NRT calls it far and away the top inn in town.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 4h (2 transfers) · Kyoto 4h40 (2 transfers) · Osaka 5h10 (3 transfers) · Nagoya 4h05 (2 transfers) · Sendai 2h20 (1 transfer)

## Nishimuraya Honkan — Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo (Kansai)
A · 8.8/10 · 34 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/nishimuraya-honkan
The 150-year-old flagship of Kinosaki Onsen and KI-NRT's annual crab pilgrimage: four stays in, he still names its Matsuba-gani kaiseki the best crab cuisine he has ever had and doubts anywhere ever will compare, served in your room in a traditional house built around a garden. His November 2023 stay found the kitchen below its past peaks, though it stays in his rotation. Book the November–March crab season; bathing is in the communal baths plus Kinosaki's seven town bathhouses, since no room in Kinosaki may have an onsen by town rule.
- Food 5/5: The Matsuba-gani crab kaiseki, served in your room from November to March, is KI-NRT's benchmark: he has yet to stay anywhere that compares to the crab cuisine here and doubts he ever will, and gives it the edge over Bouyourou. The crabs arrive the same day from Tsuiyama and Shibayama, each held alive in its own tank. A 2025 couple called the crab-and-Tajima-beef dinner simply fabulous; his own fourth stay was not quite up to earlier ones.
- Bath 4/5: There is no onsen in any room here, or anywhere in Kinosaki, which KI-NRT understands to be a town-wide rule; even the top suite's open-air tub is free-flowing but is not hot-spring water. The real onsen is in the inn's gender-segregated communal baths, and the rest of the bathing is the town itself: Kinosaki's seven public bathhouses, all tattoo-friendly. A 2025 couple visited three of the town baths as well as the ryokan's own.
- Service 4/5: Dinner is always served in your own room whatever the room type, and since 2022 breakfast is in the restaurant unless you are in Honjin no Ma. A 2025 couple called the service on their two-night stay impeccable, and KI-NRT has returned four times without a complaint about the staff, though it is the crab and the garden he writes about.
- Room 4/5: The 34 rooms come in a dizzying array of types, and most face the garden except those in the new annex. KI-NRT found the 90m² Honjin no Ma, the top room, spacious and not at all dated, with a Western dining table, but he prefers a ground-floor suite like Kiri no Ma for its eye-level view of the garden.
- Place 4.5/5: Kinosaki Onsen is KI-NRT's quintessential onsen town, with a small river through the middle, gift shops, snack shacks and seven public bathhouses, and he calls it one of the most picturesque in Japan. Inside the gates Nishimuraya is a respite from all that, built around an immaculately landscaped inner garden that turns up on magazine covers, and most rooms face it.
- Transit: Kyoto 2h30 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 5h (1 transfer) · Osaka 2h45 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 4h45 (2 transfers)

## Shogetsu — Gero Onsen, Gifu (Chubu)
A · 8.8/10 · 21 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air, balcony)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/shogetsu
A 21-room hilltop ryokan overlooking the Gero Onsen valley, a tall, nondescript building outside but inside all rock gardens, artsy lounges, a spectacular creative-kaiseki kitchen, amazing Gero spring water and valley views from room, lounge and communal bath alike. KI-NRT puts it in his personal top ten and far and away first in Gero. The charm is all inside, and the private-onsen rooms sell out early.
- Food 5/5: KI-NRT calls the kaiseki "creative Japanese at its finest" and some of the best he has ever had, and it is the inn he names first for Gifu. Fried new-harvest potatoes with uni and caviar, Hida beef tongue stew with eagle fern tempura and baby sweetfish deep-fried with herbs were all exceptional, and breakfast was not an afterthought. Michaeljinnyc, fresh from a disappointing two nights at Takimotokan Yuki no Sato, says Shogetsu blew them away.
- Bath 4.5/5: The water is Gero Onsen's own hot spring, renowned for its quality, and KI-NRT calls it amazing: Shogetsu definitely did not disappoint. His corner suite had an open-air onsen bath on the balcony with the valley below, and the Daiyokujo communal bath has the same sweeping view, which he calls incredible.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: KI-NRT stayed in a corner suite with an open-air onsen bath on the balcony, and he calls the views of the valley from the room incredible. Nobody in the thread has described the rooms beyond that outlook.
- Place 4/5: Shogetsu is a tall, nondescript building on a hilltop with no garden, but inside are artsy lounges, Zen rock gardens with streams and sweeping views over the Gero valley from lounge, rooms and communal baths. KI-NRT admits it is not quite as atmospheric as Wanosato. Gero town was a delight for Michaeljinnyc to explore. For autumn colour mid to late November should be awesome here and at Gero Onsen Gassho Mura, the thatched-roof folk village.
- Transit: Kanazawa 3h (1 transfer) · Tokyo 3h40 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h05 (1 transfer)

## Ryotei Hanzuiryo — Unzen, Nagasaki (Kyushu)
A · 8.8/10 · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ryotei-hanzuiryo
Ryotei Hanzuiryo is the most famous and luxurious of the Unzen ryokans, and KI-NRT counts it among the most renowned in the country: a 14-room sukiya-style ryotei where an outstanding in-room kaiseki, an otherworldly 300-square-meter villa and omotenashi at its finest all came together on his December 2024 stay. Book one of the two Tokubetsu Shitsu by phone a year out, because they are the only rooms with in-room onsen. He has stayed once and has not said where it ranks for him.
- Food 4.5/5: The 'ryotei' in the name means a place that serves high-end Japanese cuisine, and KI-NRT's dinner, served in the room, lived up to it: an Ariake Sea torafugu medley, an arrowhead-mochi dumpling with lily bulb in a grated-daikon dashi that he found unforgettable (like mochi but much lighter), and artful plating. He calls it a top-notch showing of the best Nagasaki has to offer, and the head chef stayed on through the Onko Chishin acquisition.
- Bath 4.5/5: Only the two Tokubetsu Shitsu have in-room onsen, because the older Unzen properties hold first rights to the hot-spring fields and limit what Hanzuiryo can draw; every other room uses the communal onsen bath, which KI-NRT calls a significant drawback if in-room bathing matters to you. In the Jyuen villa the outdoor rock bath is real onsen and was amazing, and the villa also has a sauna and an indoor bath that is not onsen.
- Service 4.5/5: Service was among the best KI-NRT has experienced. The room attendant, Ms. Hata, was charming and explained each dish in exhaustive detail; each time they left the room they came back to refreshed towels, tidied cables, replaced cups and a refilled cotton-swab jar; all the staff greeted them with a smile from 50 feet away, and the car was valet-parked each time. Nagasaki Joe, who has also stayed, calls the service traditional and exemplary.
- Room 4.5/5: The Jyuen villa is 300 square meters, one of two Tokubetsu Shitsu with its own gate and path, with a tatami room, a Western living room, a sauna and a sukiya hallway wrapping around it. KI-NRT found it spacious but not spartan, the down comforter heavenly and the amenities beyond a first-class airline kit. Even standard rooms are 250 square meters. Nagasaki Joe, who has stayed, dislikes the Western furniture mixed into the traditional rooms.
- Place 4.5/5: The sukiya-style buildings blend into lush surroundings, moss-laden gardens and koi ponds, and the vibe is incredibly peaceful, reminiscent of Takefue, Gosho Gekkoju and Wanosato; KI-NRT calls the setting mystical. It is a secluded pocket about 10 minutes on foot from central Unzen and the Hells. He notes it is not surrounded by natural forest; the first-floor rooms look straight onto a well-maintained garden with pretty trees.
- Transit: Fukuoka 3h (2 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h35 (3 transfers) · Nagasaki 1h15 (0 transfers) · Kumamoto 2h10 (2 transfers) · Tokyo 5h (3 transfers) · Kanazawa 6h45 (5 transfers)

## Shiguchi — Niseko, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
A · 8.8/10 · 5 rooms · Villa retreat · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/shiguchi
Shiguchi is Zaborin founder Shouya Grigg's five-villa kominka retreat, the ryokan he says he always wanted to make, with massive restored farmhouses filled with his art and two private source-fed baths in each. Four stays agree it is Niseko's most soulful luxury option. KI-NRT calls it 'a true gem' and gives the staff's warmth a chapter of its own, and one member put the dinner among the best meals of a two-week Japan trip. At roughly ¥268,000 a night it is one of the most expensive inns even in this company.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner at Somoza is a creative French-Japanese fusion grounded in Hokkaido produce, some of it foraged by staff. KI-NRT's salad of foraged microgreens and salmon roe under sea urchin foam was unforgettable, and the Jomon Pan, a buckwheat-and-acorn bread served on excavated Jomon pottery, transportive. mattjp put it among the best meals of a two-week Japan trip, though Fc912 found the food a little forced and nylonite wanted more Hokkaido wines.
- Bath 4.5/5: The hot springs are true gensen kakenagashi, flowing straight from the on-site source with no circulation or chemical treatment, and every villa has two onsen baths of its own, one rock and one hinoki, so bathing here is private and in-room. There is also a sauna in a small hut below Somoza's deck. nylonite, there in April with snow still on the ground, called the view from CHI's private bath out over the Hokkaido landscape sublime.
- Service 4.5/5: The staff got a chapter of their own from KI-NRT: most are Hokkaido-born, many have been there since opening, and their pride shows in every interaction, warm and invested. Takehiro-san, the GM (formerly of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo), could not have been more accommodating when nylonite's partner fell ill and had to reschedule, and mattjp found the service meaningfully better than at Zaborin next door. Fc912 put it at above average.
- Room 4.5/5: Five villas in three restored Aizuwakamatsu kominka, all palatial, from CHI (144 m2) to the standalone KA (351 m2 for three or more), held up by massive beams with no nails or screws and filled with Shouya Grigg's art. KI-NRT's KU (247 m2) runs three stories in moody dark wood, but he would book CHI next time, since bedroom and living area share one floor. mattjp gave Zaborin a slight edge on hard product, and every villa has a full kitchen.
- Place 4.5/5: Shiguchi sits on a secluded perch above the Iō River valley with no other building in view, just stillness, sky and trees, minutes from Zaborin and the Park Hyatt with none of their intrusion; KI-NRT was reminded of Wanosato, with grander views from its higher site. Somoza, the relocated farmhouse holding reception, lounge and restaurant, has floor-to-ceiling windows framing river and mountains, and Shouya's basement galleries can be toured.
- Transit: New Chitose 2h (0 transfers) · Sapporo 2h30 (0 transfers)

## ryugon — Minamiuonuma, Niigata (Chubu)
A · 8.8/10 · 29 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: Villa Suite Premium (open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ryugon
A rebuilt samurai residence in Minamiuonuma snow country, feudal Japan from the grounds and artsy and avant-garde inside, that KI-NRT says nails it on all counts: innovative local cooking crowned by Japan's best rice, private terrace onsen and polished, unintrusive service. It is room-dependent, because reception is very mixed and probably comes down to the lesser rooms, so book a Villa Suite Premium, ideally room H over the pond; even that top villa comes in under entry-level rooms at the famous names, which is a bonus.
- Food 4.5/5: Ryugon cooks Minamiuonuma's Shiozawa Koshihikari rice in individual pots, done to perfection and so good that you eat it by itself, and KI-NRT calls it bar none the best rice in Japan. The rest of the cooking is innovative and mostly excellent, built on local ingredients with real creativity in flavour and plating, though being inland some of the seafood comes in from the coast. Meals are served in private rooms in the main restaurant.
- Bath 4.5/5: Each of the three Villa Suite Premium rooms has a private open-air onsen bath on its deck, and KI-NRT found his, right on the terrace over the pond, serene, soothing and incredibly refreshing. sirky soaked in his own private onsen in February with mounds of snow around it. Nobody in the thread has written about the shared baths.
- Service 4/5: The staff are professional, prompt and graceful, staying out of the way when not needed and coming at once with a big smile when called, which KI-NRT found very polished and never intrusive. Nobody in the thread has named an attendant or a standout gesture.
- Room 4.5/5: Book one of the three Villa Suite Premium rooms (75 to 93 square metres), each with a private open-air onsen on the deck; KI-NRT picks H as the most private, with an amazing view over a large pond to the forest. They are junior-suite layouts, and two higher categories (Villa Suite Terrace and Manor House) have since opened, though he still thinks the Premium villas have the best views. Reviews are mixed, which he puts down to the lesser rooms.
- Place 4.5/5: Ryugon stands in rural Minamiuonuma, Niigata's snow country, and although rebuilt it looks from the grounds like feudal Japan, as if you had been taken back as a samurai; inside, the common areas mix old, new and avant-garde in an artsy, mostly tasteful way. KI-NRT groups it with the darker samurai-mood houses, next to light and airy Asaba. Heavy snow buries the region in winter, and sirky found mounds of it around his onsen in February.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h45 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 3h30 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 4h30 (1 transfer) · Sendai 3h (1 transfer)

## Bettei Senjuan — Minakami (Tanigawa Onsen), Gunma (Kanto)
A · 8.7/10 · 18 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bettei-senjuan
Established in 1997 as the upscale annex of Ryokan Tanigawa, Senjuan is an artistic showpiece in the shadow of Mt. Tanigawa, with carvings on every beam, a glass-walled corridor onto the Alps and source-fed baths in all 18 rooms. KI-NRT says it could easily crack his top ten and would not hesitate to return. There is little to do here beyond soaking, eating and the scenery, which is exactly why it shines in deep winter, when the garden turns into a private snow park.
- Food 4.5/5: The 11-course kaiseki was the highlight of KI-NRT's stay, built on local Gunma ingredients, and the most memorable dish was a savory souffle-like custard with grilled conger eel, red king crab, lily bulb and yuba that he called very original and simply sublime. Breakfast was quite original and pretty darned good too. Guests on Japanese sites are cooler on the meals than on the baths, and the kitchen will vary the menu for a second night if asked.
- Bath 4.5/5: All 18 rooms have their own open-air onsen bath fed straight from the source, free-flowing and never recirculated, and the tub in Special Room SP looks over the river, forest and Alps, one of the more mesmerizing in-room views KI-NRT has seen. He found the water a bit lukewarm, which Westerners may prefer though Japanese bathers want it hotter; staff adjust it by hand. A riverside private sauna with a cold plunge was added in 2022.
- Service: KI-NRT does not describe the service itself; he mentions only that meals come in a private dining room and that English menus are available on request, which he calls a nice touch. Guests on Japanese sites add that the kitchen will vary the menu for a second night and that staff adjust the in-room bath temperature by hand.
- Room 4.5/5: Special Room SP, the top suite, has a living room, bedroom, tea room, a mini inner garden and an open-air onsen bath, and it is stylish beyond belief while still traditional, with understated artistic detail on everything from the entrance door to the sliding doors. It is almost completely tatami-matted, so you sit on cushions and sleep on futons. Special Room S is comparable, and KI-NRT says the entry-level room is nothing to shout about.
- Place 4/5: Senjuan sits in the shadow of Mt. Tanigawa in northern Gunma, and a long curved corridor with floor-to-ceiling glass looks onto the Alps and the grounds, its walls and beams covered in carvings and small seasonal displays (ikebana, a string instrument, a miniature maple display). It is quite secluded, and KI-NRT warns there is little to do other than soaking, the scenery and the food; January guests call the garden a private snow park.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h40 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 3h15 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 4h15 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 5h30 (3 transfers) · Sendai 2h30 (1 transfer)

## Hiiragiya — Kyoto, Kyoto (Kansai)
A · 8.7/10 · 28 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hiiragiya
One of Kyoto's original big three, an 1818 inn facing Tawaraya, and KI-NRT's third stay was his best yet, because the appeal lies in depth, in layers of craftsmanship and in service that anticipates what you need, and nothing about it shouts for attention. It is easier to book than Tawaraya, with an excellent English website, and to his palate better fed, but the fixtures are dated and the futons tried his wife's patience. Pick the Honkan for Edo-period atmosphere, the Shinkan for modern light and an elevator.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is kaiseki served in your room, and KI-NRT found it superb and creative. The standout was a clear soup with hamaguri shinjo, the usually chewy clam reworked into an airy, umami-rich ball, which he called a small stroke of genius, and the sashimi was Shimonoseki fugu with a ponzu and fugu-milt sauce. Breakfast is more restrained but just as good, and to his palate Tawaraya's more rigidly traditional meals are not as memorable.
- Bath 3/5: There is no hot spring here, since central Kyoto has none, and no communal bath either. Every room has a tub of soft groundwater in koyamaki pine, several honkan rooms have Ogawa Sanchi stained glass over the bath, and there are two free bookable family baths, one in stained glass and one fully lacquered. The craft is in the tubs and the glasswork, and the water is ordinary. Across three stays KI-NRT mentions the family baths but never the soak.
- Service 5/5: Service is where Hiiragiya distinguishes itself, and KI-NRT puts the omotenashi as high as anything he has experienced in Japan. The preferences from his two previous stays were waiting in the room (extra-large bath towels, dietary quirks, an air purifier), and they set up a dining table and chair for his mother-in-law, which Tawaraya does not do. They wiped her wheelchair wheels spotless and shipped a forgotten item home for nothing.
- Room 3.5/5: All 24 rooms are distinct and traditional, decorated by master artisans (stained glass, fine woodwork, kakejiku scrolls). The Honkan is slightly dark and richly atmospheric, as if you had slipped back into the Edo period; the 2006 Shinkan annex is more modern, with an elevator, and beautiful in its own right. His 49 m² Shinkan room did show its age: one sink, a Toto toilet two generations behind, a broken humidifier, and futons at night.
- Place 4.5/5: Hiiragiya faces Tawaraya across a narrow one-way street in central Kyoto, about 20 minutes on foot from the Imperial Palace, Gion and Heian Jingu. Inside, holly-leaf motifs run through the carpets, woodwork and linens, courtyard and pocket gardens appear even on the upper floors, and there is a library and a modern art gallery. The decoration changes with the season, and KI-NRT finds it all subtly overwhelming in a very calm, almost zen way.
- Transit: Kyoto Stn 0h15 (0 transfers) · Osaka 0h50 (1 transfer)

## Sanso Amanosato — Katsuragi, Wakayama (Kansai)
A · 8.6/10 · 8 rooms · Auberge · in-room onsen: No (3 rentable private onsen)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sanso-amanosato
A modern eight-room auberge in deep Wakayama countryside that people book for its French-Japanese dinner. KI-NRT left calling it one of the very best culinary destinations in existence, and stays through 2025 report the kitchen still at that level. Rooms, baths and scenery are comfortable but secondary, since its top-ten spot is earned at the table, so plan it as a one-night gastronomic detour paired with Koyasan.
- Food 5/5: Chef Ohigashi's French-Japanese kaiseki is why you stay: nine savory courses and three desserts, among them wild red sea bream cured under white asparagus foam and caviar, and a lobster head stuffed with its tomalley and roasted in aosa-nori butter. KI-NRT calls it one of the very best culinary destinations in existence, ahead of Sankara and Arcana, and RichardInSF found it easily Michelin-star quality. Drinks at the bar are free until 11pm.
- Bath 4/5: The onsen is in three private baths about 100 feet from the rooms, genuine sodium-chloride spring water, two with saunas and only one with an open-air tub, so check the tablet first if outdoors is what you want. There are no communal baths and no booking: an in-room app shows which bath is free, and with only eight rooms you can soak almost any time. The in-room tub is plain heated water. Buster CT1K found the baths nice and not too crowded.
- Service 4.5/5: Mr. Nakamura, the GM, leads a team KI-NRT calls outstanding, proactive yet unobtrusive: when they asked where the baths were he walked them over, and their car windows had been cleaned before checkout despite being parked under a canopy. Later guests agree, with Buster CT1K reporting a very high standard of attention to detail, zander86 staff who make you feel right at home, and RichardInSF dining-room service worth at least a detour.
- Room 4/5: The Western-style suites (Hachiyo was KI-NRT's) are 64 m2, on the small side for a top room, but light wood, high vaulted ceilings and massive windows make them bright and airy, and there are two separate toilets and a fully stocked bathroom. RichardInSF's suite was large and well-appointed with a real mountain-lodge feel, though his shower ran out of hot water one morning, and Buster CT1K wanted the microfiber towels swapped for cotton.
- Place 3.5/5: Amanosato stands on a sleepy farming plain at the foot of the Koya range, with green fields, mountains in the distance and no Japanese garden, as rural as it gets, which KI-NRT counts as part of the charm, and the modern wooden buildings blend into it. Niutsuhime shrine, a UNESCO site, is just down the road and Koyasan is near enough to pair with, and he recommends it as the indulgent second night after a shukubo temple stay there.
- Transit: Kyoto 2h30 (2 transfers) · Tokyo 3h15 (1 transfer) · Osaka 1h25 (1 transfer)

## Sanso Tensui — Amagase Onsen, Hita, Oita (Kyushu)
A · 8.6/10 · 19 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sanso-tensui
A 19-room onsen ryokan in a moss forest outside Hita, built around giant boulders beside a river and waterfall, with bathing KI-NRT calls second to none at a place he argues is easily among Japan's 20 best. At $420-600 a night it is a real bargain against neighboring Yufuin. The Taisho-era interiors charm some and put off others, and the sulfur smell and waterfall roar are strong enough that sensitive sleepers should take one of the five onsen-free rooms.
- Food 4.5/5: Both meals on KI-NRT's December 2024 stay were incredible: cherry trout from Oku Hita fried in whole grains, a cod-milt chawanmushi he found dreamy creamy, and a sake-lees kasu-jiru in place of the usual closing miso soup. The suites eat in their own room and everyone else gets a private room in the main restaurant. zander86 found dinner excellent too and recommends the shabu-shabu or sukiyaki option for a small top-up.
- Bath 5/5: The onsen is source-fed and the hydrogen-sulfide smell is at least as strong as at most springs KI-NRT has tried; he calls the bathing second to none. Three gender-segregated public baths include Takimian, up a long staircase with a view of Sakura Falls, and five free private rental baths face the Goraku River. Kamayu is a two-person tub shaped like an udon bowl with jacuzzi jets, and zander86 was told it and Kiriyu have the best views.
- Service 4/5: Dinner was elegantly served by Yuko Baba, who patiently explained every course in painstaking detail. On zander86's stay the staff surprised him with a birthday gift, which he thought a very nice touch. Neither guest has written more about the service than that.
- Room 4/5: The three special suites each have a terrace and an open-air rock bath on the deck facing the forest. KI-NRT's Kaori is 85 sqm, furnished in Taisho-era style (the sink sits on a Singer sewing-machine base), which is not to his taste, though it gave a soothing sense of place. The sulfur smell is acute even with the doors closed and the river is extremely audible, so sensitive sleepers should take one of the five rooms without onsen.
- Place 4.5/5: The 19 rooms sit in a moss forest beside a gushing river and a waterfall, far enough from the centre of Hita that you feel secluded, and the architects built around the massive boulders to preserve the terrain. The buildings are traditional rural Japan and charming, and KI-NRT calls it the top property in the greater Hita region. Mameda-machi in Hita is a preserved merchant quarter with the most impressive Hina doll museum he has seen.
- Transit: Fukuoka 1h45 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 2h40 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h10 (2 transfers) · Kumamoto 1h40 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 5h (3 transfers) · Kanazawa 5h15 (3 transfers)

## Soneka — Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
A · 8.6/10 · 4 rooms · Villa retreat · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/soneka
A four-villa private retreat opened in 2024 on 77,000m2 of forest and meadow near Kitahiroshima, 30 minutes from New Chitose Airport, where check-in, every chef-cooked meal and two baths of rare amber moor onsen all happen inside your own villa. At about 339,000 yen a night it is among Japan's priciest, and after one superb stay KI-NRT calls it his favorite ryokan in Hokkaido, ahead of Shiguchi, because the glorious water, airy villas and dining cooked for you alone are exactly what the rates buy.
- Food 4.5/5: Every meal is cooked for your villa alone by a dedicated chef, wood-fired in your kitchen, charcoal robata at the hearth or kaiseki. Chef Kohei Oyama trained Italian before Japanese at Michelin-starred Mieda, and KI-NRT's standouts were a burger of fried Hokkaido corn millet on fresh brioche and Nebokke, smoked, grilled atka mackerel, which he ranks among the finest fish he has ever tasted. Breakfast is simpler but generous.
- Bath 5/5: Every villa has an indoor and an open-air bath of moor onsen, a rare plant-derived spring drilled 1,500 meters down and used straight from the source: amber water rich in humic matter that works like a natural skin lotion. Nupu is the only villa where the outdoor bath overflows into an adjoining pool kept pleasantly warm, a gorgeous design, and the water is KI-NRT's main reason for preferring Soneka even to Shiguchi.
- Service 5/5: With four villas and every meal served in-villa, the service was exceptional: Yasuo, the manager, and two hosts, Nanami and Mei, looked after KI-NRT throughout and were always available. Nanami, the trilingual activities coordinator, secured a hard-to-get strawberry-picking slot at Abe Noen, collecting the paper ticket in person that morning, and next day queued at the mochi shop Fuurin Chiriri for a ticket and went along with them.
- Room 4.5/5: The four two-bedroom villas each have two onsen baths, an outdoor net bed, a kitchen and dining area, a fire pit and the same meadow view, but the layouts differ: Inkara is higher, with the best view, Nitai is wrapped in trees with a tented sauna, and Nupu (159 m2), KI-NRT's pick, is the lightest and least rustic. The one drawback is Nupu's wing layout, an open-air deck between bedroom and living room that Mrs. KI-NRT disliked.
- Place 4/5: Soneka is a quiet rural retreat surrounded by farmland in Kitahiroshima, its four villas spaced well apart across a tall-grass meadow and no landscaped garden, reception desk or guest lounge; the only shared spaces are a group dining room, the Irori Terrace with its charcoal hearth, an apiary and a pond. KI-NRT found little reason to leave except that no lunch is served, and he and his wife were the only guests on both July nights.
- Transit: New Chitose 0h30 (0 transfers) · Sapporo 0h35 (0 transfers)

## Gosho Gekkoju — Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
A · 8.5/10 · 8 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/gosho-gekkoju
An eight-room hillside ryokan behind a massive gate in Kurokawa Onsen (renamed Gekkoju Kurokawa), with an onsen bath in every room plus private rental baths, including a man-made cave bath and the exposed hilltop Tenku (go after sundown). With Takefue it defines the top of Kurokawa, and KI-NRT says the area's luxury drops off steeply after these two; plenty of guests prefer it, and a 2025 visitor who tried both called it 'the overall best for me.' Book a suite higher up the hill for the valley views.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is a twelve-course kaiseki, and both dinner and breakfast are served in your room. KI-NRT puts the food just short of exceptional, much as at Takefue, and a November 2025 guest called it very good.
- Bath 4.5/5: All eight rooms have their own onsen bath, and in the suites the tub is at the window with the valley below; a November 2025 guest found the view from his bath jaw dropping. There are also several private rental baths, including one inside a man-made cave, which you can use at any time, and Tenku on the mountaintop, reserved at check-in, which he found just as jaw dropping. Do Tenku after dark, because there is no cover from the sun.
- Service 4.5/5: Service is personal and attentive, and a November 2025 guest called the service from Ms Kurumi, who brought both dinner and breakfast to his room, perfect. Because the rooms climb a hillside, staff can shuttle guests on a golf cart, at least to the rooms slightly lower down the hill, which KI-NRT suggests for anyone who struggles with steps.
- Room 4.5/5: There are only eight rooms, traditional Japanese in style, and because the ryokan is relatively new they are squeaky clean. The suites have ample space, and the ones higher up the hill have the better views of the valley below and the mountains beyond. A November 2025 guest in the Izayoi room called his first look a wow moment: the onsen bath is at the window with the shower beside it, and the dining table has a footbath built under it.
- Place 4.5/5: You enter through a massive gate and feel as if you have been ushered into another world. There is no central garden, but the landscaping across the whole hillside is gorgeous, and KI-NRT uses the arrival here as his benchmark for a wow-inducing entrance and groups the property with Takefue and Wanosato for its peaceful atmosphere. Kurokawa Onsen town below is picturesque, nicer still at night when the lanterns are lit along the river.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h30 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h20 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 4h35 (2 transfers) · Kumamoto 1h50 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 5h15 (2 transfers) · Kanazawa 6h30 (3 transfers)

## Migiwatei Ochi Kochi — Tomocho, Fukuyama, Hiroshima (Chugoku)
A · 8.5/10 · 17 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes + private rental
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/migiwatei-ochi-kochi
A modern 17-room adults-only ryokan on the water's edge in Tomonoura, every room facing the Seto Inland Sea with its own deck onsen bath, where the first night's dinner ranked among the best of KI-NRT's ryokan-going life. He would place the inn around his top twenty nationally, and Japanese guests near-unanimously agree. Book one of the four Upper Suites, the only category with in-room dining, and know that it stands on a working harbor, so ferry and port sounds come with the view.
- Food 4.5/5: The first night's kaiseki was otherworldly, one of the top ten ryokan meals KI-NRT has eaten: conger eel sashimi with its raw liver, a two-tofu and usui pea custard that was spectacularly creamy without being heavy, and pepper-grilled Takehara wagyu cooked just right, every course explained in detail. The second night was less spectacular and only very good, and later web reports describe the same dip, so one night may be the ideal length.
- Bath 4/5: Every room has an open-air onsen bath on its sea-facing terrace, and the two private rental baths (free of charge and larger) made a nice change of pace for KI-NRT. The water is a radium mineral spring that comes out cold and is heated and circulated, so it is real mineral water but not a hot spring at source; he found it soothing on the skin. A January 2025 guest reported the rooftop rental baths closed from December to February.
- Service 4.5/5: The staff are warm, knowledgeable and on the ball, and they explain each kaiseki course in detail (in Japanese, in KI-NRT's case). Guests in the four Upper Suites have all their meals served in the room, which he loves and which is slowly disappearing even from the top ryokans.
- Room 4.5/5: KI-NRT found his Upper Suite (#203, Shien) terrific, a wonderful blend of old and new with Western beds, a dining area where all the meals were served, a living room and a wide terrace with its own onsen bath and amazing sea views, styled in warm earthy tones without clutter. The building dates from 2010 and was renovated in 2024, so there is very little sign of wear. There are four Upper Suites, three on the second floor and one on the fifth.
- Place 4/5: There is no garden, because the building stands on the coast, and every room and the common areas look out over the Seto Inland Sea to Bentenjima and Sensuijima islands, with the boat dock for Sensuijima steps away. Tomonoura is a working port that oozes history and charm, good for a slow day of temples and island boats, though KI-NRT ranks it below Takayama, Tsumago and Gion as an old town, and ferry and harbor sounds are part of a stay.
- Transit: Hiroshima 1h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h10 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 3h45 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 2h30 (0 transfers)

## Bouyourou — Mikuni, Fukui (Chubu)
A · 8.5/10 · 7 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: —
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bouyourou
Bouyourou is a seven-room crab inn on the Fukui coast, rebuilt in 2021, whose owner personally delivers Echizen-gani to the Imperial household, and in season this may be the best crab meal in Japan, eaten in a private room after a soak in your own source-fed ocean-view bath. Rates are near the top of the whole field, roughly double Nishimuraya Honkan in crab season, and outside November to March there is less reason to come. KI-NRT came for the crab and the soak and the inn knocked both out of the park, but there is no garden, the town has little charm and the rooms are not vast.
- Food 4.5/5: In-season Echizen-gani is the meal here, and KI-NRT called it sublime: sweet, plump and fatty in a way other crabs are not, served as sashimi, shabu-shabu, grilled, boiled, tempura and chilled with caviar, all of it magnificent, and they never got crabbed-out. The preparations are kept simple to bring out the crab, and he still gives Nishimuraya Honkan the edge for creativity and refinement. Fc912 found the crab better than at top Tokyo places.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every room has its own hot-spring bath facing the ocean, free-flowing straight from the source and never recirculated, and there are no communal baths at all. KI-NRT came for the crab and the soak and said the inn knocked both out of the park, and on his summer stay the in-room bath was so comfortable that they spent the afternoon jumping in and out of it and went to dinner much later than usual.
- Service 5/5: KI-NRT calls the service flawless, and the inn kept its small staff intact through the pandemic. Each of the seven parties eats in its own private koshitsu dining room (seven of them for seven rooms), and instead of committing to an exact meal time at check-in you simply show up any time between 5 and 7, which he found a real convenience after an afternoon in the bath. The courtesy van collects guests at Awara Onsen station.
- Room 4/5: All seven rooms were rebuilt in November 2021 and are suite-style, modern and understated, with heated floors and an uninterrupted ocean view from every one. They are all the same rate and differ mainly in layout, so pick the plan you like on the website. KI-NRT wishes they were roomier, since at around 70 square meters they are comfortable but tight next to the separate-living-room suites of 100 square meters or more that he prefers.
- Place 4/5: The inn is a single modern structure that juts out along the violent Sea of Japan coast, and every room has an uninterrupted ocean view. That view is the whole of the setting, because there are no grounds and no garden, and if you want zen-style traditional architecture you will not find it here. Mikuni Onsen town is a recent invention that KI-NRT found drab and dreary, with no main strip to stroll, though the Tojinbo Cliffs are not far.
- Transit: Kanazawa 0h40 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 3h15 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 1h45 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h45 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h45 (4 transfers) · Kagoshima 5h15 (3 transfers)

## Kansuiro — Murasugi Onsen, Agano, Niigata (Chubu)
A · 8.5/10 · Traditional ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kansuiro
A nine-room historic ryokan at Murasugi Onsen outside Niigata, chosen by KI-NRT over its renowned neighbors for the architecture and radium springs, and he came away calling the charm off the charts, a rare classic property he prefers to his usual wa-modern taste. The cuisine and the top villa deliver without compromise; the mineral-steam bathing culture keeps every bath indoors, and the grilled nodoguro is at its best in fall and winter. He has stayed once so far.
- Food 4.5/5: The kitchen makes full use of Niigata's bounty: the sashimi (with peony shrimp from Sado) was incredibly fresh, the Shibata-raised beef sirloin excellent, and the Koganeton pork simmered with pickled plums comes from pigs fed on cheese whey. A clear soup of wheat gluten with red shiso was simple in concept but masterful in execution. The one disappointment was the grilled nodoguro, out of season on KI-NRT's visit; it peaks in fall and winter.
- Bath 4/5: The water is Murasugi Onsen hot spring, one of Japan's foremost radium springs; the four stand-alone villas have their own onsen (Rinsenkaku's is semi-open-air) and rooms in the Taisho-no-ma main building use the communal and family baths. Every bath is indoors and sealed on purpose: the proprietress advises keeping the glass doors shut so you inhale the mineral-rich steam, and patting dry instead of showering so the minerals stay on the skin.
- Service 4.5/5: Service was polished and elegant, with alert and accommodating staff, and the personal dinner and breakfast servers went to great lengths to explain each dish, down to how the Koganeton pigs are raised and why they are fed whey. Every guest eats privately, in the room or in a private dining room in the reception building (Rinsenkaku's stone steps make carrying a multi-course meal up hard, and KI-NRT did not mind one bit).
- Room 4.5/5: Rinsenkaku, the top villa, is a two-story wooden structure assembled in the 19th century on raised ground, with tatami rooms, a Western-style living room and a semi-open-air onsen bath, and verandas run around it with enough foliage for privacy and views of the garden and pond. It has been carefully updated: the floors do not creak, and there is fast Wi-Fi, two toilets and a shower area for two. KI-NRT found nothing to compromise on.
- Place 4.5/5: The beauty of the grounds strikes you first, as moss-covered paths, creeks and ponds give the property an almost mystical charm and the Meiji-era main building and villas add to it. It is the kind of place where your blood pressure drops the moment you arrive. Founded in 1614, Kansuiro is a clear exception to KI-NRT's usual preference for wa-modern properties, with charm off the charts and a sense of place few others can match.
- Transit: Niigata 1h (1 transfer) · Tokyo 3h10 (2 transfers)

## Aizu Tsuruga Higashiyama Sohonzan — Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima (Tohoku)
A · 8.4/10 · Modern ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/aizu-tsuruga-higashiyama-sohonzan
A one-party-per-day private-house ryokan in Higashiyama Onsen, converted in 2022 from the owner's grandfather's architect-built home, funded by the family's horsemeat restaurants and holding nothing back on the room, the minibar or the table. KI-NRT places it among the very best of Tohoku alongside Wabizakura and Kawasemi and says the off-the-charts word of mouth is deserved, after one stay. It combines easily with Atamiso, about an hour away.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is a lavish Aizu Buke kaiseki, and since the family runs horsemeat restaurants the basashi runs to rare cuts like tategami and futaego with caviar, and a spinal-cord sashimi KI-NRT calls their favourite horse part. The salt-grilled wild ayu was amazing. Not everything was best-ever, though he left extremely satisfied, and breakfast is a cut above, with iwana sashimi and eel caught that morning and grilled at the counter.
- Bath 4/5: The Suite's own deck has a free-flowing onsen bath fed straight from the source, with a view of the river and a sauna room alongside, and an electronically controlled glass door opens it up for the open-air sensation. KI-NRT calls it a wonderful onsen, and since the house takes one party a day, the bath is yours alone.
- Service 4.5/5: Sohonzan takes one group of guests a day, which gives an intimacy KI-NRT says properties with several rooms cannot hope to match, and it is wonderfully hosted by the GM, Mr. Monoe, and by Ms. Aya Sakata, who was his room attendant. The one thing missing was some bathroom items (toothbrush, shower cap, shaving kit), which he takes for an oversight, and when he raised it the GM said it would be fixed quickly.
- Room 4.5/5: The Suite is technically in the basement, but the back of the house sits on an embankment above the river, so it is bright and airy, and it is Japanese-modern: heated tatami floors, electronic curtains and windows, two bathrooms and a sprawling deck with a fire pit. KI-NRT calls the in-room drinks out of control: three dispensers of sake, wine and champagne and a fridge with a wider choice than most refrigerators, all of it complimentary.
- Place 4.5/5: Sohonzan is a 1972 house built by a famous architect for the owner's grandfather, and through the gates you see the main house, a gorgeous garden with a koi pond and a detached tea house. The three-storey main house has lounges, dining rooms and a second tea room in a Taisho-era mix of Japanese and Western styles, which KI-NRT enjoyed exploring. Aizu-Wakamatsu's castle and sake breweries are close by, and Ouchi-juku is under an hour away.
- Transit: Tokyo 3h05 (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 4h50 (2 transfers) · Sendai 2h15 (1 transfer)

## Beniya Mukayu — Yamashiro Onsen, Ishikawa (Chubu)
A · 8.4/10 · 17 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air, top room)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/beniya-mukayu
A stylish Japanese-modern ryokan in Yamashiro Onsen that does almost everything right (a top suite KI-NRT called perfect, in-room onsen, gorgeous grounds, an excellent crab-season kitchen), and then serves dinner in one shared, echoing dining hall with no private or in-room option. That single flaw is why he gave it a rare reserved verdict, is "not in love" with it, and would try neighbors before returning, even as crowds and ryokan first-timers adore it. Book a top suite and the earliest dinner seating.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner in crab season was a definite highlight for KI-NRT, and the food was never his complaint: snow-crab dishes, grilled homemade sesame tofu, charcoal-grilled blackthroat seaperch in dashi, and a Noto-salt gelato with seared monaka, all done to perfection. He puts Nishimuraya and Matsusaki ahead of it for crab, and one quirk is the sushi arriving at the very end, when you are too full to enjoy it. Ikyu diners mark dinner 4.79 out of 5.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every room has a private open-air bath of Yamashiro onsen water drawn direct from the source, though not the continuously flowing kind. From the Byakuroku Terrace Suite you slide the veranda glass open and soak facing the garden, where the green of the leaves pops out at you (KI-NRT found it mesmerizing). In-room tubs were renewed in 2022 and the public baths rebuilt in 2023, plus a well-known herbal spa. He has not described the public baths.
- Service 3.5/5: Dinner service was a letdown for KI-NRT: unlike most luxury ryokans, no server is assigned to each group, so different dishes arrived from different hands and each was explained in a different amount of detail, which felt to him like a big hotel restaurant and not like a small family-run ryokan. He has not described the service outside the dining room. The house has a reputation for welcoming foreign and same-sex couples.
- Room 5/5: The Byakuroku Terrace Suite, the top category, is 100 square metres with a separate bedroom and living room, dual vanities, an indoor terrace for cold days and an expansive private balcony over the garden; it was newly renovated when KI-NRT stayed, spotless and airy in earthy tones, and his one-word verdict was perfect, the type of room you spend the entire day in. A January 2022 guest ranked her two nights in Byakuroku among her best-ever stays.
- Place 4.5/5: Behind the house is a tranquil moss garden with an old tea house and a stone pagoda, with lush forest all around, and a massive historic tree is lit up at night, which gives the whole place a "mythical" atmosphere. KI-NRT calls the grounds wonderful and the entrance pretty, though the forest is not quite as magical as at Takefue or Chikurintei. Yamashiro Onsen town is a walk away, and a family who stayed loved popping down to explore its shops.
- Transit: Kanazawa 0h35 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 3h (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h30 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h30 (4 transfers) · Kagoshima 5h (3 transfers)

## Enowa Yufuin — Yufuin, Oita (Kyushu)
A · 8.4/10 · Auberge · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/enowa-yufuin
An ultra-modern 18-room newcomer (June 2023) on a hilltop farm above the Yufuin valley, built around Tashi Gyamtso's vegetable-driven cooking, which KI-NRT found eclipsed even SingleThread and called reason alone to stay. Rooms are huge with kakenagashi onsen in every one; service was still green in late 2024, though later guests report no such stumbles. Book a Villa or Pavilion, because most other rooms have no view or pool, and plan the stay around dinner.
- Food 5/5: Tashi Gyamtso, formerly sous chef at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, runs a farm nearby and builds each day's vegetable-driven dinner on what he picks from the fields that morning. KI-NRT found his creations extraordinary, just barely eclipsing SingleThread, his previous benchmark, and reason alone to stay. japanesegeek's vegetarian wife called it the best food she has ever tasted, and he put it on par with Tokyo's best French restaurants.
- Bath 4/5: Every room has its own free-flowing (kakenagashi) hot-spring bath, the house's beauty water, and there are no shared baths. The two top Pavilions add a pool on the deck heated by the onsen overflow, which guests have used happily even in February, and KI-NRT counted the in-room onsen and pool among the pluses of his stay. The Hill Top Sauna is booked in private three-hour slots, and the 6 to 9am winter slot catches Yufuin's sea of clouds.
- Service 3.5/5: Service was polite and professional on KI-NRT's December 2024 stay but nothing like the proactive service at Sanso Murata: he had to call the front desk repeatedly for the same request, the buggy took at least 15 minutes to come, and the stand-in manager seemed inexperienced. On the plus side, towels were refreshed several times a day. japanesegeek found the staff superb and kindly relaxed, and later guests no longer mention the early stumbles.
- Room 4/5: All 18 rooms are ultra-modern and big, and every one has its own onsen bath. The ten villas, eight of 108 square metres and the two 165-square-metre Hilltop Sky Pavilions, add an outdoor onsen and an infinity pool heated by onsen overflow; the eight 78-square-metre hotel rooms have neither. KI-NRT's pavilion was well built, with a few lapses in the bathroom fittings. His pick is a 108-square-metre villa, a true suite for less.
- Place 4/5: Enowa sits on a hilltop above the Yufuin valley with its own large working farm, in the town KI-NRT calls the country's greatest concentration of luxury ryokans. The two top Pavilions look out over a panoramic sweep of the valley, though Mt. Yufudake is at the far end and off to one side, and most rooms have no view. On winter mornings the valley below fills with Yufuin's sea of clouds, and January days run around 8°C with dustings of snow.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h10 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h10 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h (0 transfers) · Kumamoto 2h25 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 4h (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 6h (3 transfers)

## Miyakowasure — Tohoku, Akita (Tohoku)
A · 8.4/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/miyakowasure
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.
- Food 4.5/5: 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.
- Bath 5/5: 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 4.5/5: 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 2.5/5: 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.
- Place 4.5/5: 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: Tokyo 3h05 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 5h05 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 6h05 (1 transfer) · Sendai 2h15 (0 transfers)

## Mt.Resort Unzen Kyushu Hotel — Unzen, Nagasaki (Kyushu)
A · 8.4/10 · 25 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (Hanare, semi-open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/mt-resort-unzen-kyushu-hotel
A luxury hotel rebuilt from scratch as a modern boutique property, right next to Unzen Jigoku, the steaming sulphur hells, with front-row views of them from most rooms and the lounge, and after a posh 2018 renovation it has a rooftop lounge over the hellscape and the feel of an all-inclusive. KI-NRT's three-night stay in a Hanare room was 'almost perfect', with food he puts up with the best ryokans and hotels in Japan, while Nagasaki Joe on a one-night return found the nine-course dinner good but uneven and the hotel hard to beat for a hot-spring stay in a great sightseeing location.
- Food 4.5/5: You choose Japanese or Western-Japanese fusion for both meals, and KI-NRT puts the quality up with Japan's best ryokans and hotels: an abalone steak in abalone-liver cream sauce done to perfection, amazing Nagasaki beef, and a matsutake gohan they could not stop eating. Breakfast, with eggs Benedict and a sea bream meunière, was equally special. Nagasaki Joe found the nine-course dinner good but uneven (tough sashimi) and breakfast the same.
- Bath 4.5/5: The Hanare rooms have both an indoor and an open-air outdoor onsen bath, which KI-NRT found wonderful, and he counts the onsen quality among the reasons his three nights were almost perfect. The water is Unzen's own, since the hotel stands right beside Unzen Jigoku, the steaming hot-spring hells. Nagasaki Joe, who stayed one night in 2022, says the hotel is hard to beat for hot-spring bathing.
- Service 4.5/5: Throughout KI-NRT's three nights the manager, Mr. Taura, personally served the meals, an encyclopedia of food and local ingredients, and Hanare guests dine in their own private room. The pacing of the meals was the best he has ever experienced, nine-plus courses in 90 minutes that never felt rushed, because the staff and kitchen keep an eye on how fast you eat so each course arrives when you want it. He calls the staff elegant and friendly.
- Room 4/5: The rooms are those of a modern boutique hotel, with local art, and most of them have a front-row seat to Unzen Jigoku. KI-NRT chose a Hanare, a detached building, for the extra privacy and space: the bedroom is separate from the living room, there are indoor and outdoor onsen baths, and Hanare guests dine in a private room, but you give up the view of the hells that the other rooms have. Nagasaki Joe describes the 2018 renovation as posh.
- Place 4.5/5: The hotel stands right next to Unzen Jigoku, the hot-spring hells, and the buildings blend into the landscape without dominating it; from most rooms and the lounge you have a front-row seat to the steaming vents, sulphur smell included (KI-NRT likes it). The grounds are immaculately maintained and the whole place is tranquil. Nagasaki Joe mentions the rooftop lounge over the hells and calls it a great sightseeing location.
- Transit: Fukuoka 3h (2 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h35 (3 transfers) · Nagasaki 1h40 (0 transfers)

## Wanosato — Takayama, Gifu (Chubu)
A · 8.3/10 · 8 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No (communal only, excellent)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/wanosato
An eight-room farmhouse ryokan on an idyllic river in the forest outside Takayama, with cooking that fans and detractors alike call superb; KI-NRT found the dining far superior to the equally renowned Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan in town. His 2020 stay surpassed his high expectations, but a 2023 guest found the Garyu villa mouldy and the staff too few and will not return, and a 2024 guest did not enjoy the stay either, so the whole falls short of what the parts alone would suggest. You stay for the setting and the food and should not expect polished upkeep.
- Food 4.5/5: Food is the one thing every guest agrees on. KI-NRT called it exquisite and up there with the best of Japan's luxury ryokans: Takayama's forte is vegetables, Hida beef and river fish, and the kitchen is creative with them, from a Hida beef sukiyaki with a broth unlike any he had tasted to a tofu with foie gras he called phenomenal. Even Koen dc, the 2023 guest who will not return, put the meals among the best of a Michelin-heavy trip.
- Bath 4.5/5: The hot-spring water is only in the communal baths (men's and women's) in the thatched main house; the in-room tubs are plain hot water and there is no open-air bath in the rooms. With only eight rooms the communal bath is rarely occupied, and KI-NRT went twice and never shared it with another soul. He does not think the lack of in-room onsen is a big deal, though it is not ideal.
- Service 3.5/5: On KI-NRT's 2020 stay service was discreet, and everyone was professional and charming but rather reserved (except Momoka, the second night's dinner server, a big ball of charm, energy and sweetness); nothing went unattended and there were no major flaws, though he was not expecting big-hotel service from eight rooms. Koen dc in August 2023 found the staff welcoming, friendly and hardworking but too few, so the service he expected was not there.
- Room 3.5/5: The Garyu villa, one of four detached villas among the eight rooms, is 110m² on the riverbank, with two sitting rooms, a bedroom, a big living area with an open irori hearth, old beams and a bathroom with shower and wooden tub, and you hear the river from the room; KI-NRT found it well-appointed. Koen dc stayed in the same villa in 2023 and found it mouldy and dusty on entering, with housekeeping too thin to keep up houses this large.
- Place 5/5: Wanosato is eight rooms, four of them detached villas, beside an idyllic river in a gorgeous forest about 25 minutes by car from Takayama, around a gassho-zukuri thatched farmhouse whose lounge has an open irori hearth, exposed beams and antiques on the walls. It feels a world away from town, and even Michaeljinnyc, who did not enjoy his 2024 stay, posted his photos because the scenery deserved it. Koen dc found the grounds poorly kept in 2023.
- Transit: Kanazawa 2h25 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 4h55 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h50 (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h55 (2 transfers) · Nagoya 2h45 (0 transfers)

## Atamiso — Bandai-Atami Onsen, Fukushima (Tohoku)
A · 8.3/10 · 11 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some rooms
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/atamiso
An eleven-room ryokan above the Gohyakugawa River near Koriyama that ran effectively private when KI-NRT stayed in May 2022, taking just two parties at a time, with chef Asano serving and explaining every course himself. He calls it one of the preeminent ryokans in Japan and prefers it to its flashier neighbor Suzukane, and only the rooms, which show slight signs of age, count against it. It has been closed since February 2025 for onsen plumbing work and a full renovation, so confirm it has reopened before planning around it.
- Food 4.5/5: Chef Satoshi Asano served all twelve courses himself on KI-NRT's 2022 stay and explained each, down to why he simmered a dish instead of making it a soup. The cooking leans to traditional local flavors, including Aizu Kozuyu, the old feudal lords' soup, which tasted of nothing special but was a pleasure to be served, and not every course was awesome. Breakfast had more energy and passion than at most inns because Asano supervises that too.
- Bath 4/5: The water is Bandai Atami hot spring, a favorite of KI-NRT's, and the two communal open-air baths, both with a river view, are each given to one party for the whole stay; he had the women's bath and found it calming, peaceful and oh so relaxing, though neither is large. Only Sogetsu of the two special rooms has an in-room open-air onsen (he had its keys while sleeping in Tenga no Ma). The onsen plumbing has been under repair since February 2025.
- Service 4.5/5: With only two groups in the house the service is extremely personal, and you get to know the staff even in one night. KI-NRT's butler, having heard that Mrs. KI-NRT writes readings beside the kanji on menus for him, brought out a dinner menu she had inscribed with katakana herself, and at check-out he found chef Asano washing the windows of their car. Michaeljinnyc, on arrival in June 2024, called it completely unforgettable.
- Room 3.5/5: Tenga no Ma, the special room with the terrific view over the Gohyakugawa River, is reasonably spacious, with a separate living room and a tatami room where the futons come out at night. Nothing is shiny and new (one sink, slow internet, a slightly dated bathroom), but it is well maintained. Sogetsu, the other special room, has no view but an open-air onsen bath. Over half of the eleven rooms are very small and humble, so book a special room.
- Place 4.5/5: Atamiso sits on the banks of the Gohyakugawa River in lush vegetation, with a spectacularly landscaped small garden, and the mix of landscaping and natural setting brought KI-NRT's heart rate down on arrival. It is quiet and quaint, the tranquil, secluded inn he sets against busier ones like Yamagata The Takinami. It is a backwater with not much around, which suits it if you have a car and want to hike Goshikinuma Ponds and Mt. Bandai.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 3h55 (2 transfers) · Sendai 1h (1 transfer)

## Hotel Ridge — Naruto, Tokushima (Shikoku)
A · 8.3/10 · 10 rooms · Hotel · in-room onsen: No (small public onsen)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hotel-ridge
An intimate nine-room Otsuka-owned property on a ridge above the Naruto Strait, and KI-NRT's default refined stop for anyone entering Shikoku from Osaka or Kobe. Service is the strongest part (staff who remembered his wine picks and his room from a cherry-blossom stay years back), backed by a strait panorama he calls breathtaking at sunrise. His first stay left him lukewarm, closing with 'not that type of place'. The 2023 Zeiso villa fixes that gap, and his return ended with 'mission accomplished'.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is split between Banri-so (kaiseki) and California Table (French-Japanese fusion). KI-NRT found Banri-so solid with standouts (Naruto Strait sea bream, an Awa beef katsu sandwich he calls the best he has had), but the grilled courses lacked distinction and the cherry salmon was overcooked. California Table was only good on his first visit, but the lobster teppanyaki and Awa wagyu were exceptional on his return. Breakfasts never repeat.
- Bath 3.5/5: The hotel drilled 1,500 metres for a hot spring, but the yield only supports the gender-segregated communal baths. Each side has a small indoor and outdoor bath, one-person size, and the water is disinfected, partly recirculated and reheated because it comes up lukewarm. KI-NRT still enjoyed it but says it will not satisfy anyone after a serious onsen. The rooms have heated tap water in an excellent setup with a push-button jacuzzi.
- Service 5/5: The service is impeccable and it held across a four-year gap. On KI-NRT's return the same staff were there, including manager Takeshi Hara, and they remembered his wine selections, his wife's preference for warm drinking water and, when he tested a younger staff member, even that they had stayed in Room 103 during cherry blossom season. Guests are chauffeured to dinner in a Toyota Century although both restaurants are a short walk away.
- Room 4/5: All nine rooms face the Naruto Strait, but the eight standard ones are identical 60 sqm rooms with Western furnishings (no tatami or futon even in the Waso type) and a sitting area of a small table and two chairs, which KI-NRT found underwhelming next to the rest of the property. Zeiso, added in 2023 by merging two rooms into a 120 sqm standalone villa, has a more contemporary Japanese look, and his verdict on it was mission accomplished.
- Place 4.5/5: The hotel sits on a quiet ridge at the northeastern tip of Shikoku, and all nine rooms look out over the Naruto Strait to the Great Naruto Bridge and Awaji Island. Watching the bridge glow at sunrise was, for KI-NRT, a breathtaking moment and reason enough to plan another return. A dry rock garden sits outside Banri-so, and the Otsuka Museum of Art and the Naruto whirlpools are a 5-10 minute taxi ride away, which he thinks justifies two nights.
- Transit: Tokushima ~0h35 (1 transfer) · Osaka ~2h20 (1 transfer)

## Iki Retreat Kairi Murakami — Iki Island, Nagasaki (Kyushu)
A · 8.3/10 · 12 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/iki-retreat-kairi-murakami
Onko Chishin's 2018 rebuild gave remote Iki its only luxury inn: 12 bay-facing rooms, each with a gold, source-fed onsen on the deck, and a kitchen that turns the island's uni, grouper and Iki beef into its reason to exist. KI-NRT says it isn't in his top ten and 'I don't feel it needs to be': it is unique and memorable, especially the onsen and the food, without being a place to build a trip around, and Iki itself is not somewhere he would send a first-time (or tenth-time) visitor to Japan.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is at the counter, kaiseki one night and teppanyaki the next, and on both of KI-NRT's nights there was copious uni, abalone, fish and Iki beef, which he puts alongside Kobe and Matsusaka. The 'Mama Nakase' tomatoes were so sweet he asked whether syrup had been added. He stops short of calling it the best meal of his life, though some dishes were among his most memorable, and pWei found seafood and produce of a quality rare these days.
- Bath 4.5/5: All 12 rooms have their own open-air onsen bath on the deck, fed straight from the source and looking over Yunomoto Bay, and the water turns gold once it meets the air from its high iron content, much like the gold onsen of Arima. There are also communal baths and a private bath you can rent in 45-minute slots. KI-NRT called them wonderful hot springs and sorely missed them a year later at the Goto sister property, which has none.
- Service 4/5: The staff were all enthusiastic and professional, many of them born and raised on Iki, full of advice on the island and able to explain every dish in detail. The receptionist, who also handles pre-arrival email, was a big ball of sunshine whose replies came promptly and went well beyond the question asked. pWei in 2025 found the service good, with GM and executive chef Seiichi Ota explaining the courses himself and free pick-ups at the ports.
- Room 4/5: All 12 rooms face Yunomoto Bay, and all but the entry-level Corner Tatami Room have Western beds. The top room is the 120-square-metre Kairi Suite, the only one with both a tatami room and a Western living room with couches, so if sitting on the floor is not for you, get it. KI-NRT found it tastefully done, a nice blend of traditional and modern. Two oddities: the bathroom has a urinal, and there is only one sink.
- Place 4/5: Kairi is on the northwest side of Iki, a remote island between Japan and Korea, with commanding views over Yunomoto Bay; there is no garden, and the ocean view stands in for one. Iki is not somewhere KI-NRT would send a first-time visitor to Japan. It is paradise for history buffs, though, with the Harunotsuji Yayoi-period site and Kojima Shrine on an islet you can reach only at low tide, and even in peak season it stays blissfully uncrowded.
- Transit: Fukuoka 1h35 (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 3h40 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 2h40 (1 transfer) · Kumamoto 2h55 (2 transfers)

## Iwanoyu — Shimosuwa, Nagano (Chubu)
A · 8.3/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/iwanoyu
An 18-room Taisho-era onsen ryokan in the Nagano mountains that is a fixture on the stay-before-you-die lists, and at roughly 40,000 yen a head it is a screaming bargain by top-ryokan standards, which is exactly why KI-NRT braced for gotchas and found them, all in the lower room categories. Onsen, kitchen, staff and grounds are top notch, but the Sengotei shower and missing bath are teeth-gnashing. Both reviewers left net positive and would return, but only for Senzantei, the four rooms that erase most of the flaws and that you book by phone 11 months ahead or off a long waitlist.
- Food 4.5/5: All meals are served in private rooms, and KI-NRT found the kaiseki exquisite: foraged mountain vegetables, freshwater fish, local rice and beef, a sashimi trio of snow trout, scalded char and carp, and a dobinmushi that used maitake in place of matsutake and tasted awesome anyway. Few ingredients are delicacies, but he felt the kitchen did a terrific job with humble Nagano produce. zander86 called the food fantastic.
- Bath 4.5/5: None of the rooms has an onsen bath, so all the bathing is shared or rental: a 24-hour gender-segregated open-air daiyokujo, four first-come private rental baths (a fifth is reserved for Senzantei guests) and a huge co-ed cave bath with Romanesque columns like Istanbul's Basilica Cistern, swimwear provided. The water runs lukewarm, which let KI-NRT soak longer, though he wanted it hotter. zander86 preferred the private baths to the cave.
- Service 4.5/5: There is no okami on site and no dedicated room attendant, and the staff count is much larger than at other ryokans of this size, but the staff behave as if they were part-owners, everyone seemed to take pride in working there and to care about the guests, and KI-NRT found the service friendly and eager. zander86 called the staff amazing. Ms. Ogasawara, a local server who speaks decent English, is worth asking for if you do not speak Japanese.
- Room 4/5: Book one of the four Senzantei rooms: a separate bedroom (elsewhere the tatami room doubles as one), better river views, the only in-room baths (ordinary tubs) and unlimited use of their own rental bath, and zander86 found his well kept with a supremely comfortable futon. KI-NRT's Sengotei room had Taisho charm and heated floors, but no WiFi, no bath, one sink and a cheap plastic shower the size of a porta potty, which he called unforgivable.
- Place 4.5/5: The grounds stunned KI-NRT even at the tail of foliage season: a river bisects the property, crossed by a bridge, with man-made creeks and mini waterfalls between the buildings, foot baths and pots of flowers along the path, and art pieces throughout. Inside it is Taisho-era old Japan, a mix of Japanese and Western decor that he felt fit the mood, with three lounges. The property is so large that zander86 seldom met other guests.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h30 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 3h (2 transfers)

## Kohanyu — Monobe River, Kochi (Shikoku)
A · 8.3/10 · 4 rooms · Villa retreat · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kohanyu
A four-room adults-only hideaway on Shikoku, built by a retired couple around a lucky spring strike and the owner's world-class vintage audio collection, where KI-NRT came expecting the river and the food and left most moved by the sound. The cooking is honest local organic fare that he puts below top-10 kaiseki, but the water, the villa acoustics and the personal welcome healed mind and body, and he calls it a refined, adult hideaway. Rakuten's reviewers give it a perfect 5.0, and a member's account elsewhere is just as enthusiastic.
- Food 4/5: The kaiseki is built on Kochi produce, with pesticide-free vegetables from the inn's own garden (co-owner Masayo Nishimura is a certified vegetable sommelier), dashi made daily from bonito, kelp and baby sardines, bonito sashimi and Tosa Akaushi beef, a rare local breed. KI-NRT's highlights were a chawanmushi with brown-rice mochi and fried taro in ankake sauce; for him the meal was memorable but not a top-10 kaiseki, and breakfast is lighter.
- Bath 4.5/5: The spring is the owners' own, struck when they drilled for a bath at their retirement home, an isotonic spring at 24.5°C with slightly opaque golden nigori water that fizzes gently with bicarbonate, neither filtered nor recirculated. Each of the four rooms has an open-air bath over the river where the water is heated only as it enters the tub, which keeps its richer texture, while the public bath heats it in a tank and loses a little.
- Service 4.5/5: With only four groups a night the attention is personal. Ms. Yamasaki at dinner and Ms. Ferchichi at breakfast were engaging and knowledgeable and eager to explain each dish (Ms. Ferchichi's husband is Tunisian and speaks fluent English), attentive without being intrusive. After dinner the owner, Mr. Nishimura, invited KI-NRT to AEL HALL, his own home theatre, for about an hour of opera, jazz and orchestral performances through Altec speakers.
- Room 4.5/5: The four rooms are named for their vintage speaker systems (Paragon, McIntosh, Altec and Western Electric) and beyond the audio differ little. KI-NRT's 100-square-metre Western Suite is a villa engineered for sound, with Sonus Faber speakers set into a counter aligned with the river horizon and a 1972 Western Electric tube amp so clear he could pinpoint each musician. Floor-to-ceiling glass puts you over the river, and no room has a television.
- Place 4.5/5: Kohanyu is a secluded plot at the edge of the Monobe River in a remote corner of Kochi, where the water is a deep green framed by lush vegetation and the one man-made structure across the river is mostly hidden by trees, so the view is nearly untouched. The lounge looks straight out at it, with jazz through massive Electro Voice speakers, more than 2,000 CDs to borrow and a deck with its own speakers. Simply gazing out felt restorative.

## Minamikan — Matsue, Shimane (Chugoku)
A · 8.3/10 · 16 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/minamikan
A renowned but still underrated 16-room Matsue ryokan that KI-NRT calls by far the top in all of Shimane, where he loved a full 3-night stay in Mizu no Oto, the 121-square-metre suite with its own excellent onsen bath. The famous dry rock garden, which is particularly picturesque at night, and the castle-town location add to it, and the value comes up in nearly every account, since even the top suite ran 40,000 yen per person half board. All three stays were happy ones, though nobody in the thread has written about the service or the rooms in any detail.
- Food 4/5: Elaborate kaiseki, served in a private room in the main building and built on local Shimane ingredients, which KI-NRT thought was done to great effect. Nobody has singled out a particular dish, and the praise is for the spread as a whole.
- Bath 4.5/5: The Mizu no Oto suite has its own onsen bath, which KI-NRT called excellent. Nobody in the thread has written about the communal baths, so if bathing matters to you, book that suite.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here, though all three stays were happy ones.
- Room: The inn has 16 rooms, and the one KI-NRT stayed in, Mizu no Oto ('the sound of water'), is the tokubetsu-shitsu in the annex building, an enormous 121 square metres with a bedroom, a dining room and a Japanese-style living room. Nobody in the thread has written about the furnishings or the condition of the rooms.
- Place 4.5/5: Minamikan sits right on the water in Matsue with one of the most famous dry rock gardens in all of Japan, particularly picturesque at night, and it is an 8-minute walk from the amazing Matsue Castle and about 45 minutes by car or bus from Izumo Taisha, one of the most important shrines in the country. Fc912 found Tottori and Shimane as a region peaceful, with few tourists and many sites to explore, and particularly enjoyed visiting Yuushien.
- Transit: Okayama 2h40 (1 transfer) · Izumo Airport 0h35 (1 transfer)

## Onyado Kawasemi — Iizaka Onsen, Fukushima (Tohoku)
A · 8.3/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/onyado-kawasemi
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.
- 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.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 4h10 (2 transfers) · Kyoto 4h40 (2 transfers) · Sendai 1h15 (1 transfer)

## Satoyama Jujo — Minamiuonuma, Niigata (Chubu)
A · 8.3/10 · 14 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/satoyama-jujo
A 14-room design ryokan in Niigata snow country built around Keiko Kuwakino's foraged, vegetable-driven cooking at Sanaburi, which KI-NRT says gets no better anywhere than here and at Enowa. Book The House Izumi, the huge restored farmhouse with its own source-fed bath, because the main-building rooms are bland by comparison. All three stays across two winters were enthusiastic, and there is no dissent.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is at Sanaburi in the main building, where Keiko Kuwakino cooks mostly from foraged mountain vegetables and an astonishing variety of mushrooms, with several fish courses and sometimes wild boar or deer. KI-NRT called the kotake mushroom risotto on Minamiuonuma Koshihikari rice a masterpiece and says vegetable-led cooking gets no better than here and Enowa, with a slight nod to Enowa. Ask for one of the private rooms in advance.
- Bath 4/5: The House Izumi has its own open-air onsen bath fed by a spring that rises directly beneath the house, which makes it the only place with access to the Echigo Yukiguni Onsen, plus a sauna. The main building has a communal daiyokujo with an open-air rotenburo, and a December guest who came for snow bathing found the view from it amazing. Only a handful of the 12 main-building rooms have onsen of their own, so the rest rely on the communal bath.
- Service 4/5: Arrivals at The House Izumi are met by a staff member who handles check-in there, and a private shuttle runs the 10 to 15 minutes between the house and the main building, which you use at least once for dinner at Sanaburi. There are English-speaking staff on hand. When February snow stuck sirky's transfer vans a few hundred metres from the entrance, everyone walked in and he still called the stay great. Nobody has complained about the service.
- Room 4/5: The House Izumi is a restored 182-square-metre kominka farmhouse for one party a night, which KI-NRT found "huge, private, comfortable and just quirky enough to be memorable", with several living and tatami rooms, a sitting area for the valley view, a sauna and an open-air bath. The 35 to 50-square-metre main-building rooms seem kind of bland by comparison, and only a handful have onsen. Snag Izumi if it is available.
- Place 4/5: The House Izumi sits on a small hill above the Minamiuonuma valley, ringed by mountains, in the rice region KI-NRT agrees grows Japan's best Koshihikari, and this is snow country, buried all winter (the snowbound view from the communal rotenburo was the highlight of a December stay). The main building is charming, but in November 2024 its grounds and koi ponds were ripped apart by relandscaping, which is probably finished by now.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h45 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 3h30 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 4h30 (1 transfer) · Sendai 3h (1 transfer)

## Tsuchiyu Bettei Satonoyu — Tsuchiyu Onsen, Fukushima (Tohoku)
A · 8.3/10 · 7 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tsuchiyu-bettei-satonoyu
A seven-room hideaway deep in the Fukushima mountains, built around Shinpeki, a two-level private rotenburo beside a forest stream that KI-NRT ranks with Takefue's best bath. Setting and service run at the level of Tohoku's top inns, and the kitchen is the one relative weakness, finely crafted but below the region's best tables. Book Shinpeki the moment you arrive, because it can only be reserved on the day and the slots go fast.
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner is a Tohoku kaiseki served in your room or in a private koshitsu dining room, and the dishes are finely crafted: KI-NRT's standouts were the clear soup with sea bream in a kudzu coating that locks in the umami, and the inro-mushi of steamed Spanish mackerel, crab and kabocha under a glossy crab gin-an. He found the food satisfying but not as memorable as at his next two ryokan stops.
- Bath 5/5: There are no communal baths, only four private bathing areas booked in 45-minute slots, plus the in-room baths, and the spring water is soft and silky. Shinpeki is the one to take: an upper rock bath and a hinoki tub lower down beside the forest stream, and KI-NRT ranks it with Takefue's Chikurin no Yu among the most blissful private open-air onsens he has soaked in. The others felt anticlimactic after it, though Minahada is pretty decent.
- Service 4.5/5: Service was fantastic and personal: Kazuki, a warm and welcoming local, handled check-in, looked after them and served dinner, and Serina ran breakfast and the mornings just as expertly. The house also sells only seven of its nine rooms so that every guest gets a Shinpeki slot, the guest-first approach KI-NRT most appreciates in a high-end ryokan, where profit never overshadows hospitality.
- Room 4/5: Kason is the only stand-alone villa and the only suite, a few steps from the main building down a path lined with weeping cherries, and it has a bedroom with Western-style beds, a living room, an empty washitsu for extra futons and an impressive open-air stone bath, expertly carved and set into its surroundings. The other eight rooms looked pleasant, and all have heated floors, as most top Tohoku ryokans do. Get Kason if you can.
- Place 4.5/5: Satonoyu is deep in the Fukushima mountains at the bottom of a steep hill of hairpin turns, ringed by untouched forest, and KI-NRT recalls the setting as awe-inspiring; where Kawasemi's beauty is a manicured garden, Satonoyu's is the natural environment. A short trail drops from the side entrance into the valley past a creek of wild watercress, serow roam nearby, and mid-May's shinryoku green or the autumn leaves are the seasons to aim for.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h15 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 3h55 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 4h40 (1 transfer) · Sendai 1h (0 transfers)

## Yamagata The Takinami — Akayu Onsen (Nanyō), Yamagata (Tohoku)
A · 8.3/10 · 19 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yamagata-the-takinami
A 19-room, street-facing ryokan in Akayu Onsen, remade in 2017 under a magazine editor's direction, with a spring-fed bath in every room and counter-seated kaiseki built on obscure Yamagata mountain ingredients, cuisine KI-NRT ranks top-10, possibly top-5, of every ryokan he has tried. Book KURA01, the 129 m² first-floor suite with a private garden and volcanic-rock tub, which is the only room he considered worth staying in. It is a lively, social house where you are constantly involved, and he enjoyed that even though he usually prefers solitude.
- Food 5/5: The kaiseki was spectacular and, KI-NRT says, the most unique he has ever had: overwhelmingly Yamagata ingredients with subtle European touches, from a course of ten wild mountain vegetables of which even he knew only half to rice-fed koi sashimi in umeboshi dashi and fried chou pastry with butterbur-shoot gelato. Mrs. KI-NRT calls it the best meal of her life, and he ranks the kitchen in his top 10, possibly top 5, of all ryokans he has tried.
- Bath 4/5: Every room has an in-room onsen fed directly from the spring; first-floor rooms have tubs carved from Zao volcanic rock, which KI-NRT says gives a more authentic soak because the water meets less air, while upstairs rooms have hinoki tubs filled from above. White yunohana flakes of minerals float on the water, and KURA01 adds an open-air hot-stone bath in its garden. The communal bath is small, but he had it to himself both times.
- Service 4/5: Shortly after check-in guests are invited to a complimentary tasting of Yamagata sake, followed by a demonstration of juwari (100% buckwheat) soba that later turns up at dinner, and on KI-NRT's stay sake sommelier Mr. Hirayama ran it with an engaging talk on the property's history and local culture. He calls it a wonderfully hosted ryokan and one of the rare places where he did not mind being constantly involved.
- Room 4/5: KURA01, a one-of-a-kind 129m² first-floor suite in a converted storehouse with a private garden and open-air stone bath, is refined and sophisticated and the only room KI-NRT judged worth staying in. The other rooms are 60m² or less, many of them two-storey maisonettes he does not care for, and from photos their furnishings look cheap by comparison. There is no floor heating, which he calls a significant drawback for a Tohoku winter.
- Place 3.5/5: The inn is a 19-room house facing the street in Akayu Onsen, so it has none of the private, tranquil atmosphere of a small secluded ryokan like Atamiso, and you meet other guests often. The Edo-period main building was remade in 2017 under magazine editor Toru Iwase into farmhouse bones with avant-garde decor. Seasonal outings (a cherry-blossom walk to Eboshiyama Park, summer fireflies, a dawn observation deck) suit guests without a car.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h30 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 4h35 (2 transfers) · Kyoto 5h25 (1 transfer) · Sendai 1h35 (1 transfer)

## Chalet Ivy Jozankei — Jozankei, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
A · 8.2/10 · 26 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/chalet-ivy-jozankei
A 2019 all-suite riverside ryokan that KI-NRT calls Jozankei's premier luxury stay, with Aman-grade design, an involved okami and memorable Hokkaido kaiseki, an easy hop from Sapporo. The one drawback is the bathing, because the source water is tempered with tap water and there is no open-air bath, so Takinoya still wins on onsen while Chalet Ivy wins nearly everything else. Both first-hand stays were happy ones, with nothing said against it.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner was the highlight of KI-NRT's stay: A5 Hida beef wrapped in komatsuna, local sashimi and above all a miso-marinated abura bozu (skillfish) with fried sakura leaves and a condensed-milk hollandaise, full of good fat and flavor. He found the two-hour meal far superior to his dinner at Ao no Za, and breakfast impressed him equally. Stays include a preloaded card for the self-serve alcohol dispenser, and there is a lounge with free snacks.
- Bath 3.5/5: All 26 suites have their own onsen tub, and the gender-segregated communal bath is modest in size and often blissfully empty, with a full spa, a sauna and a gym alongside. The water comes from the Jozankei source but is cut with tap water to bring the 88°C spring down to 41°C, and KI-NRT wished for a more advanced system like Myoken Ishiharaso's and for a terrace with an open-air bath. Takinoya has purer water and bigger communal baths.
- Service 4.5/5: KI-NRT calls the service outstanding, better than at the Tsuruga Group's luxury properties. The okami, Mayumi Yamamoto, was the first hospitality hire and spent 18 months helping develop the place before it opened, and her presence is felt throughout as she warmly interacts with guests. kyeung2 found the English-speaking staff very friendly, and they picked him up at the bus stop and arranged his car to the airport.
- Room 4.5/5: Every suite is at least 67 square metres with its own onsen tub, in warm beige and light gray, country charm meeting modern Japanese design, which KI-NRT says could pass for an Aman or Zecha property. He took the top Premium 2-Bedroom Suite (137 square metres), bigger than he needed but with better views, and found it spacious, well appointed and soul-soothing. The one thing he would add is a terrace with an open-air bath.
- Place 3.5/5: The ryokan stands on the Toyohira River in Jozankei, Hokkaido's largest onsen town, with around 20 ryokans and 1.5 million visitors a year, public footbaths, canoeing on the river and kappa statues around town. KI-NRT found it a comfortable 24°C in the green season while Tokyo baked at 35°C, and says one night is enough unless you ski or hike. Inside there is a private media room, one of the unusual amenities of a ryokan this size.

## Hakone Suishoen — Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
A · 8.2/10 · 23 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hakone-suishoen
A 23-room Fufu-group ryokan in Hakone that does not use the Fufu name, because it is more traditional in architecture and aesthetics and caters to a slightly more mature crowd, and its dining rooms are set in a Taisho-era Mitsui villa. KI-NRT returned deliberately, places it right up there with Gora Kadan, Ginyu and Yama no Chaya despite being less celebrated, and treats it as the group's service standard; a later member's stay confirmed the staff as the standout. Book the kaiseki, because the teppanyaki is a pleasant change of pace but it is not the kitchen's best work.
- Food 4/5: Suishoen serves a wonderful kaiseki, and it is one of the few luxury ryokans that also offers teppanyaki, a good way to mix things up on a long trip. The counter seats only eight, so reserve it when you book (KI-NRT called two months ahead and got in off the waitlist). He does not think it measures up to Japan's best: Iwate is the only beef, and the wagyu hamburger steak was good but not memorable. The kaiseki is the way to go here.
- Bath 4/5: Bathing at Suishoen is done in your own room, because the Luxury Suites and Precious Suites come with open-air onsen baths on their own decks, fed by natural hot springs. Nobody in the thread has written about the water itself, and nobody mentions a shared bath, so the onsen here is a private soak on your own deck.
- Service 4.5/5: A member who toured six inns in late 2024 was constantly blown away by the service from the moment he parked: all the staff were attentive and proactive, the teppanyaki head chef spoke into a microphone when his wife got up so someone appeared to show her the way, and after dinner a waitress carried dessert and the rest of their champagne to the room through pouring rain. KI-NRT holds Suishoen up as the Fufu group's service benchmark.
- Room 4/5: This is a modern-style ryokan, so if you want traditional tatami authenticity look elsewhere, and if you want the ryokan experience without the culture shock it is your place. KI-NRT stayed twice in Negau, one of the two 96-square-metre Luxury Suites: a separate Western-style bedroom and living room, an outdoor onsen bath, luxurious and stylish, if a tad on the dark side. Toki, a Precious Suite, is slightly smaller and connects to Negau.
- Place 4/5: Meals are served in the main building, a gorgeous Taisho-era villa built as the summer home of the Mitsui family's founder and now a designated Important Cultural Property, and that building is the showpiece of the property. The inn is in Hakone, which KI-NRT recommends for a first trip because there is so much to do in the area, and nobody who has stayed describes a view from the rooms or the grounds.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Onyado Chikurintei — Takeo Onsen, Saga (Kyushu)
A · 8.2/10 · 11 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/onyado-chikurintei
Chikurintei is the only bona-fide luxury ryokan in Takeo Onsen, with 11 secluded rooms at the foot of Mt. Mifuneyama, every one with a private onsen bath, both meals served in your room, and service KI-NRT ranked above Aman's. The weak point is the kitchen, because for all its regional ingredients dinner did not live up to its tour-de-force reputation on his December 2024 stay. He would happily return, but in bloom season, when the park next door is at its best.
- Food 4/5: Dinner uses top regional ingredients such as Saga beef filet and nodoguro, but KI-NRT did not feel it lived up to its tour-de-force reputation: there were fewer dishes than at other luxury ryokans, the nodoguro wrapped around vegetables was strange, and the fried potato stuffed with sea urchin was dry and buried the uni. The fried buckwheat dumplings with walnuts were terrific. Ikyu guests find the meals close to perfect; he did not.
- Bath 4.5/5: Takeo's spring water is a true onsen, smooth on the skin from its sodium bicarbonate, and all 11 rooms have their own bath flowing from the source, with Shuho adding a private open-air bath off its rock garden. There is a communal open-air bath too, and if the water in your room runs too hot an engineer shows up at once to adjust it. Guests have free use of the famous Rakan-no-Yu sauna two minutes away, but it refuses tattooed guests.
- Service 4.5/5: Service is sophisticated and elegant. The room attendant, Emi Suzuki, in a silk kimono, was an amazing advisor on touring the area and gave them a real education on the kitchen's cooking methods, and the room was refreshed every time they went out, even for a 30-minute walk in the park next door. KI-NRT says Aman's room ninjas have nothing on her. They are flexible too, giving you a chair and table instead of floor seating with a day's notice.
- Room 4/5: Shuho, the 250 square meter stand-alone villa that hosted Emperor Akihito in 1992, has its own entrance, an open-air onsen bath, a private rock garden and commanding views of Mt. Mifuneyama, and it was renovated in 2017, though KI-NRT found wasted space in tatami rooms that serve no purpose. He would have been happy in a mid-category Japanese-Western room, plenty spacious and all with onsen; Gochiku and Shakunage are the popular picks.
- Place 4.5/5: The inn stands at the foot of Mt. Mifuneyama beside Mifuneyama Rakuen, a gorgeous park founded in 1845, two kilometers from the historic bathhouse district of 1,300-year-old Takeo Onsen. The gardens around the mountain burst with color from azaleas, wisteria and maples in March and cherry blossom in April, and KI-NRT came in leafless December and wants to return when the flowers are out, because in winter the park goes silent and monochrome.
- Transit: Fukuoka 1h (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 2h35 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 0h40 (0 transfers) · Kumamoto 1h50 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 3h30 (2 transfers) · Kanazawa 4h45 (3 transfers)

## Yama no Chaya — Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
A · 8.2/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yama-no-chaya
An onsen ryokan in a narrow forested Hakone valley, with an open-air onsen bath in each room, meals served in the room and three shared baths (one outdoors, up a short path), at roughly $600–850 half board, well under what a Tokyo hotel costs. Every first-hand account runs warm to glowing, and the kitchen is the consistent star. KI-NRT is cooler, calling it a solid choice, though not quite as centrally located as Gora Kadan or Ginyu, and he puts Asaba at the top of his own list for the region. The valley is serene, but there are no views.
- Food 4.5/5: The kaiseki is what every guest praises first. LisainCA's family of foodies found the dinner exceeded expectations, delicious, fresh and varied (the kitchen even brought a mini hibachi so her pescatarian daughter could grill her own fish), and the breakfast was just as good. Smiley90 calls it possibly the best food he ate in Japan, and FlyingTurk1, who finds ryokan food generally underwhelming, still thought it superior to Takefue's.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every room has its own open-air onsen bath, and there are three shared onsen besides: two indoors, one of which you can book for your own party for an hour (the other alternates between men and women), and a beautiful outdoor bath reached up a small path. It was raining during LisainCA's stay, and the inn set out outdoor slippers and umbrellas for the walk. Smiley90 calls the onsens excellent.
- Service 4.5/5: When LisainCA's son mentioned he wanted an early run, the staff gave him directions and had his running shoes set out at the entrance before he woke. You choose your dinner and breakfast times, both come to the room (they served all four of her family in one room on request), an evening snack of inari appeared after the kaiseki, and the massage she booked through the inn was thorough and reasonably priced. Smiley90 calls the service excellent.
- Room 4/5: The rooms strike a balance between rustic and luxurious, each with its own open-air onsen bath, and they are air-conditioned in summer. LisainCA recommends Yama no Ashita, on the second floor, over the ground-floor Yama no Yube, which ran a bit humid because its bath is more enclosed. Smiley90 calls the rooms excellent, and FlyingTurk1 found the place a tad dated but loved it anyway.
- Place 3.5/5: Yama no Chaya sits in a narrow forested valley, and the rooms look onto the valley and the trees, which Smiley90 says is peaceful without being what he would call a view. LisainCA loved watching the rain on the trees from the sitting room and calls the stay a fantastic respite from Tokyo. KI-NRT notes it is not quite as centrally located as Gora Kadan, Ginyu or Gora Hanaougi, and LisainCA says not to miss the Hakone Open Air Museum nearby.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Yamado — Hottoyuda Onsen, Iwate (Tohoku)
A · 8.2/10 · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yamado
A 12-room hot-spring retreat in the Iwate mountains with free-flowing source onsen in every room, a private bath suspended over the stream that is worth the trip on its own, and Iwate-proud staff whose hospitality stood out most for KI-NRT. The kitchen does regional fusion led by chicken and pork, which he admires without calling it destination dining. He has stayed once, and calls it well worth the journey for a quiet retreat with authentic hot springs.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is a Japanese-European fusion built on Iwate ingredients, led by Ginsetsu chicken, a breed Yamado developed (as shabu-shabu and Sichuan-style sweet and sour), and Hakkinton pork as a fusilli and a low-temperature chop, with foraged plants in most dishes and an inventive shidoke cheesecake. KI-NRT admires the commitment to Iwate's larder even though chicken and pork are not his picks for fine dining, and homemade breakfast toast is superb.
- Bath 4.5/5: The onsen is gensen kakenagashi, straight from the source and never recirculated, and every one of the 12 rooms has its own (Katsura's sits on an outdoor terrace nearer the river). The best soak is Yu-ba Issun, a private rental bath suspended over the stream and hugged by foliage, booked ahead in 30-minute slots. The water is tuned to the season, KI-NRT watched a yamame trout glide below, and they came back at night to soak under starlight.
- Service 5/5: Service is what stood out most for KI-NRT. Most staff are Iwate locals with visible pride in the region, and his room attendant Hitomi Kamata was exceptional: noticing his wife's cast, and knowing she usually writes furigana over difficult kanji so he can study each dish later, Hitomi handwrote furigana over every kanji on the menu. Brandt, the one English speaker, was just as gracious and caring, and he is confident you will be in good hands.
- Room 4/5: KI-NRT's Luxury Suite Buna was 52 square metres with a separate living area, a bedroom and an indoor onsen that becomes semi-open-air when the large sliding windows are pushed back, done in subdued, calming colors; the view was so good they spent hours gazing at it. It has no desk. Buna is the second-best room, so book Katsura if you can: the same layout, closer to the river, with an outdoor terrace onsen (it was already taken on his dates).
- Place 4.5/5: Yamado sits beside a forested hill and a stream in western Iwate, and instead of a manicured garden it embraces its remote location, with all 12 rooms facing the hillside and river. The main building holds reception, a cozy lounge and the restaurant Fukuzenbo, hung with photos and paintings made by the staff. There is little to explore on site, and what is there is deeply peaceful; KI-NRT calls it a quiet retreat far off the tourist trail.
- Transit: Tokyo 4h (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 6h (2 transfers) · Sendai 2h (1 transfer)

## Fuji Seiran — Cape Osezaki, Izu, Shizuoka (Chubu)
A · 8.1/10 · 5 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fuji-seiran
Fuji Seiran is a five-suite newcomer on the west coast of Izu built around the view of Mt. Fuji across Suruga Bay, with spectacular cooking from its opening week. At $2,400–2,900 a night KI-NRT called it Asaba prices without the pedigree, and the trucked-in bath water, the shared walls and the lounge terrace that faces away from the mountain are where the near-perfection those rates demand falls short. It is best on a clear day between late fall and early spring, and if you have two nights he suggests pairing it with Asaba.
- Food 5/5: The cooking was spectacular even in opening week, built on Suruga Bay seafood from the local fishermen and produce from the inn's own farm, and every serving was artful and expertly balanced. KI-NRT's standouts were the salt-grilled unagi shirayaki, the grilled Ise spiny lobster sauced with its own liver, and a lightly seared bonito in soy dashi with fried garlic, a simple dish he called simply sublime.
- Bath 3.5/5: There is no hot-spring source here: the only onsen in the Heda area is brought in daily by truck, heated and dispensed into each bath, a recirculated system and not water flowing from the source. Every room has a private onsen tub and a sauna on its deck facing Fuji, which KI-NRT still found enjoyable, but he says this would not be the best choice for a true onsen experience. In Souten the smoked-glass screens block the view from the tub.
- Service 4/5: KI-NRT and his party were the only guests two days after opening, and with the GM on sick leave the assistant GM, Takara Sato, welcomed them with enthusiasm at the head of a young, cheerful team from Japan, Myanmar, Taiwan and Vietnam. He came away calling the hospitality warm. Small touches included heated towel racks, complimentary electric toothbrushes and personalized chopsticks engraved with their names and the date.
- Room 4/5: The five suites are identical apart from small differences in decor, and each faces Mt. Fuji with a private onsen tub and a sauna on the deck. Despite the claimed 150 square meters the real living space is closer to 100, generous but more like an Aman junior suite than a full suite, and the rooms share walls instead of standing as detached villas, which KI-NRT found odd. Avoid Souten, which sits lower on the hill and screens its deck.
- Place 4.5/5: The inn stands near Cape Osezaki, a kilometer-long strip of virgin juniper forest reaching into Suruga Bay, and the view of Mt. Fuji rising across the water is the whole reason for the place. The best months are late fall through early spring, and if clouds hide the mountain KI-NRT is not sure he would recommend it, since unlike Hakone there is little else to do in Heda. The Yuhimi Terrace lounge is angled so that it has no view of Fuji.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h45 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h40 (0 transfers)

## Hanamurasaki — Yamanaka Onsen, Ishikawa (Chubu)
A · 8.1/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hanamurasaki
A large, modern luxury ryokan above the Kakusenkei gorge, and the food (spectacular winter snow crab above all) is the main reason anyone comes; source-fed bathing reaches only its top suites. KI-NRT's reservations (restaurant-only dining, a view-less private bath, baffling ordering) kept it at 'merely one of the top choices in Hokuriku' for him in 2018; the 2024 renovation and simplified set menu have since answered some of that, and a 2025 guest called it the perfect choice for a food-first stay.
- Food 4.5/5: Food is the main reason anyone comes, and in winter that means Zuwai-gani snow crab, which KI-NRT says blows away any other crab, best of all as sashimi. In 2018 dinner was ordered from a huge points-based menu (crab sashimi had to be asked for), but a 2025 guest got a set kaiseki with no choices and found dinner and breakfast exquisite. Meals are never served in the room, and on his crab yardstick Nishimuraya and Matsusaki rank higher.
- Bath 3.5/5: Only the top Comfort Suites get onsen direct from the source; most of Kaga Onsen does not have pure onsen at all. KI-NRT's Comfort Suite Haru had its own onsen bath and sauna, but no view and no open air, his main wish. The public baths are a main indoor bath and a smaller open-air one on the top floor; he found the open-air one very nice though much like other properties', and a 2025 guest thought it lovely to sit under cover watching the rain.
- Service 4.5/5: Service is polished and attentive, and KI-NRT found the whole stay hosted to a very high standard, with staff gracious and unwavering about ensuring a great stay. LisainCA, in 2025, was met inside Kaga Onsen station by the hotel driver, welcomed with sweets and tea, and had food sensitivities accommodated without complaint. Despite the property's surprising size she found it attentive and personal, and calls the service impeccable.
- Room 3.5/5: The top room, Comfort Suite Haru, is 170 square metres, with a huge living room and a small bedroom, but it has no view and no private garden, so KI-NRT called it a very nice room to laze away in, though not idyllic. Several rooms became Art Suites in 2024, and from photos he thought the humongous Natsu suite had much empty space. A 2025 guest's standard room was large and traditional, with a sitting area on the gorge, which every room faces.
- Place 4/5: Hanamurasaki stands above the Kakusenkei gorge in Yamanaka, which KI-NRT calls the best of the Kaga onsen towns, and its famous footpath is close by; a 2025 guest found the morning walk along it incredibly beautiful. Arrival tea comes in a tea room looking over the green above the gorge. The property is far bigger than most luxury ryokans and the public areas are modern, so anyone after an intimate, very traditional inn should look elsewhere.
- Transit: Kanazawa 0h55 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 3h15 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 1h35 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h45 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h45 (4 transfers) · Kagoshima 5h15 (3 transfers)

## Kinsuikan — Miyajima, Hiroshima (Chugoku)
A · 8.1/10 · 39 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kinsuikan
A 39-room Miyajima ryokan that won KI-NRT back to the island after a disappointing stay at Iwaso, provided you book one of the six renovated special rooms, because the regional kaiseki served there (conger eel, fugu, Hiroshima oysters) is the reason to stay. The kitchen has to carry a large operation, since nobody in the thread has written about the service and the in-room baths are not true onsen, so the inn ends up below what the plates alone would suggest. It is near the bottom of its price class and KI-NRT's choice for a night on the island.
- Food 5/5: KI-NRT called the kaiseki dinner and the breakfast sublime, and the meal is built on Hiroshima's seafood: raw conger eel with its liver, fugu, abalone and stonefish sashimi, then oyster hot pot and grilled Hiroshima oysters. The bilingual omakase menus are among the most extensive he has seen, naming the farm or port behind each ingredient. These meals are for the six special rooms; others can pay to upgrade dinner but cannot get that breakfast.
- Bath 3.5/5: The communal gender-segregated baths are honest-to-goodness onsen and reportedly the only ones on Miyajima. The in-room baths of the special rooms are not onsen, though: the water picks up some calcium and magnesium from the rocks in the tub, and KI-NRT, a big fan of jumping in and out of an in-room onsen, counted this as his one disappointment. The top-floor room 403 has its bath in the open air.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here. Guests in the six special rooms have both dinner and breakfast served in the room.
- Room 4/5: The six Tokubetsu-shitsu special rooms were completely redone in 2021 or 2022 and are new and modern, with sea views, heated floors, a free-flowing bath by the window and both meals served in the room. They are small at 42 square metres, while the upper traditional suites run over 100, but KI-NRT says their advantages are too great to ignore unless you travel as a family. The toiletry kits are a level above even good Japanese inns.
- Place 4.5/5: Kinsuikan is a short walk from the Miyajima ferry terminal and around the corner from the main tourist strip, with a rooftop terrace where you look across at Itsukushima Shrine and the torii gate. The building is nondescript and there is no garden to speak of, but the special rooms look out at the Seto Inland Sea. KI-NRT urges you to stay overnight: the landmarks are lit at night, the morning is quiet, and 99% of visitors are daytrippers.
- Transit: Hiroshima 1h (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h40 (2 transfers) · Fukuoka 2h15 (2 transfers)

## Otogi no Yado Yoneya — Sukagawa, Fukushima (Tohoku)
A · 8.1/10
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/otogi-no-yado-yoneya
Otogi no Yado Yoneya is a 17-room fairy-tale-themed onsen ryokan deep in rural Fukushima near Sukagawa, its rooms and seasonal 'Otogi Kaiseki' dinner built on a playful (but not gimmicky) storytelling concept, with a six-room Hanare 88 annex added in 2021. The bathing stands out most, with source water in every room plus communal rock baths, and KI-NRT counts it among the best onsen he has found. The remote setting has nothing famous nearby and the food drew real reservations, but he left calling it a place that stands out.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is the 'Otogi Kaiseki', themed each season on a fairy tale, and KI-NRT's ran on The Three Little Pigs. He found it an enjoyable conversation piece that never upstaged the flavours, built on pesticide-free, largely wild ingredients. The wild Fukushima flounder sashimi was his standout, but the shorthorn beef came as a hamburger-style haché and the breakfast fish was plain salmon. Ikyu guests call the vegetables the best of any inn.
- Bath 5/5: The onsen is one of the best KI-NRT has found. The water enters each bath from the bottom to limit contact with air and felt exceptionally smooth, like a silky skin lotion, so staff advise you not to rinse off afterwards. Every room has a bath flowing straight from the source (his was on a deck over the forest), plus communal indoor and outdoor rock baths and a mist sauna. It runs so hot he stopped the flow 30 minutes before bathing.
- Service 4.5/5: The hospitality is heartfelt and graceful, and the staff were warm, charming and eager to please. KI-NRT's private dinner server, Ms. Arima, born and raised in the area, explained each course and its fairy-tale link with an enthusiasm he called infectious, and he left full of smiles and gratitude. It sees about one overseas guest a month yet stays fully booked year-round. Some Ikyu guests find the narrated dinner too long (7 PM to near 9:30).
- Room 4/5: The 17 rooms are split between the 11 in the main building and the six-room Hanare 88 annex, considered the more desirable, though KI-NRT thinks they differ little. He picked Suite #887 (54 square metres) over the 80-square-metre flagship Nazumu at the same price, for its expansive patio with a dazzling open-air bath over the forest, where Nazumu has only an ordinary indoor bath. Both are junior suites. The main rooms were redone in 2024.
- Place 4/5: Yoneya sits in south-central Fukushima about an hour east of Aizuwakamatsu, near nothing noteworthy, and almost no foreigner has heard of it. Inside it is rural-modern Japanese with a streak of eccentricity, which KI-NRT calls quirky without overwhelming the senses: Alice in Wonderland porcelain by Lladró, a Hobbit-house wine cellar and a Gaudí-inspired installation in front of the communal baths, and a lounge with free drinks and snacks.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h45 (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 3h40 (2 transfers) · Sendai 1h20 (1 transfer)

## Sui Suwako — Lake Suwa, Nagano (Chubu)
A · 8.1/10 · 8 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sui-suwako
A new-ish, modern 8-room ryokan on Lake Suwa that KI-NRT has now stayed at three times and calls his go-to in the area, definitely the top luxury inn near Matsumoto, with excellent local-smelt kaiseki and a rooftop mixed-gender bath looking across the lake to the Alps. The rooms are the modest part, comfortable and functional but not opulent. It is a reliable anchor for the Matsumoto and Nakasendo corridor and not a destination in itself.
- Food 4.5/5: Meals are served in the room, and KI-NRT found them excellent, including the wakasagi tempura, which they prepared specifically for his party (he had learned beforehand that wakasagi, Japanese smelt, is a delicacy, a small fish caught in Lake Suwa but not in large volumes). The Japanese breakfast was delightful, and on his third stay in 2023 the food was still great, as solid as on his two earlier visits.
- Bath 4/5: The rooftop communal onsen, which KI-NRT calls incredible, looks out over Lake Suwa to the Japan Alps in the distance. It is mixed-gender and bathing suits are required, so families and men and women can enjoy the open-air bath together (the inn lends onsen wear free of charge). On a later visit he noticed a faint smell of chlorine, which was unfortunate but understandable. The top room type also has its own open-air hot spring bath.
- Service 4/5: The service was polished on KI-NRT's third stay, as it had been on his earlier two, and on an earlier visit they prepared the wakasagi tempura specifically for his party.
- Room 3.5/5: There are only two room types among the eight rooms of the five-story building, and the top type is the Wide Japanese/Western-style room with open-air hot spring bath. KI-NRT calls the rooms simple, functional, comfortable and sufficient, though not supremely opulent. He stayed in Room 501 on the top floor, which is likely the best room with the best view of the lake and mountains, and found the accommodations comfortable again on his third stay.
- Place 3.5/5: Sui Suwako sits on the banks of Lake Suwa in Shimosuwa-shuku, a post town on the Nakasendo, and from the rooftop bath the view sweeps over the lake, the surrounding town and some of Nagano's famous mountains, with the Japan Alps in the distance. KI-NRT uses the inn as a first night on the way to Matsumoto Castle and calls it an excellent choice for anyone walking the Nakasendo.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h30 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 3h (2 transfers)

## THE YUKAWA Ichijoh Branch — Kamasaki Onsen, Shiroishi, Miyagi (Tohoku)
A · 8.1/10 · 11 rooms · Ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/the-yukawa-ichijoh-branch
An eleven-suite modern ryokan opened in September 2025 in a forested valley on the Yukawa River outside Shiroishi, the flagship of the Ichijo family, twenty generations of innkeepers since 1428, with a private open-air onsen bath and a fully private dining room for every party. KI-NRT gives the kitchen the edge over its venerable neighbor Michinokuan, and the top suite ranks among the nicest modern ryokan rooms of his many stays; the one drawback is that it costs noticeably more than Michinokuan for comparable rooms.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner leans on Miyagi itself: sea urchin in the shell and conger eel from the Sanriku coast, Zao wagyu and nodagamo duck from local farms, and Zao's Tsuyahime rice, which KI-NRT says rivals Niigata's famous varieties. His favourites were a horsehair-crab clear soup and conger eel with foie gras and balsamic sansho, which worked surprisingly well. Nothing is avant-garde, but every dish was well prepared, and he gives it the edge over Michinokuan.
- Bath 4/5: Every one of the eleven suites has its own open-air onsen bath on the balcony looking onto the Yukawa River, fed by Yukawa Onsen, a source newly drilled along the riverbank whose minerals are similar to the famed Kamasaki Onsen next door, which supplies the family's Yunishi Ichijo. Two private baths can be reserved free of charge; they are a bit larger and even closer to the river than the suite bath, but KI-NRT would not call them a must-do.
- Service 4/5: KI-NRT and his party were wonderfully looked after by a caring and friendly staff, especially Mr. Shigeta, their dinner server and bartender, and Ms. Hamada, who speaks good English after a homestay in California. They were the only guests in the house that night, so he could not see the service under a full house, though he imagines it would remain exemplary, and the three Rakuten guests so far mark service a full 5.0.
- Room 4.5/5: All eleven accommodations are suites with their own open-air hot-spring bath. KI-NRT took the River View Yukawa Suite, the top category at 90 m², elegantly appointed with a balcony of lounge chairs beside the onsen bath, and calls it easily one of the nicest rooms of the many modern ryokans he has stayed at. Nine are standalone villa suites, and he found the 80 m² River View Villa Suite excellent too, with vaulted ceilings, closer to the river.
- Place 4/5: The Yukawa is a modern retreat tucked into a valley of lush forest with the Yukawa River flowing directly in front, and the view from the suite balcony is mesmerizing; the Zao range, with its Okama crater and late-winter snow monsters, is just north. Shiroishi itself does not have a ton to offer and is usually a stop on a Tohoku road trip, with Michinokuan less than a kilometre away. The architecture is strikingly contemporary.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h15 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 4h25 (1 transfer) · Sendai 0h35 (0 transfers)

## Taiza Onsen Sumihei — Kyotango, Kyoto (Kansai)
A · 8.1/10 · 13 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/taiza-onsen-sumihei
A 23-room inn from 1868 on the Tango Peninsula that exists for Taiza-gani, the 'phantom crab' that only five local boats bring in. The crab kaiseki is inventive and outstanding, the service is impeccable and the silk-art rooms are handsome. The onsen in the name is trucked, heated, chlorinated water with a noticeable chlorine smell in every bath, and KI-NRT says this is not the inn to book if bathing is a priority. The crab is why you go.
- Food 4.5/5: The Kiwame course is the only one with Taiza-gani, the 'phantom crab' that five local boats bring in, and it is capped at eight guests, so book months ahead. Every dish was outstanding: yubiki body meat barely scalded, legs swished in the dashi pot until they open like a flower, and tomalley fresh enough to eat raw. KI-NRT puts the crab cooking slightly ahead of Bouyourou's, but a loud table in the semi-private dining room drowned out the server.
- Bath 2.5/5: The spring water is trucked in, circulated, heated and chlorine-sterilized, and the chlorine smell was pronounced in every bath KI-NRT tried, in the room and in the six private rental baths alike (five are free to use). Lower room categories have no bath of their own and there is no large communal bath. He says this is definitely not the ryokan to visit if onsen is a high priority.
- Service 5/5: Service was impeccable from start to finish. Mr. Wada looked after Mrs. KI-NRT's mother's wheelchair and guided the party throughout, and the young dinner and breakfast servers, Aoi Yamada and Kou Kamataki, were enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Mr. Kamataki is decent in English, so if you don't speak Japanese he would be a good choice as your server.
- Room 4.5/5: The rooms are modern Japanese, light and airy with high ceilings, and the standout is the Oshie raised-cloth artwork in Tango Chirimen silk on the bedroom walls, with snow crabs, stars, cosmos or moon depending on the room. Kinean runs 60m² and the Sanzenhou special room 78.6m² with an open-air terrace bath, a minor step up. KI-NRT finds the higher-end rooms nicer and roomier than Bouyourou's, but the lower categories have no onsen.
- Place 4/5: Sumihei sits off the beaten path on the rugged Tango Peninsula, steps from the tiny port where the five Taiza-gani boats come in, and that closeness to the water gives every room an ocean view and a sunset, partly obscured by power lines. A separate 2017 lounge building has a library and a terrace with panoramic sea views and the same silk art as the rooms. It is also the only luxury inn here that takes children under 13.
- Transit: Kyoto 2h30 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 5h (1 transfer)

## Tsukihitei — Nara, Nara (Kansai)
A · 8.1/10 · Traditional ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tsukihitei
Tsukihitei is a five-room 1902 hideaway inside Nara's primeval forest, rescued from datedness by the Miyako Hotel Group's 2023–25 renovations, and it is now KI-NRT's clear answer to where luxury travelers should sleep in Nara, with first-rate creative kaiseki and a superb rebuilt villa in a setting nothing nearby matches. There is no onsen, and only the three refurbished rooms deliver the full experience.
- Food 4.5/5: The kaiseki is creative and plated with great care, and the standout was local: a clear soup of Yamato duck coated in kuzu with fried Miwa somen and yuzu, simple-looking with remarkable depth. Hokkaido abalone and sea urchin were both outstanding. KI-NRT notes the kitchen sources from across Japan instead of the region, which he does not hold against it, though it feels different from regional ryokans that proudly detail their provenance.
- Bath 3/5: There is no onsen at Tsukihitei, so the baths are ordinary heated water: the Sakura Villa has its own hinoki tub, and two indoor private baths in the main building can be used whenever they are free. Nobody has written more about the bathing than that.
- Service 3.5/5: The three renovated rooms (Sakura, Wakaba and Take no Ma) have meals served in the room, and Hagi and Yanagi eat in private rooms a few steps away, so everyone dines privately. The one lapse KI-NRT mentions is that the dinner server did not elaborate much on the menu, beyond saying the abalone and sea urchin came from Hokkaido. Beyond that, nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 4.5/5: The Sakura Villa, rebuilt in April 2023, is a 90-square-meter suite in a modern rural Japanese style: a tatami room with a recessed floor under the table, heated floors, Western beds, a hinoki bath, fast internet and no television, a sensible omission in KI-NRT's view. Sakura, Wakaba and Take no Ma were all refurbished between 2023 and early 2025 and he recommends one of those three; Hagi and Yanagi are unrenovated and noticeably simpler.
- Place 4.5/5: Tsukihitei stands inside the Kasugayama Primeval Forest, a UNESCO-listed stretch of ancient cedar, and the grounds are an extension of the forest, with a stone lantern, a small bridge over a creek and covered wooden walkways linking the buildings. They are small but wonderfully atmospheric, and the trailheads are minutes from Nara Park, Todaiji and Kasuga Taisha. For somewhere central yet secluded, KI-NRT says Tsukihitei has no equal.
- Transit: Kyoto 0h45 (0 transfers) · Osaka 1h (0 transfers)

## Auberge Suzukane — Bandai-Atami Onsen, Fukushima (Tohoku)
A · 8/10 · Auberge
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/auberge-suzukane
Suzukane is a corporate-owned ryokan in the center of Bandai Atami run by a former wedding coordinator, with a full suit of knight's armor at the entrance, and the reasons to stay are the food, the warmth of the staff and the big renovated rooms with source-fed in-room onsen. KI-NRT loved it and regretted nothing, but was plain that nearby Atamiso is on a slightly higher plane, because Suzukane is in town with only a courtyard for outdoor space and its dining is half-private. It is the one to pick when creativity at the table matters more to you than the view out the window.
- Food 4.5/5: The kitchen does creative kaiseki with subtle European accents (it cooked French until about eight years ago), and KI-NRT called the dinner exceptional: onion mousse with caviar as a dip for raw purple asparagus, Miyagi oysters he found sublime, and portions bigger than at the other inns on the trip. The one miss was the carpaccio-style abalone, which they would rather have had cooked. Breakfast was among the top five he has ever had at a ryokan.
- Bath 4/5: Every room has its own bath of free-flowing, direct-source Bandai Atami spring water (a favorite of KI-NRT's), and the VIP room Kinu adds an open-air onsen and a ganban-yoku, a dry sauna where you lie on heated stones. He found the private onsen delightful but a bit snug for two. The two private rental baths, Kane-no-yu and Suzu-no-yu, each have both a hot and a cold spring pool, which makes them enjoyable in summer as well.
- Service 4.5/5: The staff were outstanding, and the okami Mayumi Suzuki, a former wedding coordinator who took the role in 2020, served dinner in a tag-team with the nakai Ms. Amitou, who was professional, attentive and always available. When KI-NRT mentioned going on to Nanyo the next day, the okami came back with a binder of maps, route options and printouts of the attractions, and he said she bent over backwards to ensure a wonderful stay.
- Room 4/5: Every room is 90 square meters with a Western living area, a tatami room and a bedroom with proper beds. Kinu, the VIP room, was renovated in October 2024 in a low-key modern Japanese style with the latest technology and artistic touches, and it is the one with the open-air bath and the hot-stone spa. Next to Atamiso's traditional rooms, which show slight signs of age, KI-NRT found these the more modern and better equipped.
- Place 3/5: Suzukane is in the town center of Bandai Atami, and its only outdoor space is an inner courtyard leading to the guest rooms, so there is no garden and none of the seclusion of Atamiso ten minutes away, whose manicured grounds KI-NRT calls spectacular. This is where Atamiso holds the edge for him: a more tranquil setting, and private dining where Suzukane's half-koshitsu arrangement lets the sound of neighboring guests intrude.
- Transit: Koriyama 0h25 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 2h10 (2 transfers)

## Gora Kadan Fuji — Lake Yamanaka area, Shizuoka (Chubu)
A · 8/10 · 42 rooms · Ryokan-hotel hybrid · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/gora-kadan-fuji
Gora Kadan opened its second-ever property in July 2025, a 42-room ryokan-hotel hybrid facing Fuji and big enough for a gym, a pool and three dining rooms. The one guest who has written it up found the stay exceeded his expectations and immediately rebooked a villa; KI-NRT, who has not stayed, expects at worst a Hoshino resort done right, and a 2026 guest called that very accurate. Only the Open-air Bath Suites and up have spring water in the room, so check the room grade before booking, and book the sushi or teppanyaki counter over the included kaiseki.
- Food 4/5: There are three ways to eat: the included kaiseki, the teppanyaki counter Fuji Kanda and a sushi counter run by Sushi Sho. Fc912 found the selection varied and enjoyed Fuji Kanda, and a June 2026 guest called the food outstanding. Web reports say the kaiseki is the weak point for a Gora Kadan and the counters are where the kitchen is strongest, so the sensible pattern is kaiseki one night and a counter the next.
- Bath: The property drilled its own spring 1,500 meters down, and the onsen feeds a bath building with indoor and open-air baths, saunas, an indoor pool and a Fuji-facing infinity pool, plus in-room baths in every suite. Which grades get spring water in the room is not published, and KI-NRT had heard the standard suites' view baths are plain well water, so ask. Nobody has described a soak here, though Fc912 rebooked the hare villa for its onsen pool.
- Service 3.5/5: Fc912, who stayed a few months after the July 2025 opening, hit some service issues, though in his view none significant enough to complain about and the kind of thing a new ryokan irons out within a few months. Nobody who has stayed since has written about the service.
- Room 4.5/5: The build quality struck Fc912 as top notch, and a June 2026 guest called the rooms beautiful. The ground-floor rooms with stone baths have lovely garden views but no sight of Mt. Fuji, so if the mountain is what you came for, avoid them and book upstairs. The hare villa, which Fc912 rebooked for a return in April, is essentially a two-bedroom suite with a large onsen pool, and the Open-air Bath Suites run 136 to 139 square metres.
- Place 4.5/5: All 42 rooms look at Mt. Fuji, 12 km away, at Subashiri just south of Lake Yamanaka, with a Gora Kadan golf course next door. Fc912 found the views spectacular, though KI-NRT, who has not stayed, is not a huge fan of Fuji from this angle compared with Lake Kawaguchi's. Fuji is a daily coin flip: a June 2026 guest got only a glimpse through cloud, and the first winter's guests had no view one day and a glorious one the next, so book two nights.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h50 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h35 (0 transfers) · Hiroshima 4h20 (1 transfer)

## Yado Shiontei — Yonago, Tottori (Chugoku)
A · 8/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yado-shiontei
A 10-room crab ryokan that opened in 2021 in Kaike Onsen, with modern hardware built to a very high quality, all-suite rooms on the area's saltwater spring and service Fc912 called pretty perfect, but the crab itself ranked below Nishimuraya and Bouyourou for the two parties who tried it, at roughly double Nishimuraya's per-person rate. The building and the rare water justify a stay; if the Matsuba-gani course is what matters most, both reviewers point you elsewhere.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is a Matsuba-gani (snow crab) course served in one of five private dining rooms: sashimi, charcoal-grilled crab, shabu-shabu and the Koura Zake, where the crab head is grilled in its shell and cooked with sake poured inside, which KI-NRT found amazing. The kitchen brought the best out of the crab and the non-crab dishes were delightful, but he could not get Nishimuraya Honkan out of his mind, and Fc912 preferred the crab at Bouyourou.
- Bath 4/5: The water is Kaike Onsen's rare saltwater hot spring, found in the early 1900s by a fisherman who saw bubbles rising 200 metres offshore, and the area is considered a pioneer of thalassotherapy. Every room has its own onsen bath, there is no communal bath, and the single private rental bath was no bigger than the bath in KI-NRT's room and no more impressive. Fc912 was glad of it, because the baths in his room Kuon felt a bit cramped.
- Service 4.5/5: Fc912 found the service pretty perfect, and surprisingly flexible for a ryokan in a region that sees few Western guests. KI-NRT's own review says nothing about the service either way.
- Room 4.5/5: All ten rooms are true suites with in-room onsen, in a modern Japanese build of very high quality (impeccable, Fc912 said). The two Kihinshitsu (special rooms), Reirou and Kuon, are 150 square metres with indoor and outdoor baths and no shared walls. KI-NRT preferred Reirou, because Kuon is slightly less contemporary and has an Edwardian-style couch, and Reirou is at the end of the corridor, so he never heard a footstep.
- Place 3.5/5: The inn is on a main street in central Yonago among bland buildings, and from outside nothing says luxury. Inside it is an oasis of tranquility, with ikebana, small dry rock gardens, a little tea room where two corridors meet and a gallery of works by living National Treasures, though the grounds are not expansive. Matsue Castle, Izumo Taisha and the Adachi Museum garden are nearby, and Fc912 found the region peaceful with few tourists.
- Transit: Okayama ~2h15 (1 transfer) · Yonago/Miho Airport ~0h30 (0 transfers)

## Bettei Amafuru Oka — Ibusuki, Kagoshima (Kyushu)
B · 7.9/10 · 15 rooms · Auberge · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bettei-amafuru-oka
Bettei Amafuru Oka is a 15-room annex on a hill over Kagoshima Bay, the most upscale stay in Ibusuki, taking just four groups a day and grafted onto a half-dormant resort complex, but it has onsen in every room, the sunaburo-and-ceramic-spa circuit, warm Nepali-staffed hospitality and chef Kanemasa Matsumoto's serious French cooking. The bathing culture and the bay views make the stay, and the surrounding complex feels eerie, dated and underused.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is a choice of French, kaiseki or teppanyaki, and KI-NRT took the French at Céleste, where chef Kanemasa Matsumoto cooks with Kagoshima ingredients (Osumi eel, Yakushima tuna, Kuroge wagyu). There are fewer courses than a kaiseki but the execution was superb: foie gras and grilled unagi over scrambled eggs, kanpachi carpaccio with caviar and mango, and Ibusuki beef grilled over Sakurajima lava rocks. Breakfast is Western only.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every room has its own onsen, and in the Amafuru Suite it is a hinoki tub on the balcony with killer views over the bay, and KI-NRT found the water wonderfully silky. The rest is reached through the Bay Hills wing: several private onsens, Ibusuki's sunaburo (buried to the neck in heated volcanic sand for ten to fifteen minutes) and a ceramic spa where you soak among radiostone beads heated by spring water, which he found a striking detox.
- Service 4.5/5: Most of the staff are from Nepal, living in Japan with their families and fluent in Japanese, and KI-NRT did not miss native staff: Bichitra, Sunik and Sita served his meals with exceptional knowledge of each dish, and everyone was sweet, professional and eager to please. The GM says the property would not be viable without foreign help, and it takes only four groups a day, so he calls the whole thing a superb, hospitality-driven experience.
- Room 3.5/5: The 112 square metre Amafuru Suite is spacious and airy with natural light, a sunrise view over the bay from the balcony (where the onsen sits) and a complimentary minibar stocked with Krug, and the interiors were refreshed when the annex opened in late 2020. KI-NRT's reservation is that it feels more like a hotel room than a luxury ryokan, with mostly carpeted floors and furnishings that could sit comfortably in a four-star hotel.
- Place 3.5/5: The annex sits on a hill over Kagoshima Bay, with a Steinway in reception, and on its own side it is serene and soothing. It is grafted onto the former Greenpia Ibusuki, whose surgeon owner made part a cancer hospital and the rest the 103-room Bay Hills hotel, nearly empty when KI-NRT stayed, so the vast, dated public areas you cross to the spa and restaurants feel eerie and underused, though they hold a library, a golf simulator and a theater.
- Transit: Kagoshima ~1h (0 transfers) · Fukuoka ~2h30 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki ~5h10 (3 transfers)

## Fufu Kawaguchiko — Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi (Chubu)
B · 7.9/10 · 32 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fufu-kawaguchiko
Fufu Kawaguchiko is the Fufu group's flagship, a modern, youthful hotel-ryokan hybrid that KI-NRT calls the only choice for luxury travelers in the Fuji Five Lakes, though a slight notch below Fufu Nikko in most aspects. Everyone likes it and nobody is blown away. His reservations center on the noisy, crowded dinner room and on service that is polished but impersonal for 32 rooms, and the famous view is partially blocked by trees. Book the highest floor you can, ideally one of the two top suites with the open-air onsen bath.
- Food 4/5: The kitchen does innovative modern kaiseki that stays Japanese: udon made partly from charcoal so the noodles are black, several courses of Fujinosuke (a salmon and trout cross), and KI-NRT found it mostly successful in balancing creativity with flavor. The champagne and Bordeaux list is deep, and Morita-san's fruit cocktails match Tokyo's best bars. The one drawback is the dining room, where two seatings pack the tables and it gets noisy.
- Bath 3.5/5: The two 136 m² Luxury Premium Suites, the rooms KI-NRT tells you to book, have their own open-air bath of natural hot-spring water and a large balcony with a panoramic view of Mt. Fuji. Beyond noting that the bath is there, nobody who has stayed has written anything about the bathing itself.
- Service 3.5/5: The staff are mostly young, which gives the place a casual, energetic feel without any snobbery, and the service is attentive and well coordinated: a 2024 couple got a warm welcome and a visit from the GM during dinner. KI-NRT found it lacks the personal touch of the finer family-owned ryokans and is unbefitting a property of only 32 rooms, decent service but not the memorable kind; he also wanted the waiters trained to explain each dish.
- Room 4/5: The rooms are contemporary and bright, with greenery everywhere, and the ones to get are the two 136 m² Luxury Premium Suites, with a separate living room, an open-air onsen bath and a balcony facing Mt. Fuji. KI-NRT loved his but felt it lived more like 90–100 m², with a slightly claustrophobic bedroom. A 2024 guest's Comfort Suite showed some wear but was tasteful and comfortable. Ask for the third floor, which sees the lake and Fuji.
- Place 4/5: The hotel sits on a slight rise about a mile back from Lake Kawaguchi, with a good but not exceptional view of Mt. Fuji on a clear day: tall pines on a neighbor's property block the left side (the owner declined to have them cut), so the higher floors see more. The shore is a five-minute ride on one of the hotel's e-bikes, and KI-NRT says nothing beats the Lake Kawaguchi area, with Chureito Pagoda nearby, for the most picturesque views of Fuji.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h (0 transfers) · Kyoto 4h15 (1 transfer)

## Hotel Iyaonsen — Miyoshi (Iya Valley), Tokushima (Shikoku)
B · 7.9/10 · 20 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Top room #505 (open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hotel-iyaonsen
A 20-room hotel perched over Shikoku's remote Iya Valley that KI-NRT calls a great experience even though, as luxury ryokans go, it is on the lower end of the scale: the incredible gorge setting (astonishingly gorgeous in fall foliage season) and the cable-car ride down to the riverside baths on the valley floor more than make up for the minor shortcomings, and both the service and the kitchen impressed him more than he expected. He would return. Try for Tamayura (Room #505), the only room with an en-suite open-air onsen bath.
- Food 4/5: The kitchen focuses on local ingredients and recipes. The first dinner blew KI-NRT away, with salt-grilled amago (a river trout) that was full of flavour and edible from head to tail, Iya soba made from 100% buckwheat, pike conger, and raw konjac and raw yuba served like sashimi, which he called sublime. The second dinner dipped, with a frozen-tasting udon, and he suspects most guests stay one night so the kitchen has few Plan B dishes.
- Bath 4.5/5: The baths to use are down on the valley floor, reached by cable car: separate men's and women's communal onsen plus private rental baths, all on natural hot-spring water that KI-NRT found amazing, soft and slippery, with the river flowing right in front of you. The open-air bath on the deck of the top room Tamayura is not free-flowing, so you fill it from scratch each time, and the shower is outside too, painful in the dead of winter.
- Service 4/5: KI-NRT came away impressed by the level of service over a two-night stay, which more than met his expectations for a hotel this remote, though he does not single out any one gesture or member of staff.
- Room 3.5/5: Of the 20 rooms, the one to try for is Tamayura, a top-floor corner suite and the only room with an en-suite open-air onsen bath. At 47 square metres it is not massive and smaller than top rooms elsewhere, but the open layout (living room, a nook for the valley view and the sleeping area) made it feel bigger than the number suggests. The decor is Japanese but modern, in earthy tones with plenty of natural light, and it seemed fresh and new.
- Place 4.5/5: The hotel is perched over the Iya Valley, a remote mountainous part of rural Shikoku, and the view down the gorge is incredible, astonishingly gorgeous in fall foliage season. Getting there is part of the adventure: the road in is twisty and in places only one car wide, and you need a rental car, since nothing except the Peeing Boy statue is within walking distance. KI-NRT found the hassle added to the charm of being somewhere so remote.
- Transit: Okayama ~2h20 (1 transfer) · Tokushima ~2h (1 transfer)

## Kagaya Bettei Matsunomidori — Wakura Onsen, Ishikawa (Chubu)
B · 7.9/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kagaya-bettei-matsunomidori
The 31-room luxury annex of the giant Kagaya, which KI-NRT calls the top ryokan in Wakura Onsen hands down, with museum-grade art in the public areas, gracious staff and fine Noto seafood. His December 2023 return did not live up to the fond memories of 2016, because the push-button in-room bath is a real flaw at this level, and he now places it a step below some of his other recent top luxury stays. For now the point is moot, because Matsunomidori is being demolished after the 2024 Noto quake and Kagaya is consolidating it into a new building of about 40 rooms due at the end of FY2027.
- Food 4/5: Noto seafood is what the kitchen does best, and both meals are served in a private dining room. The sashimi, the amaebi sweet shrimp above all, was sublime on KI-NRT's 2023 stay, and so was the boiled kano-gani snow crab, though not every dish was exceptional and the breakfast portions ran small. In crab season you can choose a standard kaiseki instead of an all-crab menu, and he doubts the crab course would match Nishimuraya Honkan or Bouyourou.
- Bath 3/5: The in-room bath is the biggest shortcoming. Onsen does not flow into it continuously; you push a button to fill it with hot-spring water, the temperature is not regulated, and once it goes lukewarm you drain it and start again, so get in the moment it is full. KI-NRT calls this a real hassle and unacceptable at a luxury onsen ryokan, and not all rooms have an onsen bath. The communal open-air bath gets around it.
- Service 4/5: KI-NRT describes the service as incredible, competent, gentle and graceful, and the polish he found in 2016 still held on his December 2023 return. Everything in the minibar is free, and the lounge serves coffee, tea and manju all day at no charge. Only guests aged 13 and older are allowed, so it stays tranquil for couples. Make sure you book Matsunomidori and not the main Kagaya next door, which is the normal version run by the same owner.
- Room 4/5: The top room, the 140m² Special Room with Open-Air Bath, has a living room, a tatami room and a separate bedroom, and apart from the tatami room it is carpeted and furnished Western-style, with beds instead of futons. Everything was in tip-top shape on KI-NRT's 2023 stay, but the room felt a tad dated to him, the shower tiles among the elements that have not aged well. The standard rooms have the checkerboard tatami Matsunomidori is known for.
- Place 4.5/5: The public areas are massive and amount to an indoor museum of ceramics and Wajima-nuri lacquerware, the work of the craftsman Kado Isaburo above all. Outside is the renowned garden of manicured pines, fronted by Tokuryoan, a historic tea house built by the Maeda clan and moved here when the ryokan opened, with stupendous views across the sea to Noto Island; book the tea ceremony early. Wakura Onsen itself never became a walkable onsen town.

## Nakanobo Zuien — Arima Onsen, Hyogo (Kansai)
B · 7.9/10 · 50 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/nakanobo-zuien
A 47-room adults-only inn from 1868 in the heart of Arima Onsen, run as a polished hybrid hotel with carpeted halls, a public cafe and a gift shop, and nothing like an intimate ryokan. Its 2023-renovated VIP rooms have their own Kinsen and Ginsen stone baths, a twin-water combination no one else in town offers, and in one of those rooms KI-NRT calls it possibly the best choice in Arima. Across two visits a decade apart his verdict is warm but measured, a solid luxury pick when you are already in Kansai, though he is not sure he would go out of his way for Arima.
- Food 4/5: Dinner was fantastic, particularly the teppanyaki. The cold chawanmushi, the sashimi platter and the seared Kobe beef nigiri were standouts, and the scallops, romaine and shimeji mushrooms cooked in butter were surprisingly delicious. The Kobe filet was excellent but not the top grade they offer, so KI-NRT would order the Chateaubriand every time. He preferred the food here to Gosho Bessho's, and breakfast was hearty but drew no wow.
- Bath 4/5: The VIP rooms have both of Arima's waters on the deck, a Kinsen (the golden spring, iron-rich water that turns reddish-brown in the air) and a Ginsen (the clear silver spring) in stone tubs, and no other inn in town offers the pair. The water is 100% pure onsen but recirculated (junkan) and not continually fed kakenagashi, which KI-NRT suspects is true of every luxury inn in supply-limited Arima, and the temperature was right for long soaks.
- Service 4/5: Ms. Kominami, who took care of the meals, was a highlight of the stay, enthusiastic, patient with KI-NRT's many questions about the dishes, and attentive, serving a refill of sake within minutes of the request. The property runs more like a hotel than a ryokan, with shoes staying on until you reach your room, and it is adults-only (guests must be at least 13).
- Room 4/5: The VIP rooms are the ones to book. Wako, 119 m², has a Western-style living room, a tatami room, a separate bedroom with two double beds, two toilets and a deck with the Kinsen and Ginsen stone tubs; Atago, 99 m², combines the living and tatami areas into one space and has one toilet, but the tubs are the same size and the experience the same. Both were renovated in 2023 and have modern comforts without the musty smell of older properties.
- Place 4/5: The location is the main advantage, in the heart of Arima Onsen adjacent to the main street, with the shops, restaurants, cafes, temples and museums at your doorstep, a convenience KI-NRT says cannot be overstated. Arima is one of Japan's top three hot-spring towns, though KI-NRT has never been particularly fond of the town itself. The inn has its own garden, lit at night, but with 47 rooms and carpeted floors it has the feel of a hotel.
- Transit: Osaka 1h05 (0 transfers) · Kobe 0h35 (1 transfer)

## Yoyokaku — Karatsu, Saga (Kyushu)
B · 7.9/10 · 19 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yoyokaku
A 19-room inn in Karatsu, Saga, formed in 1893, with museum-grade Meiji-era architecture, a magnificent old-pine garden, a Karatsu pottery gallery and excellent in-room kaiseki from the local catch, at prices near the very bottom of the high-end range. The retired chairman lives on site and will happily host guests for hours in good English. KI-NRT calls it one of his most authentic ryokan stays ever, and Michaeljinnyc pronounced it sublime. The one drawback is that there is no onsen anywhere on site.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is kaiseki from the waters around Saga, served in your own room. KI-NRT called it excellent: okoze came as sashimi and battered and deep-fried, and there was ikejime grouper ara-ni, the fatty meat around the bones, simmered. It was not the best kaiseki he has ever had, though local delicacies are part of the appeal of rural Japan. Breakfast was creative too, with a firm, dashi-infused tofu the highlight.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen anywhere at Yoyokaku, and the tub in the room and even the communal bath run ordinary heated water. KI-NRT calls that a bit of a downer, and says an onsen would be especially welcome for a stay in the colder months.
- Service 4.5/5: The retired chairman, Akihito Okouchi, still lives on site and hosted KI-NRT for several hours with tea and sweets, then walked him through the property explaining its craftsmanship and history in good English. Ask to meet him, because he loves interacting with guests. The okami, his daughter-in-law, is a former English teacher and fluent, and KI-NRT found the staff throughout charming, elegant and sophisticated.
- Room 4/5: Tonbo (room 211) is a ground-floor corner room with an awesome view of the garden, tatami with a low table and zabuton cushions and no sofa, chairs or beds, and the futons go down after dinner in the room's second section, so the table stays put. KI-NRT found none of the usual old-inn compromises (creaky floors, thin insulation, slow internet), and the WiFi was lightning fast. The bathroom has a single sink and a plain, non-onsen tub.
- Place 4.5/5: Yoyokaku was formed in 1893, and each step down its wooden corridors made KI-NRT feel he was slipping back to the Meiji era. The magnificent garden is dominated by old matsu pines, which give the inn its sense of place, and the ground-floor rooms open onto it. A small gallery shows Karatsu-yaki pottery by local artisans. It is a few blocks from the sea (you can sometimes hear the waves) and from Karatsu Castle, which is not visible from the inn.
- Transit: Fukuoka 1h15 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h25 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h (2 transfers) · Kumamoto 2h35 (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 5h (3 transfers)

## Zaborin — Niseko, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
B · 7.9/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/zaborin
Zaborin has been Niseko's established luxury ryokan since 2015, with fantastic hardware, two onsen baths in every room and a loyal following, and the three guests who reviewed it here enjoyed it, one calling it a contender for KI-NRT's top ten. But the food and service reports have turned mixed, founder Shouya Grigg now calls neighbouring Shiguchi the ryokan he always wanted to make, and the most recent visitor, who did both back-to-back, would give a single Niseko night to Shiguchi.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is mostly traditional kaiseki, and there is a private meal at an irori hearth that cristmh found very unique. Reports differ by year. cristmh had incredible food in 2019, Fliar excellent food in autumn 2024, and mattjp in 2025 got a meal that was perfectly fine and not particularly memorable next to the terrific modern tasting menu at Shiguchi next door. KI-NRT has heard mixed reports on the food from Japanese travellers.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every room has two gensen kakenagashi onsen baths, real source-fed hot spring water flowing through, one indoors and one outside on the spacious deck, so you bathe without leaving your room. cristmh called the rooms with their indoor and outdoor onsens amazing, and Fliar singled the two baths out as well.
- Service 3.5/5: Service is the weak point. Fliar found the staff very good and mattjp had no particular misses, but housekeeping did not impress Fliar, and mattjp found the service at Shiguchi next door meaningfully better. luckypeach skipped a planned 2020 stay after Japanese reviewers reported a service drop with pandemic staff turnover, and says it was never celebrated for service anyway, with check-in at a lobby counter and nobody walking you to your room.
- Room 4.5/5: The rooms are the strongest thing here, amazing in cristmh's words and very spacious at around 120 square metres with a large deck, and mattjp, who stayed at Zaborin and Shiguchi on consecutive nights, gave Zaborin a slight edge on hard product. Fliar's one gripe was a living room too sparse even by minimalist Japanese standards, where some ikebana or a few art works would not have gone amiss. luckypeach calls the hardware fantastic.
- Place 3.5/5: Zaborin is a very modern build in the Niseko countryside at Kutchan, designed by the Sapporo architect Makoto Nakayama with founder Shouya Grigg, understated and beautiful, though mattjp found it quite hotel-like beside Shiguchi, which looks as if it had stood there for 50 years. The location is beautiful, and the approach from Chitose passes through the national park, which Fliar enjoyed for the autumn colours even though the road was very busy.
- Transit: New Chitose 2h (0 transfers) · Sapporo 2h30 (0 transfers)

## Akan Tsuruga Besso Hinanoza — Lake Akan, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
B · 7.8/10 · 25 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/akan-tsuruga-besso-hinanoza
A 25-room ryokan that is the top (and probably only) luxury option on Lake Akan, with terrific Hokkaido kaiseki, a free-flowing onsen bath in every room and an interesting corner of eastern Hokkaido with Ainu culture and marimo on the doorstep. Service is the weak point, corporate and unpolished on both stays in the thread. KI-NRT called it a great, memorable stay, though two years later he summed it up as really nice, with nothing that knocked their socks off.
- Food 4.5/5: The kaiseki is terrific, and the kitchen does a wonderful job with Hokkaido ingredients: okra, butterbur, sweet corn and bamboo shoots, plus salmon, whelk and sea urchin. KI-NRT put the charcoal-grilled Kuroge wagyu almost at Hida and Matsusaka level, unusual for Hokkaido beef. Breakfast is equally inspiring, with never-frozen ikura so plump he had two helpings of rice heaped with it and called it sublime. A 2024 guest found the food superb.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every one of the 25 rooms has its own onsen bath, and in the suites it sits out on the deck, free-flowing and not recirculated, which KI-NRT called perfect. There is also a communal daiyokujo, but because every room has its own bath it was empty every time he went in. A 2024 guest called the bath facilities excellent and singled out the stone sauna, where you put on a towel dress and lie on the stone on another towel.
- Service 2.5/5: Service is the weak point on both stays. KI-NRT found it fine but formulaic and less personalized than at top ryokans, which he puts down to the inn not being family owned, and the meal servers kept having to check with the kitchen on questions he expects answered on the spot. Michaeljinnyc had it worse in 2024 and called it the worst service of his ten-plus stays, with cold, aloof local staff and foreign staff who misunderstood requests.
- Room 4/5: Four of the 25 rooms are 110-square-metre Tokubetsu-shitsu (the Ama no Za suites), and KI-NRT's, the Hina no Za, had a living room, a tatami room and a separate bedroom in high-quality Japanese-contemporary decor, with the onsen bath on the deck and two toilets (but curiously only one sink). He thought the suite was really nice. A 2024 guest found the standard rooms spacious and well maintained, down to tower speakers and a stack of jazz CDs.
- Place 3.5/5: Hinanoza is a nondescript seven-story building steps from the Lake Akan shore, with Ainu wood carvings through the common areas. Almost everything is a short walk away: the Ainu Kotan village with its craft shops and museum, lake cruises, forest hikes and the marimo, ball-shaped green algae. In February the frozen lake hosts a nightly festival with fireworks and Ainu dances. The town is one main street, and a 2024 guest found most of it closed.
- Transit: Kushiro ~1h10 (0 transfers) · Sapporo ~4h30 (0 transfers)

## Arcana Izu — Yugashima, Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka (Chubu)
B · 7.8/10 · 16 rooms · Auberge · in-room onsen: Yes (deck, top suite)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/arcana-izu
A 16-suite auberge above the Kano River whose French-Japanese kitchen KI-NRT ranks with the best restaurants of Tokyo and Paris. Everything else trails the food, since the rooms are comfortable but dated, and an October 2025 guest found the room tired and the service transactional. With Asaba fifteen minutes away, it works best as a one-night fusion interlude between traditional ryokans, and KI-NRT is not sure it is worth going out of your way for on its own.
- Food 5/5: The French-Japanese cooking is why you stay, and KI-NRT puts it with the best restaurants of Tokyo, Paris and Rome. The sauces are fused with dashi, so even cream or tomato sauces carry umami, and many dishes are created for one season and never made again. Breakfast is nearly as noteworthy, with wasabi you grate yourself and a hearty lettuce-and-whitebait soup. Even Fc912, whose October 2025 stay was a letdown, found the food excellent.
- Bath 4/5: Every suite has its own free-flowing kakenagashi onsen bath on a terrace over the Kano River. In The Suite it is a massive and wonderful open-air bath on the deck with views of the river and the forest beyond, which KI-NRT found a great place to unwind. There is no communal bath, and no lobby or common area either, since the property is a few room buildings and a separate restaurant.
- Service 3/5: Service is the weak point. KI-NRT's two 2021 stays passed without complaint, but Fc912, who stayed in October 2025, found it transactional: the wooden plate holding the amuse-bouche was covered in spider webs, and when he pointed it out the waitstaff simply said sorry and neither the manager nor the chef followed up, which was not a language issue since he speaks Japanese fluently. Ikyu's guests are warmer and give it 4.69 over 51 reviews.
- Room 3/5: The rooms are comfortable, airy and tasteful, with large windows and river views, but the property shows its age. The Suite, the top category, is 86.4 square metres and open-plan, which KI-NRT found not quite wow-inducing next to rooms well over 100 square metres, and the bathroom tiles look like they are from the turn of the century. The lower categories are far less spacious and darker, so book a top suite. Fc912 found the room tired in 2025.
- Place 4/5: Arcana sits above the Kano River in Yugashima, and all sixteen suites face the river and valley below with the mountains and forest beyond, a setting KI-NRT says will lower anyone's heart rate by a few notches and should be stunning in autumn. There is no lobby, common area or grounds, only the room buildings and the restaurant, and he found it all good but nothing that stands out against Japan's top ryokans. Asaba is fifteen minutes away.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h05 (1 transfer)

## Bettei Oborozukiyo — Dogo Onsen, Matsuyama, Ehime (Shikoku)
B · 7.8/10 · 19 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (indoor + open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bettei-oborozukiyo
A 19-room inn five minutes' walk from Dogo Onsen Honkan, built in 2015 with a classic look but a fresh, modern feel, and KI-NRT calls it far and away the top luxury option in the town. Every room has its own open-air onsen fed by the same spring as the Honkan, and an Iyo beef shabu-shabu hot pot stood out in a delicious kaiseki dinner. He still routes Shikoku itineraries through it years later, as the base for a Matsuyama swing, though he does not treat it as a destination in itself.
- Food 4/5: The kaiseki is locally sourced and super fresh, with awesome seafood (some of it served as sashimi) and an Iyo beef sirloin shabu-shabu hot pot that KI-NRT called a great way to enjoy the local meat. He found the meal delicious and beautifully presented, though not the best he has ever had, and meals are served in private dining rooms, where his one nitpick is that he would have preferred to eat in his own room.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every room has at least one open-air onsen bath, and the water comes from the same source as the Dogo Onsen Honkan. KI-NRT's Oborozuki Suite had two free-flowing baths, a small open-air one for a single person and a much larger one that can be enclosed or opened up with sliding glass; he kept the small one hotter for warming up and the big one cooler for a long soak, which he called pure bliss. There is also a communal bath, which he did not try.
- Service 4/5: Dinner and breakfast were served by Riyo Miyauchi, a charming, engaging and enthusiastic young woman born and raised in the area, who answered a stream of questions about Ehime and its food, and KI-NRT summed the service up as friendly and attentive.
- Room 4/5: The top category is the G-Type Special Room with Open-Air Bath, and KI-NRT's Oborozuki (room 307) is a 94-square-metre suite, nicely laid out and tastefully furnished, with two onsen baths, two separate toilets (a favourite of Mrs. KI-NRT) and a bedroom completely closed off from the living area, so she could nap while he took a video call.
- Place 4/5: The inn is a five-minute walk from the centre of Dogo Onsen and its Honkan, the historic bath house that was a setting in Miyazaki's Spirited Away, and KI-NRT finds Dogo one of the more charming onsen towns in Japan, its restaurants, shops and cafes giving off a Taisho-era feel, though not quite as atmospheric as Kinosaki. With 19 rooms it is a big departure from the mega hotels in the area, and he says to make sure you visit Matsuyama Castle.
- Transit: Matsuyama ~0h25 (1 transfer) · Okayama ~3h10 (1 transfer)

## Kinugawa Kanaya Hotel — Kinugawa Onsen, Nikko, Tochigi (Kanto)
B · 7.8/10 · 41 rooms · Hotel · in-room onsen: No (hotel)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kinugawa-kanaya-hotel
Kinugawa Kanaya is a 41-room hotel billed as Japan's first Western-style luxury establishment, with shoes-on hotel formality, optional meals and a photogenic garden in Kinugawa Onsen near Nikko. KI-NRT put the kaiseki among the top five meals he has had at any top-flight hotel or ryokan in Japan, names the hotel among the few luxury ryokans with a teppanyaki table, and felt the service was perfect. He still gave it four stars rather than five, because the rooms run small for the exorbitant price and he would only maybe return, and that is what keeps the hotel from being an all-time great.
- Food 5/5: Dinner was the highlight of KI-NRT's stay, among the top five meals he has had at any hotel or ryokan in Japan, with not a single dish short of incredible. The first course alone ran from chawanmushi to ayu, and nothing was old-fashioned: each course was familiar yet prepared in an unusual way, above all a white-miso bouillabaisse of sea bream, prawn and scallops, the best soup he has had. He also lists it among the top ryokans with teppanyaki.
- Bath: Every room category has a private in-room onsen bath, on the balcony in some and inside the room in others, which is one of the few things that differ between them. Kinugawa Onsen water, an alkaline simple spring, fills two large communal baths above the river valley with an open-air section, plus a bookable private bath and a sauna. Nobody in the thread has described the water, the temperature or the view, so the bathing itself has no verdict.
- Service 4.5/5: KI-NRT felt the service was perfect: Kanaya manages the balance of formality and attentiveness with finesse and grace, without ever being stuffy about it. It runs as a hotel more than a ryokan, so shoes stay on at the entrance and you can book a stay without meals included.
- Room 4/5: KI-NRT's one complaint is the size of the rooms. All seven categories are 66 m² (only the John Kanaya Suite is bigger), differing only by floor, lounge access, balcony size and where the in-room onsen bath sits. For the exorbitant price he expected more: not claustrophobic, yet not roomy enough to laze in all day. His junior suite, unlike the dark common areas, was bright, airy and contemporary Japanese, with not a scuff mark in sight.
- Place 4/5: The view of the Kinugawa River and valley from most rooms is one of the three things KI-NRT says make the hotel stand out (with the food and the service), and there is a photogenic garden at the back. It is a classic luxury hotel from an earlier Western era, dark brown leather in the common areas, aging but in really good shape, and keeps its historic charm while adapting to the times. Kinugawa is an onsen town 30 minutes from central Nikko.
- Transit: Tokyo ~2h05 (0 transfers) · Utsunomiya ~1h20 (1 transfer)

## Kuramure — Otaru, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
B · 7.8/10 · 19 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kuramure
A 19-room modern retreat in Asarigawa Onsen, Otaru's only hot-spring village, five linked buildings along the Asarigawa river with a private onsen in every room. The one FlyerTalk account, an August 2025 stay before a 2026 renewal, calls the dinner, the breakfast and the river-view soaking tub excellent. Ikyu's crowd has been more mixed since then, with the bath their highest mark at 4.22 but food (3.55) and satisfaction (3.78) noticeably cooler and recurring complaints of dark rooms.
- Food 4.5/5: jtrader, the one FlyerTalk member to have stayed (August 2025), thought the dinner excellent, built on excellent local ingredients, and the breakfast too, though not quite as elaborate as elsewhere. All alcoholic drinks are included, and there is a lovely bar with a good selection of Nikka whiskies, where he never saw anyone else. Since the 2026 renewal Ikyu guests put the meals near 3.55 and repeatedly find the cooking short of the price.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every room has its own onsen, and jtrader's was indoors with a window that opens onto the river. There is a public onsen as well, which he found very nice and never shared with another person, and having both public and private baths was one reason he chose Kuramure over Zaborin. Since the 2026 renewal Ikyu guests put the bath at 4.22, their highest mark.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here. Ikyu guests since the 2026 renewal put it near 4.04, their second-highest mark after the bath.
- Room 4/5: jtrader's room was a suite of three rooms plus its own bath and quite large, and the in-room onsen at a window that opens onto the river, and the architecture throughout is very modern, by Makoto Nakayama. The rooms are the softest of the Ikyu marks since the 2026 renewal, near 3.91, because the kura (storehouse) concept makes them dark.
- Place 4/5: The property is very modern in its architecture and sits by a river outside Otaru, and jtrader never saw anyone else during his entire stay except a few arriving for dinner at the same time, a privacy he singled out. KI-NRT (who has not stayed) calls the immediate surroundings nicer than Ryotei Kuki's, though having been to Otaru three times he feels there is nothing else to see or do in the area. The Yoichi whisky distillery is not far away.
- Transit: New Chitose 1h15 (0 transfers) · Sapporo 0h40 (0 transfers)

## Osteria Sincerità — Akayu Onsen (Nanyō), Yamagata (Tohoku)
B · 7.8/10
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/osteria-sincerita
Osteria Sincerità is a three-room auberge ryokan on a town-centre lot in Akayu Onsen, built around chef Makoto Harada's Italian-Japanese counter cuisine and an undiluted source-fed cypress bath in every villa, 50 meters from its sister inn Yamagata The Takinami. There is no view and no garden, and KI-NRT considers the two-storey rooms more rustic-artistic than pure luxury, but the food is what brings people here, cooked from Yamagata's own ingredients by a chef who held a Michelin star in Niigata. It makes most sense as one night of a two-inn Akayu split.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is chef Makoto Harada's Italian-Japanese cooking at an open-kitchen counter (there is one private room, which KI-NRT got), built on Yamagata's wild vegetables, fungi, meat and river fish. Harada won a Michelin star at Il Riposo in Niigata before Takinami's owner gave him free rein here. KI-NRT found each dish a delight, the seared horse meat in a buckwheat galette possibly the best baniku he has tried. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.95.
- Bath 4/5: Each villa has a hinoki open-air bath fed with a continuous flow of 100% pure source onsen, straight from the spring, and Alba and Monte add a private steam sauna (Grano does not). The one shared bath is a private rental carved from a single giant slab of Mt. Zao volcanic stone, bookable in 50-minute slots, and with three rooms KI-NRT expects no trouble getting a slot. Ikyu guests give the baths a perfect 5.0 and single out the water.
- Service 4/5: KI-NRT found the service matched sister inn Yamagata The Takinami and then some, starting with a spread of welcome snacks. Foreign guests are rare and one staff member, Ms. Mamuta from Nepal, handles English. Ikyu guests put service at 4.84, their lowest mark here, and the reservation that recurs is the dinner format, which starts for all parties at once as a staged show that not every guest enjoys.
- Room 4/5: The three villas, Grano, Monte and Alba, are two-storey with two bedrooms and an open-air onsen bath, and each has a screen painting from the Takinami collection and a Finn Juhl Baker sofa, different in each room. Grano (135 square metres to the others' 150) is the only one with a dry rock garden. KI-NRT took Grano for the garden and calls the rooms more rustic-artistic than pure luxury, but found it comfortable. Ikyu guests give the rooms 5.0.
- Place 3/5: Osteria Sincerità sits on a small lot in the middle of Akayu town, with the restaurant and three villas around a small courtyard, outdoor seating with a firepit and a yurt-like tent that serves as the lounge. There is no garden, no view and no large communal area, and KI-NRT's advice is to walk 50 meters to Yamagata The Takinami and use its facilities. Ikyu guests put the facilities at 4.95 all the same.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h30 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 4h35 (2 transfers) · Kyoto 5h25 (1 transfer) · Sendai 1h35 (1 transfer)

## Fufu Nara — Nara, Nara (Kansai)
B · 7.7/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fufu-nara
A sleek modern Fufu resort in Nara with in-room open-air onsen even in the base rooms, and a restaurant set in a historic tea-house garden a shuttled five-minute walk downhill. Two member stays in late 2025 loved it outright, and one guest's five-out-of-five verdict put it among the top Fufu hotels, just below Nikko, on the strength of its service. KI-NRT has never reviewed a stay here and calls it hotel-like and corporate next to Tsukihitei's intimacy, so expect polish and comfort over old-Japan atmosphere.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is kaiseki one night and teppanyaki the next, and OWHKG2016 found both equally delicious and everything of a very high standard, though he prefers the food (and the decor) at Fufu Nikko slightly. Bristom called the food very good and liked finding his name printed at the top of the menu.
- Bath 4/5: Even the lowest-category rooms have their own open-air onsen tub off the bathroom, free-flowing and looking into bamboo forest, and both recent guests singled it out: Bristom for the view and easy access from the bathroom, OWHKG2016 because the outdoor bath was great. Neither has written about any shared bath.
- Service 4.5/5: Staff come out to meet arriving cars and park them, and when OWHKG2016's party of six arrived they checked which bags went to which room, so the luggage was already in place after a private check-in in the bar area. A chauffeured Alphard runs to the restaurant, with umbrella escorts in the rain. He called Miss Lin one of the best hotel staff he has ever had, and when he left his key in the car a clerk ran out in the rain to fetch it.
- Room 4/5: Modern, spacious suites with huge beds, and Bristom had the best sleep of his trip in one of the lowest-level rooms, which he still found nice. OWHKG2016's group took the lowest-category stylish suites (104 to 106), each with a different design and a sitting room that seats six adults comfortably, and his advice is that any room here is fine because there is no bad room to be had.
- Place 4/5: A big, spread-out modern property in Nara, where the restaurant is a five-minute garden walk downhill from the rooms (slippery in rain in geta and socks) inside a historic garden with a very nice tea house, which OWHKG2016 recommends touring if it is open. KI-NRT calls it sleek and new but hotel-like and corporate, without Tsukihitei's intimacy, and notes that luxury travellers to Nara are not spoiled for choice.
- Transit: Kyoto 0h45 (0 transfers) · Osaka 1h (0 transfers)

## Fujiiso — Yamada Onsen, Nagano (Chubu)
B · 7.7/10 · 24 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fujiiso
A historic Nagano inn with 240 years of pedigree and many repeat guests, which added two fresh, spacious suites in 2022 with source-fed onsen baths, so you can stay at a famous old ryokan without giving up comfort. The nakai service is stellar and the kitchen is creative with local produce. KI-NRT gladly drove the extra half hour for the experience and still recommends it in 2026, but says one night is enough unless you have a car, since off-season Yamada Onsen offers next to nothing.
- Food 4/5: Head chef Atsushi Fujimoto builds the meal on Nagano's produce and sansai (wild mountain plants), which in April meant white asparagus, bamboo shoots and nozawana at their peak. KI-NRT liked the grated white asparagus soup with uni and shiso flowers, the fried age soba-gaki, and Fujiiso's own signature dish, Ponpon Nabe, a fondue of skewers deep-fried in olive oil that looks far too heavy and turns out light. He calls the cuisine very nice.
- Bath 4/5: The onsen water comes straight from the source and flows freely into the in-room baths of the two Tokubetsu suites built in 2022 (some of the older rooms have the same feature): granite in the Fuji Balcony Suite and hinoki cedar in Yamazakura. The bathing area has large windows that open right up, so the soak turns into a half open-air onsen bath. Nobody in the thread has described a communal bath here.
- Service 4.5/5: A nakai-san (butler) is assigned to each room, and KI-NRT found both of his stellar: Mariko and Chie were elegant, charming and attentive, and they took their time deliberately explaining each feature of the rooms and each course at dinner and breakfast. Chie speaks good English and is usually assigned to foreign guests, so ask for her if your Japanese is not up to snuff. Meals are served in a private dining room (although not in your own room).
- Room 4/5: Book one of the two Tokubetsu Shitsu (special) suites built in October 2022, Fuji Balcony Suite and Yamazakura, which are fresh, stylish and much larger than the other rooms while keeping traditional Japanese decor. Fuji is the one to get, with 158 square metres against Yamazakura's 110 and a very nice entrance hallway. Both have a Western-style living room, a tatami room, a bedroom with Western beds and an onsen bath.
- Place 4/5: Fujiiso is the historic inn of Yamada Onsen, a small and sleepy hot-spring town 20 to 30 minutes by car from Nagano city. The lobby lounge is enormous for a 24-room inn, with an expansive viewing area that should be picturesque in summer and fall. Nearby Matsukawa Keikoku is a gorge counted among the most beautiful in Japan, but only with leaves on the trees; otherwise there is little to do, and KI-NRT says one night is enough without a car.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h20 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 2h (0 transfers)

## Isshin — Kirishima, Kagoshima (Kyushu)
B · 7.7/10 · 8 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/isshin
An eight-villa contemporary onsen ryokan (2008) at the foot of the Kirishima mountains that delivered almost everything KI-NRT hoped for: standalone villas, private dining rooms and slick source-fed water that he singled out for special mention. The one blemish was the policy of charging 440 yen for each extra bath towel, and a manager who simply said that two per guest is generally sufficient, which was enough that he would almost certainly pick Myoken Ishiharaso or Wasure no Sato Gajoen over a return visit, so it sits just under the region's established inns despite the quality of the stay.
- Food 4/5: All meals are served in a private koshitsu dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows over the water garden. The kaiseki dinner was satisfying, with classics such as shrimp tempura, and the Kagoshima A5 wagyu shabu shabu was outstanding: KI-NRT found the beef superb and the salt-dashi and sesame ponzu dipping sauces equally impressive. Breakfast was tasty but less memorable, and he would have preferred a better grilled fish to the standard salmon.
- Bath 4.5/5: Every villa has its own source-fed onsen bath out on the patio (Kobai, the top room, has an indoor bath too), large enough for two or three people. The water is pumped from 1,200 meters directly below the property and is so slick and moisturizing that KI-NRT and his wife skipped lotion afterwards. There is no communal bath and no rental bath, but he thinks the in-room furo should satisfy the most discriminating onsen aficionados.
- Service 3.5/5: You have dedicated servers for both dinner and breakfast, and their knowledge and engaging personalities made for easy, enjoyable conversation about the area and the food. The one real blemish was the towel policy. When KI-NRT asked for extra bath towels (his wife folds them under her back in bed), they charged 440 yen per towel, and the manager simply replied that two per guest is generally sufficient, which he found cheap and petty.
- Room 4.5/5: Even the base rooms are standalone villas with a 70 square metre footprint, in a contemporary Japanese-modern style. KI-NRT stayed in Kobai, the top room, refurbished in 2023, with a large deck and garden off the living room, a Ryoanji-style dry rock garden by the bedroom, a sunken table, and indoor and outdoor onsen baths. It felt a bit like sleeping inside an art exhibit, and he ranks it with the top rooms at the best ryokans.
- Place 4/5: Isshin stands at the foot of the lush Kirishima mountains, about 30 minutes north of Myoken Ishiharaso and close to Kirishima's prime hiking trails, with Mt. Shimoe on the horizon. A water garden lies between the reception, lounge, dining area and villas, with a covered walkway hovering above it, and with the mountains behind it makes a charming picture, especially at night when the pool and walkways are lit. KI-NRT calls the setting serene.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h45 (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 0h55 (0 transfers) · Nagasaki 4h30 (3 transfers)

## Lamp no Yado — Suzu, Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa (Chubu)
B · 7.7/10 · 14 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No (very nice communal)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/lamp-no-yado
A 14-room ryokan of old Japanese buildings in a cliffside alcove at the very tip of the Noto Peninsula, built around a long pool that runs between the buildings and the sea. KI-NRT calls it unlike any other ryokan he has stayed in, with top notch food and aged buildings that are in very good shape while still exuding rustic charm, though he says it is not Gora Kadan, Ginyu or Beniya Mukayu. The January 2024 Noto earthquake left only minor damage, but the inn was last reported closed pending structural inspections and power, so check that it has reopened before you plan around it.
- Food 4/5: Meals are taken in a communal dining area, and only guests in the top room, Nami no Rikyu, have the option of eating in their room, which is what KI-NRT did. He had not expected the food to be on par with the very best in Japan and was pleasantly surprised: everything was top notch, if not as inventive or memorable as Gora Kadan, and it contributed to an overall great experience.
- Bath 4/5: KI-NRT calls the onsen very nice, with wonderful views of the rough Sea of Japan, and the property's long pool runs between the buildings and the ocean; he found the pool area beautiful and tranquil, and it is part of what gives the place its peaceful feel. Nobody in the thread has written about the water itself.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 4/5: Most of the rooms are very traditional, in old Japanese structures, and all of them have incredible views, including of the sunrise over the sea. KI-NRT had half expected the place to be run down and in dire need of a refurbishment given its age, but it was in very good shape while still exuding rustic charm, which he calls a tough balancing act to pull off. The top room is Nami no Rikyu, the only one with the option of in-room meals.
- Place 4.5/5: Lamp no Yado will make you feel as if you are at the edge of the world: it sits in an alcove below the cliffs at the very tip of the Noto Peninsula, looking like a small village from above, with wonderful views of the rough Sea of Japan. Non-guests are not allowed onto the property, adding to the exclusive feel. No rail lines run nearby, so you need a car, and with one you can see the Salt Village, rice terraces and samurai-era homes.
- Transit: Kanazawa ~2h35 (1 transfer) · Tokyo ~5h (2 transfers)

## NEOLD Private House — Yoshino, Nara (Kansai)
B · 7.7/10 · Villa retreat
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/neold-private-house
A one-party kominka retreat in sacred Yoshino that offers the widest range of traditional Japanese activities KI-NRT has seen anywhere: Noh, geisha, tea ceremony, calligraphy, river fishing, and a full Shogun experience with an Osaka action cast. He calls it one-of-a-kind and a must-visit for private cultural immersion, and he is certain to return. That verdict puts it higher than the lodging alone would, since the beddings trail the top houses and the baths are heated water with no onsen.
- Food 4/5: The GM, Kimihiro Ogino, is also the chef and cooking is his true love: he is a sushi master and will make whatever you ask, sushi, tempura, kaiseki or Western dishes. KI-NRT ordered the usual omakase kaiseki and found it handsomely presented and nicely prepared, with fewer courses than top ryokan kitchens, Yamato beef and vegetables from Ogino's own garden. Lunch the next day brought incredible kuzu soba, kuzu udon and tempura, all of it light.
- Bath 3/5: There is no onsen at NEOLD. The house has an indoor bath and an outdoor open-air bath, both heated water, plus a shower and another bathroom in the detached hanare, and KI-NRT mentions them only in passing.
- Service 4/5: KI-NRT found the service friendly and attentive, as it should be for a private house. The GM, Kimihiro Ogino, runs the place with three other staff, and Ahmed, an English speaker, comes from the Osaka office when foreign guests stay. Whatever activities you choose, they bring in the specialists: for the Shogun and Ninja days a cast of five actors and producers came from Osaka, and costumed vassals welcomed KI-NRT home as their lord.
- Room 3.5/5: The whole two-storey kominka is yours, with three bedrooms, a dining area around an irori hearth, a tea room, a counter dining room and a detached hanare with a basement bar; eight to ten people fit comfortably. The Shogun armor in the main tatami room is by the artisans behind the 2024 Shogun series, but beddings and toiletries fall a bit short of Asaba, and KI-NRT says you can do better for pure accommodation, though not in this region.
- Place 4.5/5: NEOLD is about 20 minutes by car from central Mount Yoshino, in the interior of the Kii Peninsula, one of the most sacred parts of Japan and uncrowded on weekdays. Yoshino itself is a World Heritage site with Kimpusen-ji temple and over 30,000 cherry trees in April. The grounds are vast, with a gorgeous Noh stage used for private performances and a lawn big enough to film a samurai battle on. Koyasan is 90 minutes away and Kumano Hongu 2.5 hours.
- Transit: Kyoto 0h45 (0 transfers) · Osaka 1h (0 transfers)

## Shiki no Yado Michinokuan — Shiroishi, Miyagi (Tohoku)
B · 7.7/10 · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/shiki-no-yado-michinokuan
A nine-room ryokan from 1985 near Shiroishi Castle that doesn't scream opulent luxury and doesn't need to, because it is wrapped in forest, serves both meals in the room, cooks delectable local food and is elegantly staffed. KI-NRT would return without hesitation, but only for one of the three suites with in-room onsen, ideally the top Akebono suite, renovated in 2024, because the six standard rooms share the communal baths and miss the point.
- Food 4/5: KI-NRT found the cuisine neither unique nor especially creative, but the kitchen puts great effort into local and seasonal ingredients and the result was delectable. The fava-bean tofu with dashi and soy-sauce jelly, the grilled Sendai kuroge wagyu steak and umen (a local noodle soup like somen but thicker, made without oil) were all excellent. Breakfast was standard Japanese, good but with nothing that stood out. Both meals come to your room.
- Bath 3.5/5: The three suites each have their own onsen bath, and in Yui Suite Shinonome it is indoors, though the large glass window can be opened for a semi-open-air effect. The other six rooms have no bath of their own and use the communal, gender-segregated onsen. KI-NRT looked forward to a soak before dinner on arrival, and he would return only for one of the suites so as to have the onsen in the room.
- Service 4/5: The house is elegantly staffed, with a waka-okami (proprietress-in-waiting) on hand and a nakai-san, Ms. Suzuki, attending the room and serving both dinner and breakfast there, the classic arrangement KI-NRT always seeks out. He calls it a charming and comfortable property.
- Room 4/5: Yui Suite Shinonome is more of a junior suite, with the bedroom only partly separated, but there is plenty of space in a Western-style living and dining room with a fireplace and a small tatami sitting area. The nits are cheap toiletries, a water-only minibar, and a drinks fridge by the communal bath that charges even for milk and yogurt. The top suite, the 110 m² Akebono, was fully renovated in spring 2024, and KI-NRT would book it next time.
- Place 4/5: You arrive to mountains and forest all around with no man-made object in sight, and the heart rate drops at once. Every room faces a small rear lawn surrounded by flowers, a sight to behold when the hydrangeas bloom. The exterior is traditional and the interior contemporary Japanese, simple and unpretentious with just enough style (wooden ceiling beams, paper-lantern lights) to add flavor, and Mrs. KI-NRT approved. Shiroishi Castle is close by.
- Transit: Sendai ~0h50 (1 transfer) · Tokyo ~2h25 (1 transfer)

## Yunohanaso — Nasushiobara, Tochigi (Kanto)
B · 7.7/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yunohanaso
A modern rural-Japanese onsen ryokan perched over the Hokigawa River in Nasushiobara, remote enough that most guests come purely for the springs, the food and the hospitality. The river is the attraction, with two large private rock baths on its bank and an open-air onsen on the top suite's balcony, and the kaiseki is careful and prettily plated. KI-NRT found the stay unexpectedly compelling, while an earlier visitor thought it solid but not distinctive enough to return to, and the spring water itself is honest but unremarkable.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is top-notch and prettily presented: a magnificent konbu-cured flounder with miso-vinegar dressing, a humble grated-corn soup with egg tofu and crab that made KI-NRT's eyes pop, iwana sashimi that was quite possibly the best he has ever had, and a simmered sea-bream head (tai kabuto-ni) that was the most impressive dish of all. There are few original creations, but each dish is made with great care, and zander86 also called the food great.
- Bath 3.5/5: The two private rock baths beside the Hokigawa River, Aoba and Momiji, are the highlight, massive and well designed with a hypnotic river view, especially after dark, and KI-NRT recommends a session even if your room has its own onsen. Seven of eleven rooms have an in-room onsen and the rest use the communal baths. The spring rises beneath the inn, but the water is neither silky nor sulfurous, and zander86 found his in-room bath a little cold.
- Service 4/5: Service is refined, with hospitable and charming staff in elegant silk kimonos, and KI-NRT compares the professionalism to Asaba. The welcome runs from two kinds of kuzumochi at check-in to small bites waiting in the room, and the lounge pours complimentary coffee, juice and beer, with whiskey and wine in the evening. Unusually, the same server (Ms. Watanabe) handles both dinner and breakfast, so your preferences are remembered the next morning.
- Room 4/5: Izumo, one of two premium hanare suites, is 118 m² of light wood with a living room, tatami washitsu, dining area and separate bedroom, plus an indoor onsen and an open-air one on the river-facing balcony, and KI-NRT says it had everything he looks for in a top suite. Musashi, the other premium suite, is 80 m² with the open-air bath only. zander86 stayed in the renovated Owari room and found it solid, though his in-room onsen ran a little cold.
- Place 3.5/5: The lounge, the private baths and the rooms all overlook the Hokigawa River with nothing but forest on the far bank, a soothing, mesmerizing view, and the modern rural Japanese building blends into its surroundings. A dilapidated building downriver is an eyesore if you lean out and look for it. Nasushiobara has none of the onsen-town charm of Kurokawa or Kinosaki and little nearby, so most guests come only for the springs, food and hospitality.
- Transit: Tokyo ~1h55 (0 transfers) · Utsunomiya ~0h50 (0 transfers)

## Auberge Yusura — Ise area, Mie
B · 7.6/10 · 5 rooms · Auberge · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/auberge-yusura
Yusura is a five-villa auberge near Ise Jingu, opened in 2018, with standalone rooms around a saltwater pond, each with an open-air bath of Sakakibara spring water trucked in from 45 minutes away, and a kaiseki kitchen led by a Kitcho-trained chef. Service is the standout, a gracious proprietress and a team wonderful with every age, while the kitchen falls short of its pedigree and the Matsusaka beef was the biggest letdown. Five rooms make a full buyout easy, and KI-NRT calls the whole setup hard to beat, so he has already booked a return visit with the same group.
- Food 3.5/5: The kaiseki comes from a head chef who trained at Kyoto's Kitcho, and KI-NRT had high expectations that the food fell short of: nothing was bad, but several dishes felt overly simple, such as the clam tamajime, which did not feel refined. The biggest letdown was the Matsusaka beef, which did not live up to its big-three wagyu reputation. Breakfast was satisfying but not standout, and he allows he may be judging harshly after years of top ryokans.
- Bath 4/5: Every villa has its own open-air onsen bath behind it, surrounded by gardens and high walls for full seclusion, but the property has no hot-spring source of its own: the water is trucked in from Sakakibara Onsen, about 45 minutes away and known for its silky texture, and it is not continuously flowing, a fairly common setup. Guests are advised not to rinse off after bathing, for the skin's sake. There are no other baths, communal or reservable.
- Service 4.5/5: Service is where Yusura excelled. Led by the gracious and personable proprietress, the team was warm, attentive and professional, and especially wonderful with the children in KI-NRT's four-generation group, going out of their way for guests of every age. His group had the whole property to themselves, which likely helped, but he doubts it would change much with other guests. Staff English is limited, and they rarely host international guests.
- Room 3/5: All five villas stand alone with no shared walls, facing the saltwater pond, but they are open-plan with no separate rooms, which is not KI-NRT's preference. Four are 65 square metres, adequate but a bit tight for a family; Keyaki is 80 square metres and the most private, though it feels much the same inside. A walking path runs between the pond and the three villas on the right, so if privacy matters book Keyaki or Kaede on the left.
- Place 4/5: Yusura opened in 2018 with a clean, modern look, and its five villas face a saltwater pond with a dry rock garden; the grounds are small but beautifully landscaped, and the main building holds a lounge and the dining area. The location was a major reason KI-NRT chose it: Ise Jingu, Toba, its aquarium and Mikimoto Pearl Island are all within 20 minutes, Amanemu is 45 minutes away, and you need a car for anything further on the Kii Peninsula.
- Transit: Kyoto 2h (1 transfer) · Nagoya 1h35 (0 transfers)

## Kayotei — Yamanaka Onsen, Ishikawa (Chubu)
B · 7.6/10 · 10 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (top room)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kayotei
A ten-room, family-run classic that delivers the traditional ryokan feeling in spades (riverside seclusion, antiques in the hallways, dinner in a private room), and KI-NRT still calls it a tad overrated, because across repeat stays it never excelled at any one thing: the food is good but not great, the rooms decent and minimalist, and the service not quite as personalized as you would expect from so small a family-run house. It is a lovely, authentic first ryokan for a traditionalist, but it is not a destination in itself, and he says the same of the whole Kaga area.
- Food 3.5/5: Kayotei serves traditional kaiseki, and in crab season that means a heaping helping of Zuwai-gani snow crab: sashimi, charcoal-grilled, crab meat and tomalley cooked over a lava rock, and a clear soup with crab-paste balls and yuzu that KI-NRT called simply divine. It was done very nicely, but nothing stood out as innovative, it missed his top five Japanese meals, and over repeat visits he has settled on good but not great, even in crab season.
- Bath 3.5/5: The Higashiyama Suite, the top room, has its own in-room onsen bath (hot-spring water, but indoors, with no open-air tub). Nobody in the thread has written about the shared baths.
- Service 3.5/5: The room attendant, Ms. Terue, was charming, warm and there to meet every need, and she also served dinner. Meals are served in a private room elsewhere in the building and not in your own room, which KI-NRT would have preferred, though at least guests are not made to eat together in an open dining area. His considered verdict over repeat stays is that service is not quite as personalized as you would expect in such a small, family-run property.
- Room 3.5/5: The Higashiyama Suite, the top room, is a spacious Japanese-style room with a wide balcony over the forest and a private onsen bath, and the furnishings are decidedly minimalist. One curious touch is a mini-room between balcony and living room with a Victorian-era table and chairs, old-school but hardly Japanese. The rooms are neither worn nor pristine, scuffed here and there, and KI-NRT says they lack the zen luxury some other ryokans convey.
- Place 4.5/5: Kayotei sits secluded on a beautiful stretch of serene river outside Yamanaka Onsen, and the architecture blends into the forest so well that KI-NRT calls the sense of place wonderful. The hallways are lined with antiques, hand-made pottery and traditional paintings, and the effect is of having gone back in time. Yamanaka Onsen is a sleepy little onsen town he found charming, and the Kakusenkei footpath along the river is a nice walk.
- Transit: Kanazawa 0h55 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 3h15 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 1h35 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h45 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h45 (4 transfers) · Kagoshima 5h15 (3 transfers)

## Kyo Yunohana Resort Suisen — Kameoka, Kyoto (Kansai)
B · 7.6/10 · 13 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kyo-yunohana-resort-suisen
Suisen is a real, source-fed hot-spring ryokan in the Yunohana Onsen area of Kameoka, 30 minutes from Kyoto by direct train, with an open-air onsen bath on the balcony of every one of its 13 rooms and a kitchen good enough that breakfast matched dinner. KI-NRT was plain that it is not a destination ryokan like the ones in his top ten. Given its proximity to Kyoto, legit onsen and succulent cuisine, he calls it a great option for people who want to try a ryokan without the time or energy to go farther afield, and a screaming bargain by Kansai standards, unusually cheap for what it delivers.
- Food 4.5/5: The kitchen does kaiseki with its own twists, and KI-NRT said it did not disappoint: steamed yuba over tofu mochi in a simple yet sublime dashi, simmered vegetables prepared to perfection, and mountain-yam paste with shrimp deep-fried with somen noodles. The only letdown was the octopus clay-pot rice near the end, a wasted slot in new-rice season. Breakfast was as delightful as dinner, down to a homemade corn dressing they bought to take home.
- Bath 4.5/5: The water is real, source-fed onsen, which is rare anywhere near Kyoto, where an "onsen" usually means water trucked in and recirculated. All 13 rooms have an open-air bath on the balcony, there is a private rental rock bath reached by an enchanting walk across the creek (paid by the hour, and worth it in KI-NRT's view), and a communal bath with indoor and outdoor tubs, which he had all to himself before dinner and called pure bliss.
- Service: A courtesy shuttle meets guests at Kameoka Station, the drinks in the minibar, including beer, are free of charge, and an array of Japanese treats is laid out on the table in the room. KI-NRT raised no complaints but wrote nothing specific about the staff, and nobody else in the thread has described the service here.
- Room 4/5: Even the entry-level rooms are over 50 square meters, each with an open-air onsen bath on the balcony. Of the two top categories, the 113 square meter Suisen Suite adds a tatami living room, dual sinks, more storage and a bigger balcony, while the 85 square meter Semi Suite was refurbished more recently (2021 vs 2013) and feels shinier, though the Suisen Suite did not feel in need of a refresh. KI-NRT's advice is to book the best available room.
- Place 3.5/5: The grounds are thin and long and compact, but they make good use of the space: a small creek runs through, with a dry rock garden on one side and a forested embankment on the other, and the garden is lit up at night. Kameoka is a perpetually foggy produce-growing valley on the outskirts of Kyoto, and KI-NRT would not advise first-time visitors to spend much time touring it, though the Hozu River boat down to Arashiyama is a fun, scenic outing.
- Transit: Kyoto 0h45 (1 transfer) · Osaka 1h30 (2 transfers)

## Ryokan Nishiyama — Onomichi, Hiroshima (Chugoku)
B · 7.6/10 · Traditional ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ryokan-nishiyama
A design-forward ryokan in suburban Onomichi, with standalone-house rooms up to 81 square metres, an all-day lounge of complimentary sake, beer and whisky, and a Japanese-French dinner with a wine pairing. The one party to review it, ten people at Christmas 2025, called it a highlight of their trip, with immaculate rooms and extremely high-level service. At $540–650 a night it is toward the affordable end for this quality; the suburban location, with no famous sights nearby, is the drawback, and that one enthusiastic stay is the only account so far.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is modern Japanese-French cooking, served to OWHKG2016's party of ten in a private room in the old wing, with a wine pairing offered and every other drink free of charge. He never saw the wine list, though he spotted Cristal, Gaja, Burgundy and Bordeaux in the cellar, so it is surprisingly well stocked. He was a big fan of the food, his wife, a pickier eater, enjoyed it less, and breakfast is a more traditional spread.
- Bath: There is no hot spring, and the water is heated, but the top rooms have a real bath product. Kiri has a hinoki open-air bath and an indoor tub, Ume has an iron-kettle open-air bath and an indoor one, and the house bath is run as a bookable private bath for the rooms without their own. The one detailed stay was in Sakura, which has no in-room bath, and it never describes bathing, so there is no first-hand verdict.
- Service 4.5/5: The manager, Son, received the party of ten warmly and led them to the lounge for matcha and snacks, and pre-arrival emails had always been promptly answered. OWHKG2016 called the service extremely high level, counted the stay among the highlights of a trip that also took in three Fufu hotels, and would not hesitate to return.
- Room 4.5/5: Wara and Matsuzake are standalone houses of 81 and 63 square metres, extremely spacious and the favourite room type of OWHKG2016's wife, while Asahi and Sakura share a building with a connecting door that opens on request. He liked Asahi upstairs best, because its sitting room looks over the lovely garden, though Sakura below has the better layout and bathroom. Every room the party of ten took was in immaculate condition.
- Place 3.5/5: Nishiyama is in a suburban part of Onomichi with few famous sights nearby, and OWHKG2016 did not know what to expect. Inside, the design is stunning, the reception doubles as a guest lounge where sake, beer, whisky and gin are complimentary all day, there is a lovely garden that the Asahi sitting room looks onto, and dinner is served in the old wing. He recommends anyone in the area or passing through to stay at least a night.
- Transit: Hiroshima 1h (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h20 (1 transfer)

## Yunotani Senkei — Totsukawa, Yoshino, Nara (Kansai)
B · 7.6/10 · 9 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: No (private open-air available)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yunotani-senkei
A nine-room cottage ryokan in remote Totsukawa, the highest-end base KI-NRT found within reach of Kumano Hongu Taisha, with fresh 2017 log cabins and a private open-air onsen he calls pure bliss, run by a loud, energetic and warm-spirited attendant. He says it is not on the same level as Gora Kadan or Wanosato, nor among the top five ryokans he has stayed at. Still, there were no service flaws to speak of, and it has a charm all its own. His stay came at the height of the pandemic in the fall of 2020, and he recommends it as a good luxury option for trekking part of the Kumano Kodo.
- Food 3.5/5: Meals are normally served in the main restaurant, but during KI-NRT's pandemic-era stay dinner and breakfast came to the room together on large trays left outside the door, bento-style and nicely done, though no substitute for a multi-course kaiseki. He found the food more than adequate: the meals made them happy and content and added to the stay, but not among the most memorable he has had, and he has eaten at Japan's finest ryokan kitchens.
- Bath 4.5/5: The suites have a beautiful and soothing private open-air onsen bath right in the suite's own garden, which KI-NRT sums up as pure bliss and recommends booking (in the thread he describes it as an open-air onsen available for private use, with no onsen inside the room itself). The public baths are wonderful as well.
- Service 4/5: Service was great, and the proprietress is not the usual unobtrusive, discreet hostess: she moves quickly, speaks loudly and in familiar Japanese, and is full of energy, which took KI-NRT aback at first, though she was warm spirited and did all she could to make the stay memorable, asking about plans and offering advice in a caring, never nosy way. His stay was at the height of the 2020 pandemic, so service was somewhat abnormal.
- Room 4/5: The nine cottages have a rural-modern feel, like a luxurious log cabin, and because the property only opened in October 2017 everything is fresh and spotlessly clean, with the amenities and technology you expect of a luxury place and a sense of place. KI-NRT stayed in Sumire, the top-category cottage suite, a relatively spacious 79 square metres with the private open-air onsen in its garden, a very comfortable place to pass the time.
- Place 3.5/5: Yunotani Senkei is deep in the mountainous interior of the Kii Peninsula, in Totsukawa, and its remoteness is part of its charm. KI-NRT chose it as possibly the highest-end ryokan within reach of Kumano Hongu Taisha and the Nakahechi trail, though the shrine is still a 30-minute drive, so you need a car (otherwise stay in Kumano Hongu proper). He calls it an excellent rural retreat in a beautiful, isolated area and would not hesitate to return.
- Transit: Osaka ~3h (1 transfer) · Nara ~2h30 (0 transfers)

## Gora Kadan — Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
B · 7.5/10 · 39 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: 1F rooms only
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/gora-kadan
A 39-room modern-Japanese ryokan in Gora and one of KI-NRT's 'Hakone holy trinity', with polished omotenashi, meals served in the room and onsen baths in the first-floor rooms only. It 'just missed my top ten' for him in 2022 and is still 'always a solid choice' in 2025, but by then members were asking about the many negative reviews of its condition, and the one dedicated review is a scathing late-2023 member stay (furniture falling apart, room not clean, food just OK) that urges others to avoid it. The service and the architecture seem intact, and the worry is the aging fabric.
- Food 3.5/5: KI-NRT calls the food good, and he values the ability to have meals served in your room, which few of the Hakone competitors offer. The one dedicated review, TBD's late-2023 stay, found the food just OK, and nobody in the thread has raved about this kitchen.
- Bath 4/5: Only the first-floor rooms have onsen baths; rooms on the second floor get regular hot water, so the room you are assigned decides your bath. The Kadan Suite Aoi has an open-air onsen bath in its own private garden.
- Service 4.5/5: KI-NRT calls the omotenashi first-rate and the service polished, and Gora Kadan is one of the few ryokans he knows (with Shinsen and Myoken Ishiharaso) where the nakai, your room attendant, escorts you through everything at the property instead of just serving dinner. The inn also welcomes small children, with child-sized yukata, slippers and geta. TBD, the one member with a dedicated review, found the service friendly but not personal.
- Room 2.5/5: Some of the rooms are quite small, and KI-NRT would go with Akebono or Akatsuki if they are available, and the Kadan Suite Aoi (private garden, open-air onsen bath) as a fallback. The condition of the rooms comes up again and again: TBD found his room in OK shape but the furniture falling apart and the room itself not clean, and by 2025 members were asking about recent reviews describing areas in need of repair and maintenance.
- Place 4/5: The architecture is modern Japanese, centrally located in Gora, and KI-NRT says it is exactly this architecture and ambiance that give Gora Kadan a slight edge over the plethora of competitors in the area; he groups it with Ginyu and Yama no Chaya as the Hakone holy trinity, and Hakone itself has plenty to do, with Mt. Fuji views from Lake Ashi and Owakudani. TBD found the atmosphere not very private.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h15 (1 transfer)

## Fuefukigawa Onsen Zabou — Koshu, Yamanashi (Chubu)
B · 7.5/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fuefukigawa-onsen-zabou
A winery-owned Koshu ryokan that gave KI-NRT a "fairy tale-like" stay, with mesmerizing pond-and-garden grounds and glorious bathing, let down by middling cha-kaiseki, the one flaw he wished away. Both reviewers agree the magic lives in the Kotogawa and Tsuzumigawa suites, and in a lesser room it is a different inn. At $450–650 a night it is near the bottom of this collection's range, which makes the food an easy flaw to accept.
- Food 3/5: Dinner is cha-kaiseki in a restored kominka farmhouse, with Maruki wines and a pairing option. KI-NRT found the food the weakest point of his stay: the clear soup with a chicken-stuffed lily-bulb manju and abalone was delicious and the handmade soba delightful, but the grilled amberjack was nothing special, the cedar-grilled Koshu beef tough and short on flavor, and the portions small. A 2024 guest also called it decent but not outstanding.
- Bath 4.5/5: The outdoor communal bath is a massive hybrid of pool and river that you can swim in, with a cave at the far end reached by wading up the onsen stream, and at night the whole area is lit up and hauntingly beautiful, so KI-NRT called it one of the most atmospheric onsen he has ever seen. Its water ran a bit lukewarm for him. Indoors is a large onsen, and the two top suites have a hinoki hot-spring tub on the balcony above the koi pond.
- Service 4/5: Service is elegant and graceful, and many of the staff were born and raised locally, take pride in their work and know the area in depth. KI-NRT spoke Japanese with them, so he cannot say how it goes in English, but a 2024 couple who spoke none found the language gap no problem at all because the staff tried so hard, and their winery tour was well organized, with a detailed translation of the Japanese-language guide.
- Room 3.5/5: Kotogawa and Tsuzumigawa, the two 73-square-metre suites, are the only rooms of 23 with the garden and lake view, each with a hinoki onsen tub on the balcony. The room itself does the job, tastefully furnished in muted tones, but has one sink, an older washlet and a deck shower with the head low on the railing, so KI-NRT crouched to rinse (a 2024 guest found that no chore). Entry rooms are not special in any way, so book a suite if you can.
- Place 4.5/5: A manicured garden and small koi lake, home to a pair of ducks, is the centre of the property, seen from the lounge and best of all from the two top suites, and all around are Yamanashi mountains and hills that are lush and rugged at once. The grounds are compact but artfully crafted, and KI-NRT found them mesmerizing and the inn unique and mystical. The salon pours unlimited free Maruki wine with wagashi, and the inn runs a winery tour.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h30 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 3h45 (2 transfers)

## Kumano Bettei Nakanoshima — Katsuura, Wakayama (Kansai)
B · 7.5/10 · 44 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Top room (Kihinshitsu) only
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kumano-bettei-nakanoshima
Kumano Bettei Nakanoshima is an island ryokan off Nachikatsuura, a five-minute boat ride from shore and the only luxury option near Kumano Nachi Taisha and Nachi Falls, built around a seaside onsen that KI-NRT calls really nice and, at its best, spectacular and mystical. Ultra-fresh Katsuura seafood and personable service are real strengths, but only one of the 44 rooms has an in-room onsen and the view is partly marred by oil tanks across the strait. KI-NRT calls it a good, relaxing base for exploring the area, and says to book Kihinshitsu, the top room, if you can.
- Food 4/5: The kitchen has its pick of Katsuura port: nama maguro, the local tuna that is never frozen before serving, served cutlet-style, and grilled abalone in the shell with butter. KI-NRT found the food really good and thoroughly enjoyed it, and while it was not the most creative of meals, it did not need to be. Meals are in the main restaurant, and the private dining rooms have no ceiling, so drunk guests were audible at dinner. Whale has appeared.
- Bath 4.5/5: The onsen is a seaside one, and KI-NRT calls it spectacular and mystical. Only one of the 44 rooms, the top-category Kihinshitsu in the Chomontei building, has an in-room onsen, and the bath in the other rooms is not spring water, so everyone else uses the communal baths or rents the private open-air onsen bath by the hour, which he found really nice with good views from the water and used twice in a one-night stay.
- Service 4.5/5: Service is a strong point. Everyone from the manager to the front desk to the wait staff was courteous, warm and personable, seemed to care about the stay, and was eager to explain the area, its history and the ingredients in each dinner course, and they allowed a late checkout, which KI-NRT notes cannot be taken for granted at Japanese ryokans. He was impressed that a hotel with this many rooms pulls off the personal touch.
- Room 3/5: KI-NRT's Luxury Deluxe Ocean View Room, the second category from the top, was modern and reasonably stylish with a good view of the ocean and the peninsula across the way. It had no separate bedroom and living room, which he prefers, and no large closet, so the rollerboard luggage sat on the living-room floor. The top category is a single room, Kihinshitsu, the only one of 44 with an in-room onsen, and it was not available when he booked.
- Place 4/5: Nakanoshima is a private island off the Kii Peninsula coast, a short boat ride from the mainland, and the only high-end choice near Kumano Nachi Taisha and Nachi Falls. The view across the strait is partly marred by two large green oil-reserve tanks on the facing peninsula, which the property can do nothing about. Take the short, easy hike from the roof of the building to the hilltop for a panoramic view, with a foot bath along the trail.
- Transit: Osaka ~4h10 (1 transfer) · Nagoya ~3h30 (1 transfer)

## Amakusa Tenku no Fune — Amakusa, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
B · 7.4/10 · 15 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/amakusa-tenku-no-fune
A 15-room contemporary-Western property above Amakusa bay, closer to a hotel than a ryokan, that KI-NRT found outstanding overall in 2021: incredible Italian-leaning cuisine, first-rate service and mesmerizing island-sea views, let down only by a dated build and no onsen. He would only maybe return, because the same owners opened Amanojyaku in 2023, which he expects 'likely outshines it in every way,' and that is where he now points people.
- Food 4.5/5: The cuisine was the highlight of KI-NRT's two-night stay in 2021, scrumptious high-end Italian fare built on Amakusa's famous seafood, and the uni pasta made with the local purple sea urchin is the dish he names: if you have never had uni pasta in Japan, you must try it. Four years later he still recalled the food as incredible, and he expects the same owners' newer Amanojyaku to be as wonderful, or even better if that is possible.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen here, which KI-NRT names as one of the two things that let the property down. The same owners' newer Amanojyaku nearby has onsen straight from the source in every room, which he calls a huge advantage, and that is part of why he now points people there instead.
- Service 4.5/5: The service was first-rate on KI-NRT's 2021 stay, and he still called it that when he looked back on the visit four years later. The property runs more like a hotel than a ryokan (shoes stay on except in your own room, and nobody really polices even that), and he had no complaints about the service.
- Room 3/5: The Island View Villa is generous at about 74 m² plus a 34 m² balcony, and most rooms are in a building behind the reception and restaurant with great views. The architecture and decor are thoroughly Western contemporary, but the build was already dated in 2021, the one flaw KI-NRT names besides the missing onsen, and the fresher, more luxurious sister property Amanojyaku is where he would stay now.
- Place 4.5/5: The ryokan sits on a commanding hilltop over Amakusa bay with sweeping views of the sea and the many small islands dotting it, and KI-NRT calls Amakusa breathtakingly scenic and puts it above the more famous Matsushima. He came through on a road trip around the Hidden Christian sites and the UNESCO World Heritage churches of Nagasaki. The same owners' newer Amanojyaku nearby has the same mesmerizing views of island-dotted sea.
- Transit: Fukuoka 1h55 (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 2h05 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h30 (0 transfers)

## Asan Kotonami — Kotohira, Kagawa (Shikoku)
B · 7.4/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/asan-kotonami
A 28-room modern onsen resort in rural Kagawa whose one extraordinary asset is a vast, exuberant bathing complex, the place KI-NRT calls the Disneyland of onsens, and the rooms have private outdoor onsen of their own besides. Rooms are new, cosy and very well kept, the service warm and the food decent, and at roughly 40,000 yen a head it is among the cheapest nights in this company. It is an onsen destination before it is a luxury one.
- Food 3/5: Dinner is cooked over an irori hearth: salted grilled ayu (sweetfish), miso-glazed tofu, and satoimo taro and konjac roasted over the coals. Meals are served in a semi-private room shared with two other tables, and OWHKG2016 found the food decent but nothing to write home about.
- Bath 5/5: The communal baths are what brings people here, and KI-NRT calls them the Disneyland of onsens: huge, indoor and outdoor, one the size of a small pool and another shallow enough to sleep in, with a fixed water pillow so your face stays above the water. The water is natural hot spring and there is plenty of it, flowing along the ground on the walk from the changing room. OWHKG2016 loved the baths here more than any on an eleven-night ryokan trip.
- Service 4/5: Service was very friendly and attentive on OWHKG2016's one-night stay, and the building, which opened in 2017, is new and kept in excellent condition.
- Room 4/5: The type-A rooms are relatively small but extremely cosy, functional and tastefully designed, each with a private outdoor onsen that OWHKG2016 particularly loved, and they sit to the side of the building so they get a private mountain view and more privacy. Type A is ideal for two people. The whole place opened in 2017 with a tasteful modern-Japanese look and is very new and very well maintained.
- Place 3.5/5: Asan Kotonami is a stylish mountain-hut-style resort on the outskirts of Manno, in rural Kagawa on Shikoku. The surroundings are quiet Shikoku countryside, and the side-facing type-A rooms get a private mountain view.
- Transit: Takamatsu 1h10 (1 transfer) · Okayama 1h30 (1 transfer)

## Hatago Wakatsu — Omihachiman, Shiga (Kansai)
B · 7.4/10 · 2 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hatago-wakatsu
A restored two-room former tatami shop on Omihachiman's canal, and a strong argument for staying the night in a town most visitors day-trip from Kyoto. The stepping-back-in-time setting and the straw-grilled Omi beef are the strengths, but the service was reserved and sometimes brusque and the bathing is in-room tubs only, which makes this a fine night out of Kyoto and no more than that. Book Ki-no-ma, which KI-NRT calls the clear winner of the two rooms.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is at a counter in front of an open kitchen, and Omi beef is the star: straw-grilled in front of you (incredible aroma), then miso-marinated, then in a tender dashi shabu-shabu. The lake fish are handled just as well (Biwa masu sashimi, tenaga ebi tempura, grilled hamaguri), though KI-NRT missed ayu and the duck course did not win him over. Breakfast (homegrown rice, homemade dashi) is careful but lighter on variety than the top kitchens.
- Bath 3.5/5: There is no onsen (Shiga has few hot-spring sources), so bathing means the in-room tubs, plain heated water, and they are the rooms' namesakes. Ishi-no-ma's bath is carved from a single massive stone from Kyoto's Kurama area, and Ki-no-ma's is a Koya-maki wooden tub made by an artisan who also crafts soy-sauce barrels. Member jiajin was instantly reminded of the stone bath here on seeing the in-room stone baths at Yamagata The Takinami.
- Service 3/5: Service was a mixed bag. The head chef explained each dish at lightning speed and disappeared before anyone could ask a question, and the other staff were polite but reserved and not especially proactive. Breakfast was a different experience thanks to Ms. Kawanishi, a Shiga local with solid English who is normally the main point of contact but was off on KI-NRT's check-in day, so it is worth checking that she will be around.
- Room 4/5: There are just two rooms in a restored 200-year-old sukiya residence, and the restoration never feels overdesigned. KI-NRT's party booked both and compared them directly. Ki-no-ma is a 96 m² detached villa with futons and an upstairs view over the Hachiman-bori canal, sakura trees at the windows. Ishi-no-ma (42 m², Western-style bed, garden view, no canal view) suits anyone who dislikes futons, but otherwise Ki-no-ma is the clear winner.
- Place 4.5/5: A gated back entrance opens straight onto the Hachiman-bori canal, and stepping out there the first time was a wow moment, with preserved buildings along the water and a real sense of the Edo period. KI-NRT loved the silent pre-breakfast walk to Himure Hachimangu Shrine. Omihachiman is one of the nicer heritage towns in Kansai, easier to reach than Tsumago or Magome and less crowded, though he ranks those two higher for atmosphere.
- Transit: Kyoto ~0h40 (1 transfer) · Osaka ~1h05 (1 transfer)

## Ryokan Suiranrou — Hitoyoshi Onsen, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
B · 7.4/10 · 30 rooms · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ryokan-suiranrou
Ryokan Suiranrou is the flagship of Hitoyoshi Onsen and the birthplace of the town's hot-spring culture, largely destroyed by Kumagawa River flooding and rebuilt in 2021 as a clean, modern 30-room inn. KI-NRT would not rank it among Japan's most luxurious ryokans, and he calls it exceptional value and a memorable onsen experience, with three distinct springs making up for décor that cuts corners. He found it a rewarding overnight for anyone routing through southern Kumamoto, though not a destination in itself.
- Food 4/5: Dinner at Dining Soho is a restrained kaiseki built on garden produce and Kumamoto ingredients: chawanmushi with eel and fine soba strands, a salt-grilled yamame trout and a hot pot of Miyazaki chicken. Nothing is extravagant, but KI-NRT thought the regional flavors came through well, and the slightly smaller portions were a blessing. The one drawback is the half-walled dining rooms, where a loud party next door carries through.
- Bath 4.5/5: The onsen is the highlight here, with three spring sources on one site, and guests can try all of them. Mikage-no-yu, the original bath from 1910, has the softest, skin-beautifying water, and its uneven Matsuyama granite gives it a retro feel; the two large communal baths, Suizan-no-yu and Suiga-no-yu, each have a sauna. Midori-no-yu has two private moor-water baths, rentable by the 50 minutes, which KI-NRT says are definitely worth paying for.
- Service 4/5: Ms. Yayoi, a 20-year veteran of Suiranrou, served KI-NRT's dinner and was one of the highlights of his stay: attentive, with deep knowledge of the cuisine, and she explained every dish down to where the nori came from (the Ariake Sea) with genuine enthusiasm. Nobody has written about the rest of the staff.
- Room 3/5: The top room is the 86 m² Luxury Japanese-Western Room, a junior suite with a free-flowing private onsen looking over the Kumagawa River, spacious and with lovely views. The décor felt a bit on the cheap side to KI-NRT, with faux wood paneling on the counters, plastic furniture disguised with wood trim and thin towels (the ones in the baths were little more than hand towels). He recommends a Deluxe or Luxury room, which have their own bath.
- Place 3.5/5: Suiranrou stands on the bank of the Kumagawa River in Hitoyoshi Onsen, a small onsen town in southern Kumamoto where few travelers go. The building was largely destroyed by the river's flooding and rebuilt in 2021, and KI-NRT found the reconstruction clean and pleasant, if lacking a bit of character; the quality touches are a terrace with a small water garden, a lounge with floor-to-ceiling glass facing the river and excellent ikebana throughout.
- Transit: Fukuoka 3h (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 1h35 (0 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h (3 transfers)

## Takayamaso Hanano — Arima Onsen, Hyogo (Kansai)
B · 7.4/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/takayamaso-hanano
Takayamaso Hanano is a family-run inn in Arima, Japan's oldest hot-spring town, and its flagship room, the 100 m² Oyama Renge suite rebuilt in 2025 with its own kinsen and ginsen baths and a panoramic view over the town, approaches true luxury. KI-NRT came with modest expectations and left won over: the stay was quiet, comfortable and memorable, and the cooking was better than the house's station suggests. Only the top rooms are this good, and the entry level is plain. At $360–550 a night the suite is a bargain.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is a kaiseki that KI-NRT found carefully prepared, well plated and distinct from typical ryokan fare, and it exceeded his expectations. The standouts were a cold cod milt shinjo in clear broth (shinjo is usually made with shrimp or crab) and a kuwai manju under a buckwheat-husk ankake sauce. Kobe beef can be added, from shabu-shabu up to chateaubriand, and the Sanda rice at breakfast was so fragrant he took a second bowl.
- Bath 4/5: The Oyama Renge suite has both of Arima's waters, a kinsen (gold) bath and a ginsen (silver) bath, and bathing with the sliding glass open, three of Arima's seven spring sources in view below, gave KI-NRT a true open-air sensation. As at most ryokans in Arima the water is not fed from the source: it arrives by truck and is filtered and heated (kinsen) or cooled (ginsen), though no tap water is added to the ginsen. The communal bath is modest.
- Service 3.5/5: The owning family are fully engaged, and the daughter who now runs the inn was attentive and efficient, with a warmth KI-NRT felt throughout the stay, while her earnest younger brother seemed less at ease with guests. The attendant who served dinner and breakfast, a polite, reserved young woman, answered questions without elaboration; she is a longtime weekend part-timer, which explains the matter-of-fact manner.
- Room 4.5/5: The flagship 100 m² Oyama Renge suite, rebuilt in January 2025, is a fresh, modern take on Japanese aesthetics that KI-NRT says surpasses what some high-end ryokans attempt, with its own kinsen and ginsen baths and a balcony with a panoramic view over the town. Room choice makes all the difference here: the entry-level rooms are simple, with futon laid out after dinner, and only the top suites approach true luxury.
- Place 3.5/5: The inn is on a compact site overlooking Arima's streets, with no garden and 20 stone steps up to the lobby, but the interiors are tasteful and serene, finished in warm beige with fine ikebana and kusamono arrangements by artisans from across Japan, and there is a cozy lounge and bar. Arima itself, Japan's oldest recorded hot spring, is a delight for strolls, browsing the shops and carbonated onsen rice crackers.
- Transit: Kyoto 1h45 (2 transfers) · Osaka 1h05 (0 transfers)

## Tokachigawa Onsen Sanyoan — Tokachigawa, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
B · 7.4/10 · 11 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tokachigawa-onsen-sanyoan
An 11-room traditional ryokan in sleepy Tokachigawa Onsen near Obihiro, built around its water: Japan's only Moor onsen (plant-derived, reddish-brown once it meets the air, and silky on the skin) feeds an en-suite bath in every room, two of them open-air. The kitchen over-delivers for such a rural address and the room under-delivers (KI-NRT later summed the stay up as 'while not super luxurious, a place we enjoyed'), and the town is asleep. He recommends it as a one-night stay for the water and the cool Hokkaido summer air, and warns not to expect great luxury.
- Food 4/5: Dinner does a terrific job with the best of Hokkaido's seafood, produce and beef, and KI-NRT found the flavors and presentation more creative and sophisticated than he expected in such a rural place. The highlights were grated mountain yam with bafun uni under a bonito-dashi jelly (turning the dashi into a jelly he called genius) and a clear soup of uni-stuffed tofu with red snow crab and junsai. Breakfast was equally delightful.
- Bath 4.5/5: The water is Japan's only Moor onsen, a plant-derived spring that turns reddish brown once it meets the air and is silky smooth on the skin, and it flows free and never recirculated into the bath on the room's deck. All 11 rooms have their own en-suite onsen, though only two are open-air, so the gender-segregated outdoor communal bath was empty when KI-NRT visited. Guests can also use the communal onsen at the sister Daiichi Hotel next door.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here, beyond KI-NRT noting that the ryokan runs a shuttle from Tokachi-Obihiro Airport and that a private dining room was reserved for them on request.
- Room 3.5/5: The two-story Haru no Umi special room (97 square metres, one of only two rooms with an open-air bath) is more of a country home than a design piece, which KI-NRT knew going in, but the first floor was drabber than he anticipated: two beds and a small living room with a little yellow sofa that felt constricting. The second floor was far more inviting, with a living room, a tatami room and a big patio holding the onsen bath, and they lived there.
- Place 3.5/5: The grounds are pretty and peaceful, manicured grass with a smattering of tall cedars (the lawn was a park golf course until recently), and the ryokan sits just off the main strip of Tokachigawa Onsen, a sleepy place with little to do nearby. The nearest establishment is the much larger and less luxurious sister Daiichi Hotel, connected by a covered walkway. KI-NRT went in July, when Hokkaido's cool days make it Japan's best region for onsen.
- Transit: Obihiro ~0h20 (0 transfers) · Sapporo ~2h30 (0 transfers)

## Amane Resort Gahama — Beppu, Oita (Kyushu)
B · 7.3/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/amane-resort-gahama
A 2016-vintage 31-room luxury ryokan on Beppu Bay, every room with its own onsen, sharing restaurants and facilities with sister property Seikai next door. KI-NRT found it polished and serene and unusually family-friendly (Beppu's ryokans skip the age restrictions of the top family-run inns) and worthy of an adult stay. He adds a reservation of his own, which is that for a tranquil, intimate onsen experience he would skip Beppu altogether for Yufuin or Kurokawa.
- Food 4/5: Meals were of very high quality, though KI-NRT puts them below Ishiharaso or Asaba, and still very satisfying. Kaiseki is at Gahama's Kappou Matsuhide and French at sister property Seikai, and both draw on Oita's waters and the produce of its volcanic soil. The lobster sashimi and steamed local abalone, both caught near Beppu, were absolutely amazing. Breakfast is a Japanese set at Gahama or a wonderful buffet at Seikai that the children loved.
- Bath 4/5: All 31 rooms have their own free-flowing onsen, and the tower rooms pair an indoor onsen with an open-air one. The exception is the two 10F Special rooms, where the outdoor tub is a plain jacuzzi with no spring water, which KI-NRT counts as a big demerit because that is not what you come to Beppu for. Large communal baths are only at sister property Seikai, a short walk or a complimentary golf-cart ride away, which children find great fun.
- Service 4/5: KI-NRT found the service polished and the atmosphere serene, even with his family party of eleven including four small children. Every meal was served in a private room (only the buffet breakfast at Seikai was not), a complimentary golf cart runs on demand to the sister property, and the children were looked after down to pint-sized Pokemon slippers, yukata and samue that fit a two-year-old, and a kids' meal they all scarfed down.
- Room 4/5: The 14 tower rooms are all very spacious (a nominal 90 m²) with in-room onsen, and the difference is the view, slightly obstructed by villa roofs on 3F and clear from 5F up. KI-NRT preferred 3F and 5F to the two 10F Special rooms, which are junior-suite in layout and swap the open-air onsen for a jacuzzi; if you want a separate bedroom, skip them and save money. The other 17 rooms are villas, and only the maisonettes (with stairs) have a view.
- Place 3.5/5: Once inside, the building shuts out the city and its noise completely and the views of the sea are calming. The arrival is another matter, because the entrance faces a large, busy boulevard with a Nitori furniture store and a KFC as the eyesores as you pull up. Beppu is the most productive hot-spring area in Japan, with steam rising from every pore of the city, but the main attractions such as the Beppu Hells are about a ten-minute drive away.
- Transit: Fukuoka ~2h30 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima ~4h20 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki ~4h45 (2 transfers)

## Fufu Kyoto — Kyoto (Okazaki), Kyoto (Kansai)
B · 7.3/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fufu-kyoto
A 40-room ryokan-hotel hybrid that mostly pulls the straddle off, with an in-room onsen bath in every room in an onsen-poor city, a superb creative breakfast, and a prime Higashiyama base for temples and foliage. KI-NRT enjoyed it without being blown away (the Nikko sibling is the one he adores), and the rough edges are on the foreigner-facing side (hard to reach by phone or email in English), with a steep drop-off in the rooms below the top suites.
- Food 4/5: KI-NRT booked without dinner, an option most ryokans refuse and a welcome one in Kyoto, and had the Japanese breakfast in his suite, which he calls among the best he has had in a ryokan: a white miso soup with yuba in place of the usual red (very tasty, and he generally does not like white miso) and a sweet and tangy fruit jelly for dessert. Dinner he has not tried, and a member who stayed bed-and-breakfast found the food decent.
- Bath 4/5: All 40 rooms have their own onsen bath, which KI-NRT calls a huge advantage in Kyoto, where most rivals offer no onsen and the few that do (Suiran, Aman) limit it to top rooms or a communal bath. The water is not kakenagashi though, since it is trucked in daily from the Fushimi area and reaches the rooms by circulation filtration, disinfected and reused. For a pure gensen kakenagashi soak he points you to Arima, Kurama, Kinosaki or Kaga.
- Service 3/5: Reaching the hotel from abroad is where it falls short. There is no published direct phone line, and central reservations has no English option, which KI-NRT called woefully inadequate; a member's email went unanswered for over a week. Another member found no one at the door on arrival, his group's luggage randomly distributed among the rooms and a staff member showing the room who could not understand English. There is no laundry service.
- Room 3.5/5: KI-NRT's 91 m² Luxury Premium Suite had a separate bedroom and living room, a view of the nearby mountains, Western beds and minimalist modern-Japanese decor. Room category matters a lot here: the 42 m² Comfort Twin had the onsen bath but no view (it faces the next building), and a member who took the cheapest suites found them dark and low-ceilinged, since the first floor is underground. He recommends at least the 73 m² Luxury Corner Suite.
- Place 3.5/5: Fufu Kyoto is a modern boutique hotel as much as a ryokan, and the pretty garden is not a central feature as at the top ryokans. The address in Higashiyama is within spitting distance of Nanzenji, Eikando (a 10 minute walk, and among the top spots in Kyoto for autumn leaves), Heian Jingu and the Philosopher's Path, and under 10 minutes by taxi from Kiyomizu-dera and Gion, which KI-NRT finds decent for a Kyoto base. There is no gym or pool.
- Transit: Kyoto Stn ~0h20 (0 transfers) · Osaka ~0h55 (1 transfer)

## Fukudaya — Lake Biwa, Shiga (Kansai)
B · 7.3/10 · Traditional ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fukudaya
A one-group-at-a-time renovated merchant inn on Lake Biwa's western shore, opened in 2023, which fills a real gap because high-end options in Shiga are few and far between. Its strengths are Yamada's Aman-honed cooking and the private lakeside house. Against that, there is no onsen, and the staff are so reserved that KI-NRT named it the stay's one shortcoming. It works best as a well-fed quiet night between Kansai and the Sea of Japan, and the bath is plain heated water.
- Food 4.5/5: Mr. Yamada, the chef and general manager, spent a decade in Kyoto kaiseki and then cooked at Amanpuri, Amanemu and Azumi Setoda, and he works closely with local farmers. KI-NRT found the food excellent overall: the Lake Biwa trout with eggplant purée was superb, so was the homemade sabazushi (pressed mackerel sushi, a Shiga specialty), and the grilled Ōmi beef sirloin was the equal of Matsusaka or Kobe. Breakfast is smaller but hearty.
- Bath 2.5/5: There is no onsen at Fukudaya. The indoor bath with deck access is ordinary heated water, and KI-NRT warns that if hot springs are a priority this house does not have them. There are three bathrooms for the single group staying in it.
- Service 3/5: Two people look after you, the attendant Ms. Numata and the chef Mr. Yamada. Both were kind and attentive, but KI-NRT found them extremely reserved even by Japanese standards, with conversation brief and quickly over. He noticed it most at dinner, where there is no written menu and each dish got a one-word introduction. In a house where the staff serve only your group, he thinks a warmer approach would improve the stay considerably.
- Room 4/5: You have the whole house to yourselves, a two-storey traditional building that was once part of a large merchant inn founded over 140 years ago and reopened in 2022 after extensive renovations. There is a bedroom with two double beds, two tatami rooms that sleep up to four more on futons, and three bathrooms. The original irori (sunken hearth) is intact and gives the place a warm, nostalgic atmosphere, and the rest is rustic yet refined.
- Place 4/5: Fukudaya is on the western shore of Lake Biwa in Imazu, once a post town where merchants carried mackerel from the Sea of Japan to Kyoto, and with no other guests on site you hear only the waves and the waterfowl. The lake is in view from the upstairs tatami room, the dining room and the deck. Imazu village is a short walk away, with three buildings by the architect William Merrell Vories, and KI-NRT enjoyed the tour of Harie's kabata streams.
- Transit: Kyoto 1h25 (1 transfer) · Osaka 1h45 (1 transfer)

## Hakone Gora Byakudan — Gora, Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
B · 7.3/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hakone-gora-byakudan
A welcoming, English-comfortable Hakone inn in Gora that Japanese regulars return to two or three times a year, and the one member who has stayed calls it an excellent stay if not a luxury one. That single first-hand account loved it (hearty meals, top-floor foliage views, in-room onsen, a fire at night) while conceding the fabric is tired, with wood rot on the decks and a guest crowd that can break the hush.
- Food 4/5: brownoarsman found the meals excellent, some of the most hearty and tasty he has had in Japan, though he says himself he is a casual ryokan stayer and this was his first ryokan, so nobody has measured this kitchen against the top houses. After dinner a bar and snack cart is rolled out for a couple of drinks.
- Bath 4/5: The rooms have private onsen baths, and brownoarsman, who had asked for the top floor when booking, found his wonderful looking out over the late-November foliage, with a hot soak before dinner the start of his best evenings there. Nobody in the thread has written about the communal baths or the water itself.
- Service 4/5: The okami speaks English very well and so do many of the staff, and the house has a great reputation for being welcoming to non-Japanese guests. Nobody in the thread has written more about the service than that, though Japanese guests like it a lot: a mother and daughter brownoarsman met had been coming two or three times a year for several years, and on Ikyu it averages 4.75 over 224 reviews.
- Room 4/5: Views from the main room are excellent, and you can request the top floor when booking, as brownoarsman did for the foliage; the main room also has a great wood fire they light at night, which he found easy to fall asleep in front of after a hot soak and some sake at dinner. The interior is very nice, but the building is a bit tired and he saw wood rot on some of the outside decks and balconies.
- Place 3.5/5: A hillside house in Gora with fine foliage views from the rooms, still lovely but a bit tired, and without the sculpted gardens and other amenities of Hakone's luxury inns, which is why brownoarsman does not claim luxury status for it. Its welcome to overseas guests cuts both ways: on his stay there were kids running around willy-nilly and someone taking a loud business call in the lounge at night, which he has never met at another ryokan.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h15 (1 transfer)

## Takimotokan Yukinosato — Yoro, Gifu (Chubu)
B · 7.3/10 · 11 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air, suites)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/takimotokan-yukinosato
An 11-room mountainside onsen ryokan above Yoro Falls, an hour from Nagoya, known for in-room open-air baths and its Hida beef chateaubriand, and it caters mainly to a domestic crowd and bans children under 13. KI-NRT and one member had great stays, but a second member found everything mediocre and vastly preferred Shogetsu in Gero, so opinion splits between love it and shrug. It is awkward without a car, and the shuttle from tiny Yoro station is near-mandatory.
- Food 4/5: The kaiseki dinner comes with an optional A5 Hida beef chateaubriand at extra charge, and KI-NRT found the dinner wonderful and the succulent, perfectly marbled steak well worth the additional cost; buggy51 agreed that the dinner was excellent, especially that chateaubriand, which he called fantastic. A member who stayed two nights in 2024 found the food mediocre to disappointing, along with everything else.
- Bath 4/5: The two suites, Kazahana and Kangetsu, have open-air onsen baths with great views, Kazahana's in its own yard and Kangetsu's on a balcony a floor up, and even a standard 20 m² room comes with a little outdoor bath. The public onsen is quite nice, and with only 11 rooms buggy51 had it to himself for the time he was there. The member who found the inn disappointing was unimpressed by the onsen as well.
- Service 2.5/5: Nobody in the thread has written warmly about the staff. A shuttle picked buggy51 up at Yoro station, but the couple who stayed two nights in 2024 called the service mediocre to disappointing, and the website lists a phone number and no email.
- Room 3.5/5: Rooms are Japanese-style with tatami, and the two suites are Kazahana and Kangetsu; KI-NRT says Kazahana is the choice, because it has its own yard and a more serene setting, whereas Kangetsu is on a higher floor. buggy51 was happy in a standard 20 m² room with a little outdoor bath, and the couple who stayed two nights in 2024 found the rooms mediocre.
- Place 3.5/5: Yukinosato is perched halfway up a mountain in Yoro, Gifu, a 3-minute walk from lovely Yoro Falls, with a commanding view of the landscape below, especially from the reception area. buggy51 loved walking the falls area and Yoro Park with its quirky Site of Reversible Destiny, while a couple who stayed in 2024 found the park underwhelming and had to trek half an hour downhill along a highway just to get lunch.
- Transit: Nagoya ~1h20 (1 transfer) · Ogaki ~0h35 (1 transfer)

## Bourou Noguchi Toya — Lake Toya, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
B · 7.2/10 · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bourou-noguchi-toya
Bourou Noguchi Toya is a new-build lakeside ryokan on Lake Toya, opened in late 2024, whose top rooms pair an in-room hot-spring bath with a private sauna and a fixed rotation of three included dinner menus. The two members who have stayed disagree. A Premium Suite guest calls the food inventive and the service excellent and cannot wait to return, while a 2025 guest in a lesser room got a worn-out mattress and fire-pit smoke and would not go back. The top room is the one to book, and you will want a car.
- Food 4/5: Dinner and breakfast are both included, and HaleiwaFlyer found the food delicious and inventive, with a decent wine list that runs to Haut-Brion. The kitchen rotates three dinner menus and two breakfasts, so it gets old on a long stay, and glenny84, who stayed two nights in May 2025, found both meals had their highs and lows, though the food was generally good.
- Bath 4/5: The top room has its own onsen bath and a private sauna, both with temperatures you control yourself, and an all-you-can-drink dispenser in the room to go with them, which HaleiwaFlyer found well worth it. Nobody in the thread has written about the communal baths or where the water comes from.
- Service 4/5: Service is excellent by HaleiwaFlyer's account, friendly and professional, with everyone doing everything to answer questions and get things done, though they did not find it as polished as Aman and did not expect it to be. The inn also charters a free tour bus for guests in the afternoon.
- Room 3.5/5: The Premium Suite, the top room, is the one to book, with its own onsen bath, private sauna and drinks dispenser, and HaleiwaFlyer called it well worth it. glenny84's lesser room in May 2025 looked stylish at first glance, but the mattress was extremely worn with no support or firmness (surprising in a property this new) and smoke from the ground-floor fire pit drifted in all evening with the windows closed, and they would not return.
- Place: Bourou stands on Lake Toya in Hokkaido, and HaleiwaFlyer recommends renting a car there because the things to do around the lake require driving or riding a bike. It opened in late 2024 with great fanfare and has a decent-sized gym, but nobody in the thread has described the grounds, the building or the views.
- Transit: New Chitose ~1h40 (0 transfers) · Sapporo ~2h (0 transfers)

## Goto Retreat Ray — Fukue, Goto Islands, Nagasaki (Kyushu)
B · 7.2/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/goto-retreat-ray
Goto Retreat Ray is the only luxury property on Fukue, the Goto Islands' main island: a fresh new-build with sea-view rooms and an excellent locally sourced kitchen (kue sashimi, kue shabu-shabu and a sauteed kue steak in season, its own take on Goto udon), but no onsen anywhere on site and a rental car as a requirement. Both first-hand stays were pleased, and KI-NRT's advice is still not to go out of your way to stay here unless you have a reason to visit Goto, namely the empty UNESCO churches and a chartered boat to the smaller islands.
- Food 4/5: The cooking is excellent and locally sourced, and kue (longtooth grouper) was in season during KI-NRT's two nights: kue sashimi, kue shabu-shabu and a wonderfully prepared sauteed kue steak, plus abalone with a sauce made from its liver and the house take on Goto udon. He picked two nits. The paid upgraded meal adds two extra dishes to each dinner instead of better ingredients, so they were bloated, and the Goto beef was a hard, chewy rump steak.
- Bath 2.5/5: There is no onsen anywhere on site, because the only spring area on Fukue is elsewhere on the island, so bathing is the heated bath on your room's balcony. KI-NRT called the lack a significant drawback and sorely missed it after the in-room hot springs at Iki Kairi Murakami, though Nagasaki Joe loves the balcony bath.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 4/5: The rooms are fresh and new with great sea views, and each has a bath on its balcony, which Nagasaki Joe loves. KI-NRT stayed in the 70m² Deluxe Twin Room with Sea View, the top category, and found it a junior-suite layout not much different from the 58m² Superior Rooms that make up most of the inn: the differences are a vanity with two sinks instead of one and extra lounge chairs and a coffee table, which he judged not entirely necessary.
- Place 3.5/5: Fukue is remote and low-key, and there is little to do at the hotel itself: the activities it lines up for guests are almost all paid outside excursions, and a rental car is a requirement. The hotel calls itself a retreat, with churchy influences and a meditation room, and Nagasaki Joe found the atmosphere almost monastic. The point of Fukue is its empty UNESCO hidden-Christian churches: KI-NRT drove to Dozaki and took a boat to Egami and Gorin.
- Transit: Nagasaki ~2h (1 transfer) · Fukuoka ~2h30 (1 transfer)

## Seryo — Ohara, Kyoto (Kansai)
B · 7.2/10 · 10 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: One room only (Sakura no Ma)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/seryo
The only luxury ryokan in Ohara, thirty minutes by car from Kyoto, and really a one-room inn, because you need to book the Sakura no Ma with its open-air onsen bath or you are staying in an ordinary inn. You stay for the setting, with temples on foot and the Kurama–Kibune trail nearby, while the food is good but not gourmet and the service standard. KI-NRT gave it five stars and would recommend it for the Ohara tour more than as a trip to return for.
- Food 3.5/5: The food is good, and the kitchen leans on the local produce that many of Kyoto's finer restaurants (Kitcho among them) buy from Ohara. The dish KI-NRT remembers is the local Jidori chicken, steamed (an unusual method he has doubts about) and done amazingly well. He puts the food short of the top kitchens in Hakone or Kaga Onsen. Breakfast is a spartan affair, thin on variety and quantity, so if you are hungry be ready to eat plenty of rice.
- Bath 4/5: Only one room has its own hot-spring bath, the Sakura no Ma Japanese Suite with open-air bath, and KI-NRT calls that bath pure bliss and recommends you snag the room quickly if it is available. For the purposes of the thread the inn only counts as luxury if you are in that room, because there is no onsen anywhere else.
- Service 3.5/5: Service is typical ryokan service, courteous and helpful, and KI-NRT found the comfort and service match what this small family-run inn charges. Meal times are a bit inflexible, dinner strictly at 6PM and breakfast at 8AM, but when he said they might skip breakfast for an early start on the Kurama hike, the staff offered 7:30 instead, which he found a surprisingly gracious gesture for a small ryokan with a rigid schedule.
- Room 3.5/5: The Sakura no Ma Japanese Suite with open-air bath is the best room in the house and the one to book, though KI-NRT notes it is not really a suite. It is fresh and clean and reasonably spacious (not gargantuan by luxury ryokan standards, and he would gladly have paid more for a higher category if one existed), well appointed with toiletries, yukata, free WiFi and even a free minibar, and a nice room to spend your down time in.
- Place 4.5/5: Seryo sits atop a small mountain in Ohara, a rural farmland area thirty minutes by car from Kyoto, with impressive views over the valley below. Sanzen-in is right next door, and Jikko-in, Hosen-in and Shorin-in are a few minutes' walk away, all worth visiting. Kurama and Kibune are about 15 minutes by car, and the hike between them through Kurama-dera's grounds is what brought KI-NRT here, and he calls it one of the best side trips from Kyoto.
- Transit: Kyoto ~1h (0 transfers) · Osaka ~1h35 (1 transfer)

## Tawaraya — Kyoto, Kyoto (Kansai)
B · 7.2/10 · 18 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tawaraya
An 18-room Kyoto institution founded in 1707 that KI-NRT names the one to try among the city's inns, and the top choice if you cannot leave the cities. The appeal is in the depth, the layers of detail, history and omotenashi that reveal themselves the closer you look, while plenty of other inns offer better views, baths and food. You stay for the cultural experience, knowing that the kaiseki is good and no more, that there is no onsen, and that a first visit will probably get you the base room.
- Food 3.5/5: Both kaiseki dinner and breakfast are still served in your own room by your attendant, as many inns no longer do. KI-NRT, comparing it with the top ryokans he has eaten at, found the cooking above average but not exceptional, with flavors on the bland side (Kyoto flavors are subtle), neither creative nor memorable, and a breakfast spread not as varied as at other top inns. Some dishes are superb, but he would not stay here for the food.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen at Tawaraya. Your room has a wooden bathtub, and that is the extent of the bathing here; KI-NRT counts onsen baths among the things many other inns offer that Tawaraya does not, and says it is mostly for culture and not for bathing.
- Service 4.5/5: The service is elegant, dignified and personal, and the staff are not particularly chatty, a plus or a minus depending on what you want; for KI-NRT it was just right. He had braced for some snobbery as a first-timer and met none, and few properties in his experience rival Tawaraya's omotenashi. Your attendant serves both meals in your room and, if you ask, will explain the history and meaning of everything on display. Valet parking is free.
- Room 3.5/5: KI-NRT's first-visit room, Kotobuki, was meticulously kept and big enough for two, but a dual-purpose all-tatami room like a lesser ryokan's (futons replace the table and chairs at night), with one sink, nowhere to hide the luggage and only a tiny study; he would have paid for a better one. Room details are published nowhere and the best rooms go to repeat guests, though first-timers can now pick their own. Ground-floor rooms have a small garden.
- Place 4.5/5: Tawaraya has stood in central Kyoto since 1707, with no grand entrance or big lobby and no view beyond its immaculate gardens. The narrow doorway opens onto a wooden maze of corridors that whisks you back to the Edo era, past hanging scrolls, Muromachi-period screens, old books and ikebana, and the artwork changes monthly with the seasons. KI-NRT did not see a speck of dust anywhere, so old here never means shabby. Hiiragiya is across the street.
- Transit: Kyoto Stn 0h15 (0 transfers) · Osaka 0h50 (1 transfer)

## Ryotei Kuki — Esashi, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
B · 7.1/10 · 7 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ryotei-kuki
A seven-room modern build by Zaborin's architect, put up in 2009 to revitalize old Esashi, and the only high-end option there. The kitchen delivers and the town is worth the wander, but the walled-in rooms waste the seaside site, and KI-NRT puts it a notch below the top ryokans in Japan, a high-quality stop where he didn't expect to find one and not a destination in itself.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is in private koshitsu rooms, and the kitchen cooks southern Hokkaido ingredients simply and extremely well: sashimi as good as it gets, a marvelous grilled herring caught just offshore and basted with a sweet sauce, and a crisp, light abalone and maitake tempura. The one letdown was the lamb from the owner's own farm, tough and short on umami. Breakfast was plain, and the quality of everything, down to the Assabu-cho rice, was incredible.
- Bath 3.5/5: Each of the seven rooms has its own indoor onsen bath, straight from the source and not recirculated, from the spring chairman Tanada drilled more than 1,400 metres to find, having agreed to build only if there was onsen under the land. That indoor tub is all there is, though: no large public bath, no private or rental baths, and no open-air bath, which KI-NRT regrets with the ocean right there.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here, beyond KI-NRT learning the inn's origins from a conversation with Mr. Tanada, its chairman, who had run an electronics store and a farm and went to a university to learn the hospitality business before opening it.
- Room 3.5/5: All seven rooms are the same 63 m² Japanese-Western suite: a small tatami room, a larger living area with a leather sofa, a bedroom with Western beds and the indoor onsen bath, in a muted, minimalist modern Japanese style. There is only one sink, the Toto toilet is an older model, and the concrete privacy wall cuts off the lower half of the view, so you see the sky and parts of the ocean and marina only if you stand up.
- Place 3/5: Kuki is a seaside property in Esashi, one of the oldest towns in Hokkaido, with the Kaiyo Maru warship replica on one side and the preserved Inishie Kaido street on the other, and the historic port is very walkable. Large rocks and a concrete perimeter wall with no tall vegetation ring the property, stylish but leaving an inn beside the ocean with hardly any view of it, which KI-NRT regrets. Inside there is little beyond the lounge.
- Transit: Hakodate ~1h30 (0 transfers) · New Chitose ~3h30 (0 transfers)

## Taketoritei Maruyama — Arima Onsen, Hyogo (Kansai)
B · 7.1/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/taketoritei-maruyama
A modern-Japanese ryokan in Arima Onsen with silver-water (Ginsen) baths in the rooms and eight rentable private baths that cover both of Arima's spring types, gold included. KI-NRT suggests it as a good Arima option, and Buster CT1K, who stayed on that suggestion, found the silver water really great and the gold pretty good too. Nobody in the thread has written a word about the food, and everything either reviewer says about the place concerns the baths.
- Food: Nobody in the thread has written about the food here; neither KI-NRT nor Buster CT1K says a word about dinner or breakfast.
- Bath 4/5: Both of Arima's waters are under one roof. The in-room baths run the silver (Ginsen) spring, a rare radium type that Buster CT1K found really great, and eight private baths, rentable in 45-minute increments, cover both the silver and the famous gold (Kinsui) water, which he thought pretty good too, so you can go back and forth between the two. The one drawback for KI-NRT is that the in-room baths are silver and not gold.
- Service 4/5: Buster CT1K reports very good service, and that is all anyone in the thread has said about it.
- Room 3.5/5: KI-NRT describes the rooms as modern Japanese and quite comfortable, and each has an in-room bath fed by the silver (Ginsen) spring. Nobody in the thread has described a particular room.
- Place: The ryokan is in Arima Onsen, and nobody in the thread has written about the property's grounds or its surroundings.
- Transit: Osaka 1h05 (0 transfers) · Kobe 0h35 (1 transfer)

## Bettei Itsuki — Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
B · 7/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bettei-itsuki
Bettei Itsuki is a Yufuin ryokan that one family in the thread has stayed at, with very good food and free sake at dinner, indoor and outdoor onsen in the room and a somewhat self-service style that still produced considerate touches for a toddler. Bristom liked it and found the value good, but said he would have picked Gekkoju Yufuin had he not overlooked it when planning, in a town stacked with strong rivals. KI-NRT names it among the area's top contenders without having stayed.
- Food 4/5: Bristom called the food very good, and the dinner menu has a free alcohol section with sake and more. Breakfast is served in a private room in the restaurant with a view. He named no individual dishes.
- Bath 4/5: The Karin room has its own indoor and outdoor onsen baths, set right next to each other, and Bristom enjoyed them on his family's stay. Nobody in the thread has written about any shared baths or the water here.
- Service 3.5/5: The inn runs a bit self-service by design, but the staff think ahead: they pushed the two separate beds together so Bristom's baby could sleep in the middle without being asked, and like the other Kyushu inns on his trip it welcomes children and provides yukata, utensils, meals, chairs and even gifts for them.
- Room: Bristom stayed in the Karin room, which has two separate beds (pushed together for his baby) and its own indoor and outdoor onsen baths. Nobody in the thread has described the room beyond that.
- Place: Bettei Itsuki is in Yufuin, which KI-NRT calls a very crowded field of top properties (Sanso Murata, Enowa, Yufuin Rikka, Gekkoju Yufuin and Kamenoi Besso among them). Breakfast is served in a private room in the restaurant with a view, and the Hells of Beppu are nearby.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h40 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h20 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 4h35 (2 transfers)

## Takinoya — Noboribetsu, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
B · 7/10 · 30 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air, suite)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/takinoya
The top luxury name in Noboribetsu, and KI-NRT keeps recommending it as exactly that: a very solid property with superb pure source-fed water and wonderful forest-facing communal baths. He repeats every time, though, that nothing beyond the onsen blew him away, with food that was only good, no uni served, and a nakai who refused simple requests. The water alone makes it worth a stay, and the rest is solid without being transcendent.
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner was good and some of it great, but for Hokkaido, which KI-NRT calls one of the world's top seafood locales, it did not stand out from the pack. The buri (amberjack) seemed to have come previously frozen, creativity ran to minor novelties like a foam soy sauce, and no uni was served in two nights, which sorely disappointed him. He has repeated the letdown for years, while allowing that his 2020 stay may have caught a bad time.
- Bath 4.5/5: The water is the one thing that blew KI-NRT away: 100% pure Noboribetsu hot spring water fed straight into the open-air bath on the DW suite, so you will not feel cheated as at ryokans that dilute their onsen. The communal baths are wonderful and face a scenic forest, and he rates them more expansive and better-viewed than Chalet Ivy's. He adds that Noboribetsu has awesome onsen everywhere, so every ryokan in town likely has the same quality.
- Service 2.5/5: Service was a mixed bag, without the vaunted omotenashi. The nakai was never rude but robotic and formulaic, showing experience without warmth. When KI-NRT asked her to set dinner in the Japanese-style room she answered 'that is not possible', and when he arranged dishes for a photo she told him that is not how it is done in Japan, which he found snide and petty. The front desk would not help with a booking at the new Upopoy Ainu museum either.
- Room 3.5/5: The Japanese Suite DW type is a hybrid of Western and Japanese, with a dining room with table and chairs, a Japanese-style room and a bedroom with real Western beds, and at 92 square metres it is reasonably spacious. Meals are served in the room. There is no Presidential Suite or equivalent for anyone wanting the ultimate bling factor, but KI-NRT says the DW should satisfy even the most demanding luxury traveller. Book one of the DW suites.
- Place 4/5: Takinoya sits steps from Jigokudani (Hell's Valley), the top sight in Noboribetsu, with Oyunuma Pond, Oku no Yu and a natural foot bath close by and worth the hike, and you can smell the sulfur as soon as you arrive. The grounds are not as expansive as at other world-class ryokans, though what is there is pretty nice, including a beautiful small water garden. KI-NRT lists Takinoya among the traditional ryokans with great forest and garden views.
- Transit: New Chitose ~1h (0 transfers) · Sapporo ~1h30 (0 transfers)

## Yoshikawa — Kyoto, Kyoto (Kansai)
B · 7/10 · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yoshikawa
A small Kyoto inn wrapped around a famed tempura restaurant, and the tempura kaiseki dinner is the event, served in a private room with the owner okami-san among the servers. The one member who has stayed recommends it but found it not quite as special as Nishimuraya in Kinosaki, missing the hot springs and village feel a city inn can't offer. It is best thought of as a dinner with a lovely garden-view room attached.
- Food 4.5/5: The tempura is what the inn is known for, and the member who stayed found it wonderful, very light, crispy and flavorful, with a sauce or two he had never had with tempura before. His Tempura Kaiseki with Chiya beef was served in a private room and the quality was high throughout, and the chef came in first to present the ingredients on a huge platter (for all the guests, it turned out). KI-NRT has dined at the famed restaurant but never stayed.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen and no bathhouse. Each of the seven rooms has a hinoki indoor tub of plain heated water, and according to the inn's own room list that is the whole of the bathing here. The one member who has stayed never mentions it.
- Service 4/5: Welcome and service were warm and personable, and there were two servers at dinner, one of them the owner okami-san.
- Room 3.5/5: The Wagtail (Sekirei) room was spacious with a lovely view of the garden, and that is all the one member who has stayed had to say about it.
- Place 3.5/5: Yoshikawa is in downtown Kyoto near some shopping centers, about a 20 minute walk from Nijo Castle and close by the famed Hiiragiya and Tawaraya ryokans. The reception area is small next to Nishimuraya's much larger one with amenities, and the member who stayed missed the village feel he had enjoyed in Kinosaki.
- Transit: Kyoto Stn 0h15 (0 transfers) · Osaka 0h50 (1 transfer)

## Yufuin Rikka — Yufuin, Oita (Kyushu)
B · 7/10 · 6 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yufuin-rikka
A six-room Yufuin inn with a private onsen bath in every room that the one member who stayed found unbeatable for the money; it runs far less per night than neighbours like Enowa, Gekkoju or Sanso Murata, and Japanese reviewers think extremely highly of it. He would call it quality and high-end and is not sure it qualifies as luxury. KI-NRT has not stayed himself, so the account comes from that single visit and from acquaintances of his, and with six rooms it is tough to book.
- Food 4/5: All meals are served in private dining rooms, and zander86, the one member who has stayed, enjoyed the breakfast spread here most of the three Kyushu ryokans on his trip (Amanosato and Sanso Tensui were the others). Nobody in the thread has written about dinner from their own table, but KI-NRT relays that several acquaintances who stayed recently called the fusion cuisine top-notch.
- Bath 4/5: Each of the six rooms has its own onsen bath, and from some of them you look at Mt. Yufu while from others you do not. KI-NRT hears that Ichiban has the most unobstructed view of the mountain, so ask for that room if the view matters to you.
- Service: Meals are served in private dining rooms, and otherwise nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: There are only six rooms, each with an onsen bath; zander86 called the inn quality and high-end but did not describe his room, and nobody else in the thread has.
- Place 3.5/5: Rikka is in Yufuin with Mt. Yufu as the backdrop, on what KI-NRT calls a very crowded list of top properties in the area (Sanso Murata, Zakuro, Enowa, Gekkoju Yufuin, Bettei Itsuki and others), and whether you see the mountain depends on which of the six rooms you get. Nobody in the thread has described the grounds.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h10 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h10 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h (0 transfers) · Kumamoto 2h25 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 4h (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 6h (3 transfers)

## Bettei Otozure — Nagato, Yamaguchi (Chugoku)
C · 6.9/10 · 18 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (balcony open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bettei-otozure
Bettei Otozure is the intimate 18-room contemporary sister to the big, aging Otani Sanso in Nagato, connected to it by a private indoor walkway, and its guests are free to dine and use the facilities at the larger property (the reverse is not allowed). KI-NRT calls it one of the top luxury ryokans in southern Honshu, not quite up to the standards of the best of the best (Gora Kadan, Asaba or Takefue), and he would not hesitate to recommend it. He found it a good base for exploring the surrounding areas by car, and the place itself is not a destination.
- Food 4/5: The food leans heavily towards seafood from the nearby Sea of Japan (fugu, tilefish, sea urchin, conger eel, stonefish), all wonderfully prepared and garnished, and KI-NRT calls the quality very high. The one drawback is that there is less of it than at other ryokans, the hassun is a single dish where most inns serve several, and on two of his three nights dessert was fruit and only fruit. Teppanyaki is available at sister Otani Sanso.
- Bath 4/5: The A-Type suite has its own open-air hot-spring bath out on the massive 32 square metre balcony, with several lounge chairs to relax on around it, and KI-NRT considers an in-room open-air onsen a prerequisite for a high-category room to count as luxurious. He does not describe any communal bath, though Otozure guests can also use the facilities at the much larger Otani Sanso next door.
- Service: The only service story comes from before arrival, when KI-NRT called to ask whether meals could be served in the room and was told no, it is in the restaurant; he later learned that two rooms (204, a Type B, and 206, a Type C) do allow in-room dining, both about 50 feet from his own room, and he wished they had said so even if it meant a different room category. Nobody in the thread has written about the service during the stay itself.
- Room 3.5/5: His A-Type suite is 82 square metres with a living room, dining room and separate bedroom, plus a 32 square metre balcony, and he calls the size good but not great. The furnishings are contemporary Japanese, a plus or a minus depending on your taste. The one drawback is the semi-open plan, where the bedroom is in its own area but no wall or door separates it from the living room, which is not good if one person naps while the other works.
- Place 3/5: There is not much to do in the immediate area, so KI-NRT treats the inn as a base for exploring western Yamaguchi by rental car. During his three nights he visited Hagi (very historic), Motonosumi Inari Shrine, Tsunoshima Bridge, Beppu Benten Pond and the incredible five-storied pagoda at Ruriko-ji Temple near Yamaguchi City, and he says it combines easily with Hiroshima and Miyajima, with the must-see Kintai-kyo Bridge at Iwakuni along the way.
- Transit: Shin-Yamaguchi ~1h (0 transfers) · Hiroshima ~1h35 (1 transfer)

## Hanaichi — Agatsuma, Gunma (Kanto)
C · 6.9/10 · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hanaichi
A seven-room inn in Tsumagoi, Gunma, founded in 2002 after the owner couple drilled 1,000 meters under the building and hit the onsen jackpot: superb source-fed water in every room plus three 24-hour private baths. The hosts are warm and unpretentious, and the cooking split the household, pretty good to KI-NRT and excellent to his wife. He is blunt that it is no destination ryokan; it works as a comfortable stop on the way to Karuizawa (45 minutes) or Kusatsu (40 minutes).
- Food 3.5/5: The head chef is the owner's son, and his kitchen does a competent job with the local fish, meat and produce, all elegantly presented and nothing super fancy: salt-grilled iwana (white-spotted char), Joshu beef steak, and tuna, sweet shrimp and trout sashimi. KI-NRT remembers dinner as pretty good but not particularly memorable, while Mrs. KI-NRT recalls the meals as excellent. Breakfast was quite impressive, with a wide variety of unique dishes.
- Bath 4.5/5: The owners decided to open a ryokan only after drilling over 1,000 meters below ground and hitting the onsen jackpot, so the water comes straight from the source directly below the property, and it is top-notch quality, with a constant flow that needs no filtration. Every room has its own onsen (not open-air, though you can open the windows), and on top of that there are three private baths open to guests 24 hours a day, first come, first served.
- Service 4/5: Everyone from the room attendant to the owners to the young head chef was professional and courteous, and they do a great job of making each guest feel at home. KI-NRT felt comfortable here; it is not the type of place that intimidates you the way 'storied and glamorous' ryokans like Tawaraya or Asaba can when you first walk in.
- Room 3.5/5: The Tsukishi room is a 75-square-metre junior suite with two beds, a living room, a dining table for two, a sitting corner with a kotatsu (a heated coffee table that keeps your feet toasty), a patio, a little work area and its own onsen, which is not open-air though the windows open. From the patio you get a bit of a view of Mt. Asama, but power lines and a cookie-cutter white building detract from it. Meals can be served in the room for a fee.
- Place 3/5: Hanaichi sits on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere in Tsumagoi, on the far side of Mt. Asama from Karuizawa, and arriving is not wow-inducing, nothing like Gosho Gekkoju: it does not scream luxury from outside, and the reception looks like a rural country home, a mishmash of furnishings that suit the owner's taste. There are barely any grounds, just a common lounge and the rental baths, and KI-NRT says it is not a destination ryokan.
- Transit: Tokyo ~3h10 (2 transfers) · Karuizawa ~0h50 (0 transfers)

## Kaichoro — Ikaho Onsen, Gunma (Kanto)
C · 6.9/10 · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kaichoro
Kaichoro is an adults-only, 8-room annex of the 440-year-old, 83-room Fukuichi in Ikaho Onsen, with onsen in every room and its own entrance, lobby and staff, so you get the Ikaho onsen experience (two spring varieties, in-room open-air baths, warm staff) without the crowds of the big parent. The kitchen is the weak leg, with a few courses worthy of the setting next to izakaya-plain ones. KI-NRT found it worth doing for the golden water and an off-the-beaten-path town, and he has had better meals at cheaper ryokans.
- Food 3/5: The kaiseki was a mixed bag for KI-NRT. Several servings were wonderful, the fugu in a jellied dashi broth was memorable and so was the shirako (cod milt) tempura, but other courses were unimaginative and not appropriate for a ryokan of this class; the buri daikon is a typical izakaya dish and this one did not stand out either. Breakfast was an improvement, though not enough to change his belief that he has had better meals at cheaper ryokans.
- Bath 4/5: Every room has onsen, and Kaichoro draws two spring varieties, Shirogane no Yu (Silver) and Kogane no Yu (Golden, reddish brown from its iron); KI-NRT's suite had the Silver in its open-air bath facing the valley. To try the Golden, book the rental bath Fuwari, which comes straight from the source. The other two rental baths, Yurari and Sarari, are Mt. Haruna tap water with no onsen in them, and the communal baths with both types are in Fukuichi.
- Service 4/5: KI-NRT wondered whether the service would be watered down and corporate, given that Kaichoro is part of a much larger ryokan, but his fears were unfounded: everyone was gracious, warm, knowledgeable and professional. Kaichoro has its own dedicated staff, separate from Fukuichi, and although he does his own research and asks little of ryokan staff, he has little doubt they would do everything they could should the need arise.
- Room 4/5: The 100 square metre Japanese & Western-style Suite with Open-Air Bath was modern, spacious and tastefully appointed, with a bedroom, a tatami room, a Western-style living room and two toilets (a big bonus for KI-NRT), and outside a large patio with a garden, an open-air hot-spring bath and a serene view across the valley. The one letdown is the cheap single-use, tear-open toiletries, which puzzled him at this level.
- Place 3.5/5: Kaichoro occupies two floors of Fukuichi's Manyo Building, and although you feel you are in a hotel in a hotel at first glance, once inside it does not feel that way. A passageway through the second Fukuichi building drops you at step 300 of Ikaho's 365 stone steps. Ikaho itself is a faded-glory, Showa-era onsen town, worth doing if you are in the area and want to be off the beaten path, though KI-NRT would not call it a bucket-list destination.
- Transit: Tokyo ~2h10 (2 transfers) · Takasaki ~0h50 (1 transfer)

## Modern Ryokan kishi-ke — Kamakura, Kanagawa (Kanto)
C · 6.9/10 · 1 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/modern-ryokan-kishi-ke
Modern Ryokan kishi-ke is a one-group-at-a-time villa in Kamakura run by a wonderful English-speaking couple and built around on-site experiences (zazen, tea ceremonies, katana training) that KI-NRT mostly skipped in favor of the temples. He really enjoyed the stay and would love to return and do it properly, while being clear it is no one-room Aman or Asaba, since the villa layout is awkward, there is no onsen and dinner is out on the town.
- Food 4/5: Breakfast is included and is vegetarian Buddhist shojin cuisine, each dish prepared by Hitomi Kishi herself; on both days it was creative, nutritious and hearty (kabocha potage, udon in an amazing broth, marinated tofu skin made to mimic unagi), and KI-NRT never missed meat or fish. Dinner is not included, so you dine out in Kamakura, though kishi-ke can prepare anything from sushi to a shojin dinner if asked in advance.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen at kishi-ke, since Kamakura is devoid of hot springs, and no special bath either; the villa's ordinary bathroom is upstairs with the bedroom.
- Service 4.5/5: Nobuyuki and Hitomi Kishi, the couple who own and run kishi-ke, host one group at a time, and KI-NRT had a delightful time with them learning about the area, how kishi-ke came to be and their plans. Nobuyuki studied English in Buffalo for a year and speaks it very well, and he doubles as a private concierge: he was extremely helpful over WhatsApp and secured a last-minute table at a popular shirasu (whitebait) restaurant.
- Room 3/5: The two-story villa has 88 square metres indoors, but KI-NRT did not find it as usable as he hoped: the first floor is a tatami room used for breakfast, the bedroom and bathroom are upstairs, and the stairs between the floors are outside, a design flaw that made it too much of a hassle to use the first floor for anything but breakfast. One side faces the ocean, but the view is partially obscured by ugly electric poles and wires.
- Place 3.5/5: kishi-ke is behind the main coastal road across from Yuigahama Beach, with Hasedera and the Great Buddha within walking distance and some decent restaurants nearby, though it is hemmed in by houses and businesses. A dry rock garden separates the reception, where check-in opens with a tea ceremony, from the villa. Strict zoning caps Kamakura at 980 guest rooms, so early mornings are quiet, and KI-NRT had the Great Buddha to himself at 8AM.
- Transit: Tokyo ~1h05 (0 transfers) · Yokohama ~0h35 (0 transfers)

## Zenagi — Nagiso, Kiso Valley, Nagano (Chubu)
C · 6.9/10 · 3 rooms · Villa · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/zenagi
A one-group-per-day villa in a restored Edo-period kominka above the rice paddies of the Kiso Valley, minutes from the Nakasendo post towns of Tsumago and Magome, with three bedrooms, a spectacular nail-less timber living hall and a wood-fired kitchen of foraged and wild-game cooking. KI-NRT found the stay memorable and completely private, but the service is casual and had its misses, there is no onsen, and the bedrooms are built for sleeping only. It makes most sense for a first Nakasendo visit or for a group taking the whole villa.
- Food 4/5: The kitchen cooks the Kiso Valley, which means foraged herbs, mushrooms and chestnuts, boar, deer and river fish, much of it wood-fired with local timber and hay for a subtle smokiness. KI-NRT found the meal "prepared impeccably" if not especially fancy, and the best dishes came early, a medley of wild vegetables and an exceptional tart of smoked Shinshu trout. The boar and deer kept some gaminess, and breakfast was a plain Western spread.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no hot spring on site and none that KI-NRT knows of nearby, since the Kiso region is not blessed with onsen, so bathing means the bathroom on the ground floor of each duplex bedroom, and no more. He calls the absence a bit of a disappointment in the colder months, and his own room had no hot water at all, so they walked about thirty feet to the adjacent bathroom whenever they wanted it.
- Service 3/5: Service was solid, as you would expect with one party at a time, and everyone on the largely non-Japanese team (Nepalese, American and Filipino among them) was friendly and engaging. It is deliberately casual and not a traditional omotenashi experience, and with that came a slightly less attentive level of service. Several requests needed repeated reminders, including Mrs. KI-NRT's request for warm water in the bedroom, which took nearly an hour.
- Room 3.5/5: The kominka's living floor is the show, a massive two-storey Edo timber structure joined without nails, with astonishing decoration and a table top carved from a single piece of cypress. The three duplex bedrooms (Matsu, Miya and Nori) are the weakest part, with the bathroom downstairs, steep stairs and low ceilings, and Miya is noticeably darker, so take another. KI-NRT calls this no major issue, but there was no sleepwear or toothbrush.
- Place 4.5/5: Zenagi is perched on a hill above a satoyama landscape of rice paddies, and Tsumago and Magome are five and fifteen minutes away by car, post towns KI-NRT calls about as magical as they come. One group has the whole place each day, and the inn arranges guided rafting, paragliding, Nakasendo Trail walks, meditation and a tea-farm visit. KI-NRT's tandem paraglide with an Asian Games gold medalist was otherworldly once airborne.
- Transit: Tokyo 3h10 (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 3h40 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h05 (1 transfer)

## Jusandi — Ishigaki Island, Okinawa (Okinawa)
C · 6.8/10 · 5 rooms · Villa retreat · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/jusandi
A five-villa Mediterranean-white hideaway in northern Ishigaki that existed for Chef Hirose's Italian-Japanese cooking, which was good enough that KI-NRT once dined in four nights straight and which alone brought him back on a detour in December 2025. That return found the food already below what he remembered, and the chef retired at the end of March 2026 with no successor or cuisine direction announced. With no sea views, no onsen and the kitchen now an open question, he thinks booking Jusandi today means betting on an unknown.
- Food 3.5/5: Chef Takumi Hirose's Italian-Japanese cooking is why KI-NRT came, and in 2020 he ate dinner here four nights running: dashi in most of the sauces, and a cold capellini with tomato sauce and caviar he called divine. His December 2025 return found the menus short on imagination and heavy, though the tuskfish brandade opener was terrific and the Okinawan breakfast a high point. Hirose retired in March 2026 with no successor named.
- Bath 2/5: There is no onsen. Ishigaki has virtually no natural hot springs, because the geology does not favor them, and Okinawa's warm climate means bathing here leans toward showers over soaking tubs anyway, so the villa has an ordinary tub and shower at the far end of the hallway. The water feature is the private pool at each villa, pretty when lit up at night, though in a December cold spell (upper teens Celsius) lounging by it was not an option.
- Service 4/5: Service was outstanding on KI-NRT's 2020 stay. With only five villas the staff is small and everyone but the chef wears multiple hats, so the person who checked them in later delivered breakfast, cleaned the pool and mowed the lawn. They were professional, courteous and eager to please, and a humidifier arrived in record time. His butler from that stay, Hiroya Hayakawa, has since moved to One Suite The Grand on Kouri Island.
- Room 3.5/5: The five villas are white minimalist concrete, each laid out slightly differently by the terrain. Maani, the one-bedroom pool villa, is long and thin, so it felt tighter than its 60 square metres, and KI-NRT would have liked more generous space. The 100-square-metre two-bedroom Yarabu is squarer, so the living room feels brighter and more open, even if much of the extra area is the second bedroom. More wood might have added warmth.
- Place 3.5/5: Jusandi sits on a remote plot on Ishigaki's north coast, with dense jungle all around that has been left uncleared, so although the nearest beach is a few hundred metres off there is essentially no sea view from anywhere. The white Mediterranean buildings have aged gracefully. A short jungle walk reaches a small secluded cove, the starting point for swims to the blue cave, but the north side takes fierce winds and December seas run rough.
- Transit: Ishigaki Airport ~0h30 (0 transfers) · Naha ~2h (1 transfer)

## Kifu No Sato — Yunogo Onsen, Okayama (Chugoku)
C · 6.8/10 · 35 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kifu-no-sato
Kifu no Sato is the top luxury ryokan in Yunogo Onsen, one of Okayama's three famous onsen towns, and KI-NRT later called it arguably the top ryokan in Okayama Prefecture; the family that runs it went on to open Naoshima Ryokan Roka. His own impressions from a 2021 overnight are lukewarm in the details, with a drab yellow exterior in a town that has seen better days, kaiseki he called pretty darned good, and a maybe on returning. He calls it a good option if you are looking to stay somewhere between Osaka/Kyoto and Hiroshima, although it is a bit out of the way.
- Food 4/5: The kaiseki was pretty darned good in KI-NRT's brief account, served in his suite's own dining room, and the one dish he describes is a clear soup of tai (red sea bream) with white hair leek, where the cheek portion of the bream was full of awesome fat and flavor and the broth was light but umami-infused.
- Bath 3.5/5: The Hiougi suite has its own open-air onsen bath, which KI-NRT called wonderful, and Yunogo is one of Okayama's three famous onsen towns (with Yubara and Okutsu). Nobody in the thread has described the water itself or the communal baths.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 3.5/5: The Hiougi suite (the name means leopard lily), where KI-NRT stayed, is a nicely appointed 75 square metres with a living room, a dining room, a separate bedroom and its own open-air onsen bath. Nobody in the thread has described the interiors beyond that.
- Place 3/5: Kifu no Sato is housed in a bland yellow building that could use a fresh coat of paint in a different colour, in a Yunogo Onsen whose postwar-boom structures were showing their age (and the town was dead during his pandemic visit), but things were better once he stepped inside, where very pretty bonsai and ikebana arrangements, including at the front entrance, help to dress things up. It is a bit out of the way between Osaka/Kyoto and Hiroshima.
- Transit: Okayama ~1h30 (0 transfers) · Hiroshima ~2h15 (1 transfer)

## Arimasansoh Goshobessho — Arima Onsen, Hyogo (Kansai)
C · 6.7/10 · 10 rooms · Auberge · in-room onsen: Yes but NOT free-flowing
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/arimasansoh-goshobessho
A ten-room luxury property with French-inspired dining in Arima Onsen, its grounds thick with trees and ponds and its villas built to blend into that calming landscape, and the best KI-NRT has found in a town whose ryokans have otherwise never cut the mustard for him. The genuine hot-spring water suffers from a slow, self-fill in-room tub, and the top villa runs a little dark, but service is refined and after two nights he said the quality of it all will not make you feel cheated in any way.
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner is French-inspired with Japanese ingredients (bouillabaisse with fried lobster, Japanese turnip and yuzu; a spring roll of lotus root mochi and cheese), ending with rice, miso soup and pickles as a kaiseki does. KI-NRT found the food very good but just short of exceptional, and he preferred the food at Nakanobo Zuien, also in Arima. Breakfast is more Western (French toast, grilled fish) and satisfying though not memorable.
- Bath 2.5/5: The water is the real Arima water, brackish brown and smelling of sulfur, unlike the clear water of most onsen. But the in-room bath in the Villa is not free-flowing: you fill the huge tub from a tap that trickles, 30 to 60 minutes per bath, which KI-NRT found tedious. The communal baths are indoors with no view. The Villa bathroom also has a sauna, and a new treehouse villa has an open-air kinsen (gold) bath on its deck.
- Service 4/5: Service is refined and a little formal, and KI-NRT could tell the staff had all been comprehensively trained in Japanese hospitality. Given the clientele that stays here, he thought discreet and unobtrusive was probably appropriate.
- Room 3.5/5: KI-NRT's Villa Suite, the top room type, is listed at 100 square metres and felt bigger, with an enormous living room, a large bedroom, a small balcony over the ravine, high vaulted ceilings and a bathroom as big as many hotel rooms with dual vanities and the onsen tub. The dark wood and dark brown furnishings were on the dark side for his taste, and the lighting only just kept the room from feeling gloomy.
- Place 4/5: The property is at the end of the strip of hotels in Arima Onsen, quaint but a walk from the main tourist areas, and its buildings and villas blend in nicely with grounds full of trees, ponds and pretty vegetation. Stepping into the grounds will instantly reduce your blood pressure, it is that soothing a place. Arima is a stone's throw from Osaka and Kobe, and most of its other ryokans are massive pre-bubble hotels or small, run-down places.
- Transit: Osaka 1h05 (0 transfers) · Kobe 0h35 (1 transfer)

## Chikusenso Mt.Zao Onsen Resort & Spa — Zao Machi, Miyagi (Tohoku)
C · 6.7/10 · 32 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Detached (inconvenient)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/chikusenso-mt-zao-onsen-resort-spa
A midsize, 30-room contemporary resort in Togatta Onsen on the flank of Mt. Zao, its design blending Japanese and local elements into the surrounding landscape. KI-NRT's one detailed account calls it one of the jewels of the Tohoku region, with Chef Naoi's cooking he ranked not far off his all-time favorites. The huge Presidential Suite's outdoor bath, though, sits down a locked hallway and stairs, and he places the property among Japan's pricier stays without ranking it among the true elite.
- Food 4.5/5: Executive Chef Kiyokazu Naoi cooks with real skill and does not water the food down for foreign tastes. One dinner was a mostly-fugu course, and another a run of just-made tempura that Naoi-san prepared personally, which KI-NRT found innovative and delightful. He would not put the dining in his all-time top five, though it is not far off. The one drawback is that dinner cannot be served in your room, as the finer ryokans offer.
- Bath 3/5: The Presidential Suite's open-air onsen bath is a hassle to reach: you leave by the room's front door, go down a hallway and a flight of stairs, and unlock a door (KI-NRT's party held the only key) into a small garden. He would rather step straight from the veranda into the water. The second-highest room category avoids the problem, with its open-air bath on the balcony of an upper floor. Nobody in the thread has described the communal baths.
- Service 3.5/5: Service was courteous, friendly and attentive, but KI-NRT would not say the staff went above and beyond. When he asked them to call once the morning road report for the Zao Echo Line came through, they suggested a website, and although they asked about his plans on arrival, nobody flagged that Miyagi Fox Village would be closed the Wednesday he meant to visit. On the plus side, Chikusenso does laundry and pressing, which very few ryokans offer.
- Room 3.5/5: The Presidential Suite, the top room of the 30, is an enormous 116 square metres with absolute privacy in all directions, so you can leave the shades open all day and night, and it has just about every modern convenience and piece of technology you could hope for. KI-NRT found the decor and furniture a bit strange and not to his taste, though it was a comfortable place to relax.
- Place 3.5/5: Chikusenso is a relatively new build in Togatta Onsen on the flank of Mt. Zao, and it combines contemporary design with traditional Japanese and local elements in a way that blends nicely with the serene natural surroundings. The Zao Echo Line scenic road is nearby (it closes at the slightest hint of bad weather), as is Miyagi Fox Village, and KI-NRT slots the stop into his Tohoku driving routes between Matsushima and Iizaka Onsen.
- Transit: Sendai ~1h (1 transfer) · Tokyo ~2h40 (1 transfer)

## Hoshino Resorts Kai Unzen — Unzen, Nagasaki (Kyushu)
C · 6.7/10 · 51 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (16 of 51 rooms, private open-air balcony bath)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hoshino-resorts-kai-unzen
A 51-room Hoshino Resorts property built almost inside Unzen's steaming Jigoku hot-spring hells, opened in late 2022 with 16 rooms carrying a private balcony onsen. Nagasaki Joe stayed five months in on a breakfast-only plan (no dinner sampled) and found real strengths in the shared sulfur bathhouse and the breakfast kitchen, but called the room overly spartan and the exterior plain for a brand-new building. He judged it decent, though at a similar price he would pick the traditional ryokan next door instead.
- Food 4/5: Nagasaki Joe stayed on a breakfast-only plan, so dinner is untested, and his short verdict on the breakfast was good enough that he counted it among the strengths of the stay. Nobody in the thread has described the dinner here.
- Bath 4/5: The shared sulfur bathhouse was the highlight of Nagasaki Joe's stay, with real Unzen hot-spring water. Some rooms have a private balcony onsen, but he has not written about them.
- Service 3.5/5: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 3/5: Nagasaki Joe found his room spartan, and it was one of the reasons he would take the Kyushu Hotel next door at the same price.
- Place 3.5/5: The building stands at the edge of Unzen's Jigoku hot-spring hells, next door to the Mt.Resort Unzen Kyushu Hotel, and Nagasaki Joe called the exterior drab. Nobody has written about the grounds or the interiors in any more detail.
- Transit: Fukuoka 3h (2 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h35 (3 transfers) · Nagasaki 1h40 (0 transfers)

## Kappo Ryokan Wakamatsu — Yunokawa Onsen, Hakodate, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
C · 6.7/10 · 23 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kappo-ryokan-wakamatsu
Hakodate's most famous onsen ryokan, a 1924 inn that hosted the Emperor and came back from a years-long pandemic closure. KI-NRT's 2025 return found the kimono-clad personal service and source-fed sea-view baths as good as he remembered, but the once-revered kitchen has stood still and even the top room is dated. He thinks it may still be the best ryokan in Hakodate, but it is far from a destination property.
- Food 2.5/5: The November 2025 dinner was the letdown of KI-NRT's return. He once had Wakamatsu in his top-10 kaiseki experiences, but this time the zensai included matsukaze and homemade karasumi (both cheap izakaya items), a mukago yam bulb and a weird bacon-and-squid roll. He believes the chef is the same, and Mrs. KI-NRT is firm that the kitchen has stood still. Whale meat turns up in the miso soup, so tell them in advance if you object.
- Bath 4.5/5: The hot water comes straight from Wakamatsu's own on-site source, free-flowing and never recirculated, into a gender-segregated daiyokujo with open-air sea views and one private rental bath, Azumaya, which also looks onto the sea. KI-NRT went on an unusually cold early-November day and found the dips heavenly, and Yunokawa Onsen is well regarded for its healing properties. The bath in the room is basic tap water that you fill yourself.
- Service 4.5/5: Every room attendant and meal server wears an elegant kimono, and KI-NRT had a personal server, Ms. Sasaki, for both dinner and breakfast, a rarity these days. She had a strong command of each dish and talked about the local area. When he showed her photos from his stay two decades earlier she ran off and came back with Ms. Kobayashi, the same attendant, in tow. He calls the service exceptionally high on both visits.
- Room 3/5: The rooms are a mixed bag. KI-NRT stayed in Yachiyo, the top room, in the original building: a 90m² reproduction of the suite where Emperor Shōwa stayed in 1954 that mixes a tatami room with a Taishō-era Western sitting area and a bedroom. He found the mix odd but acceptable for history's sake; the bathroom with its outdated toilet and a urinal is unacceptable, though, and the Wi-Fi was dial-up slow. The panoramic views made up for some of it.
- Place 3.5/5: Wakamatsu sits on the Tsugaru Strait at Yunokawa Onsen, five minutes from Hakodate Airport, and every room has an unobstructed view to Aomori's Shimokita Peninsula. It is a northern sea of rough water and gloomy skies most days, so you would not mistake it for Amanpulo or Amanoi. The original 1924 building is tasteful inside, but the 1994 new wing still looks like a bubble-era building in need of a fresh coat of paint.
- Transit: Hakodate ~0h10 (0 transfers) · New Chitose ~4h (0 transfers)

## Ryokusone — Kanazawa, Ishikawa (Chubu)
C · 6.7/10 · 7 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No (indoor+outdoor, not onsen)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ryokusone
A seven-room traditional inn on a small hill above Kanazawa, a ten-minute drive from Kenrokuen and the Higashi Chaya district, whose top room is the Yamaboushi duplex suite, but which has no onsen and no garden. It was KI-NRT's go-to across three stays in a city where no stay had ever satisfied him, so the praise is relative to a weak field, and the kitchen slipped between 2019 and 2022. The question is moot now in any case, because the ryokan has gone out of business.
- Food 3.5/5: KI-NRT found the dinner great on his 2019 stay but weaker by his 2022 visit, so the kitchen was heading the wrong way.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen at Ryokusone, and KI-NRT suggests it only to travelers for whom onsen is not a requirement.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 4.5/5: The top room, the Yamaboushi special room, is a duplex suite with an upstairs bedroom, and it is the room KI-NRT chose to photograph for his primer entry, because he was much taken with it.
- Place 3.5/5: Ryokusone sits atop a small hill overlooking Kanazawa, about a ten-minute drive from the Higashi Chaya district and Kenrokuen, so it may not suit anyone who wants to be near the tourist centre. The inn is quite traditional in look and feel, which many guests will appreciate, but its footprint is very small and there is no real garden to speak of, which KI-NRT found a pity in the city of Kenrokuen, one of Japan's three most famous gardens.
- Transit: Kanazawa ~0h20 (0 transfers) · Tokyo ~2h50 (0 transfers)

## Tsuruga Besso Ao no Za — Lake Shikotsu, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
C · 6.7/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tsuruga-besso-ao-no-za
A 25-room Tsuruga Group flagship on Lake Shikotsu with a spectacular building and interiors and a kitchen that lets them down: KI-NRT was shocked that a 2019 build at this price would serve frozen, dried-out local fish. Both 2025 stays called it overpriced even with the all-you-can-drink inclusions, and the service has a corporate feel and is patchy. He still expects anyone staying on Shikotsuko to end up here, because everything else nearby is extremely rustic by comparison and there is really no other choice.
- Food 2.5/5: Dinner is where Ao no Za falls down. On KI-NRT's June 2025 stay the grilled Tokishirazu salmon was hard, dry and clearly frozen, his wife's flounder was inedible, and only the opening abalone kuzu-uchi impressed, and he was shocked they served such dishes at all. Breakfast was downright pleasant by comparison. pWei, a month earlier, found the food quite solid though nothing amazing, served in private dining rooms with an included drink list.
- Bath 4/5: The Suite Villa's open-air onsen bath draws water from the source, but the spring is lukewarm, so the water is heated in a tank and recirculated at 41C (staff will change the temperature on request). KI-NRT puts it a step below a free-flowing source such as Myoken Ishiharaso for authenticity, but the water was still silky-smooth and soothing, and pWei also found it clear, alkaline and a great softener of the skin.
- Service 3.5/5: Service was mixed on KI-NRT's stay. Tomoko, his dinner and breakfast server, explained each dish in detail and took pride in her work and local roots, and he adored her. Other staff were less attentive: a guest relations agent never followed up on an art question, receptionists were quick when asked but not proactive, and after an outing half the staff welcomed them back while the rest ignored them. pWei found the service otherwise excellent.
- Room 3.5/5: The 140 square metre Suite Villa is comfortable, tastefully done in modern Japanese decor with checkerboard tatami, an open-air onsen bath, two sinks and electric blinds. The one drawback is that it has no lake view, and neither does the Executive Suite Villa above it at twice the price. The GM told KI-NRT the site was chosen to be near the shops and Visitor Center, which he called a cop out. pWei's third-floor room did overlook the lake.
- Place 4/5: The interiors are grand, with ultra-high ceilings, rock and sand art, carvings of the extinct Hokkaido wolf, a wireframe owl, Ainu clothing on display and a courtyard pool with wireframe balls hovering over the water. The building tells Hokkaido's story from the Ainu to the modern age, and KI-NRT says it works beautifully. The site is Shikotsuko Onsen, the lake's tourist hub, with tour buses in the lot, though pWei found them no great bother.
- Transit: New Chitose 0h35 (0 transfers) · Sapporo 1h (0 transfers)

## Yamamizuki Bettei — Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
C · 6.7/10 · Traditional ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yamamizuki-bettei
A rustic detached-villa sister to Kurokawa's renowned Yamamizuki, and the thread's standing recommendation once you accept that after Takefue and Gosho Gekkoju the area's luxury drops off steeply. KI-NRT stayed in 2016 and still recommends it, and a 2025 member couple knew it was not properly luxurious going in, liked the scenery, found the food forgettable and would only return in nicer weather. KI-NRT's advice is to get the C-type villa with its own indoor and outdoor onsen, and the village is a stronger reason to stay than the kitchen.
- Food 3/5: The food was nothing special on jpit2107's January 2025 stay, and nobody else in the thread has described a meal here.
- Bath 4/5: Kurokawa is an onsen town, and the C-type room has its own indoor and outdoor onsen baths, which KI-NRT says you really should get if you can. Nobody in the thread describes the baths in any detail.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 3.5/5: The rooms are detached villas, which matters in Kurokawa because most buildings in the area are wood with thin sound insulation (the renowned main Yamamizuki included), so here you are assured of peace and quiet. KI-NRT calls the place quirky and says to get the C-type room with its indoor and outdoor onsen. jpit2107 found an Edo-period feel in January 2025, but the heating system whined.
- Place 4/5: Yamamizuki Bettei is the thread's top pick for a scenic, rustic stay in Kurokawa Onsen, where KI-NRT says the luxury drops off steeply after Takefue and Gosho Gekkoju but the area is full of charming and rustic ryokans. jpit2107 chose it on that basis in January 2025 and would come back only in nicer weather.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h40 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h20 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 4h35 (2 transfers)

## Ekoin — Koyasan, Wakayama (Kansai)
C · 6.5/10 · Temple lodging · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ekoin
Ekoin is a working Buddhist temple on Koyasan that runs a single luxurious suite (a private garden, two double beds and a tatami dining room where a strictly vegan shojin dinner arrives at a fixed 5:30pm). There is no onsen, and guests are encouraged to join meditation in the afternoon and the service and fire ceremony before breakfast. Both first-hand stays enjoyed it as the closest a temple lodging gets to non-Buddhist comfort, and both agree that a single night is the right dose for Ekoin and Koyasan together.
- Food 3/5: The food is strict shojin cooking, vegan and, according to the temple's handout, without garlic or onion either, served in the room at fixed hours (dinner at 5:30pm, breakfast at 8am). Dinner arrives all at once as a spread of small dishes, with a candle burner under the one hot dish and a hot soup, and the rest cold. RichardInSF found breakfast looked more colorful and interesting than it tasted, while Buster CT1K thought the food well flavored.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen at Ekoin, and no mineral water of any kind. The shower room off the main bathroom has an ordinary bath of heated tap water, so bathing is not part of the experience here.
- Service 4/5: The monks who look after you speak decent English, and RichardInSF puts the service at or close to luxury level, although the temple's timetable is fixed: dinner at 5:30pm, breakfast at 8am and checkout at 10am. Guests are encouraged to attend three ceremonies, meditation in the afternoon and the regular service and the fire ceremony before breakfast. Internet is included and excellent, and there is free parking on the premises.
- Room 4/5: The temple has a single luxurious suite: a living room with a mini bar and a view onto its own private garden, a large tatami room beside it where meals are served, and a bedroom with two actual double beds and a monster TV on the opposite wall. The toilet is a small room near the suite's entrance, about as far from the bedroom as it is possible to get, and the main bathroom has a single sink with a shower room and bath next to it.
- Place 4/5: Ekoin is a genuine working Buddhist temple on Koyasan that makes its revenue by running a hotel inside its grounds, and the suite looks onto its own private garden. RichardInSF says he stayed to experience temple life only "somewhat", because this sort of luxury does not go with Buddhism. Both guests enjoyed Koyasan, but Buster CT1K was blunt that one night was enough for Ekoin and the mountain together and two would have been too much.
- Transit: Osaka ~2h (2 transfers) · Kyoto ~2h35 (3 transfers)

## Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan — Takayama, Gifu (Chubu)
C · 6.5/10 · 28 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: —
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/honjin-hiranoya-kachoan
Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan is possibly the top ryokan in the center of Takayama, a minute from the old town and far nicer than its sister property Bekkan, but KI-NRT calls it, along with the other central options, far inferior to Wanosato, with good but not amazing food and a multi-story building that has nothing like a garden to give it charm from outside. Service is a real strength, led by an attentive named butler. It is very solid luxury if you want to sleep in the historic district, and his advice is to pair it with Wanosato instead of choosing between them.
- Food 3.5/5: The kaiseki meals were good but not amazing, and KI-NRT compares them directly with Wanosato, where the food was exceptional: here it was delicious but not memorable, run-of-the-mill for anyone whose expectations were formed at Japan's finest ryokans. Meals are served in the restaurant instead of your room, in a private room for each party. Takayama is deep in the mountains, so the kitchen leans on Hida beef, mountain vegetables and river fish.
- Bath 1.5/5: Kachoan has no onsen, and the bath is ordinary heated water, which KI-NRT notes may be off-putting to some. If hot-spring water is something you are after, he says to look elsewhere in Takayama.
- Service 4.5/5: Service was the most impressive part of KI-NRT's two nights. Their nakai (a female butler), Yukimi, was a total sweetheart, low-key yet charming, and catered to their every whim, although they had little need of anything because they were already so well taken care of. The entire staff were gracious and polished, and you can tell they take pride in working at the top property in central Takayama. He reports no service issues at all.
- Room 3.5/5: KI-NRT stayed in the Hanayagi no Ma, the top room, which occupies the 6th floor: 90m², clean, delightfully decorated (not too busy and not too spartan) and nicely appointed, though nothing about it struck him as particularly memorable. No room in the building has a balcony, and he does not know how far the windows open, which matters if you book to watch the Spring Festival procession pass right in front. Call and ask which rooms face the street.
- Place 3.5/5: Kachoan has by far the best location of any ryokan in Takayama, a minute from the main old town area with its shrines and temples (the other central luxury options are about a 30-minute walk away), and the Spring Festival procession passes right in front. It is a single, tall multi-story building, though, with no grounds and nothing like a garden to give it charm from outside, and KI-NRT found it more of a hotel than a ryokan.
- Transit: Nagoya 2h40 (0 transfers) · Toyama 1h50 (0 transfers)

## Katsuragi Hotel Kitanomaru — Fukuroi, Shizuoka (Chubu)
C · 6.5/10 · 49 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: —
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/katsuragi-hotel-kitanomaru
Katsuragi Hotel Kitanomaru is a Yamaha-founded forest hotel of the 'local luxury' school, with a great garden, a classic piano and a fusion kaiseki kitchen (a standout Omi beef course and dessert among the courses) that carried the stay. The rooms are where it falls down, since KI-NRT's booked 28-square-meter room was cramped and, at over $500 per person, poor value; most of the inventory runs small, and he says the place needs suites. He calls it worth trying once, and only once, unless a suite is available.
- Food 4/5: Dinner was the highlight: unique, creative fusion Japanese, with small dishes such as muscat grape, Japanese turnip with mashed tofu, and crown daisy with chestnut, a combination that sounds weird but worked. The softshell turtle soup was a delight, the Omi beef steak lived up to its billing (KI-NRT puts it with the best from Kobe, Tajima and Hida), and of the four excellent desserts the Satsuma sweet potato ice cream blew him away.
- Bath: Nobody in the thread has written about the baths here; the only bathing KI-NRT describes is the combined shower and tub unit in his 28m² room.
- Service 3.5/5: Service was friendly and attentive, a little on the formal side in the old-school Japanese way, and everyone worked to cater to KI-NRT's needs with quiet efficiency. Katsuragi is a large property, much bigger than a family-run ryokan, so the slightly impersonal feel is no surprise. It caters mainly to a domestic, local Aichi clientele (golfers included), so English-speaking staff may be hard to find, though he couldn't confirm that.
- Room 2/5: KI-NRT booked the Deluxe Western-style Twin, Fuji-dono, 28m², and even knowing the size he was unpleasantly surprised at how claustrophobic and unappealing it was, with small windows and a combined shower and tub unit unbefitting a luxury property at these rates. Higher categories exist but are a small share of the rooms, so good luck finding one on your dates. He would halve the room count by combining adjacent rooms into suites.
- Place 4/5: The grounds are the best part of Katsuragi: expansive, immaculately maintained and remarkably quaint, with beautiful gardens and surrounding forest you can easily spend over an hour strolling, which KI-NRT recommends. The entrance is traditional Japanese in a good way, and the lobby's floor-to-ceiling windows give commanding views over the garden, which makes the tiny rooms all the more jarring. It is a Yamaha-founded hotel in a forest in Aichi.
- Transit: Nagoya ~1h10 (0 transfers) · Tokyo ~2h20 (0 transfers)

## Matsushima Sakan Shoan — Matsushima, Miyagi (Tohoku)
C · 6.5/10 · 11 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/matsushima-sakan-shoan
Sakan Shoan is an eleven-room bayside inn 45 minutes northeast of Sendai, and the setting is why you go: spectacular Matsushima Bay views from just about anywhere on the property, plus good local sashimi and abalone served in a private dining room hosted to a very high standard. It is a ryokan/hotel hybrid with no onsen at all and view suites that run small, but KI-NRT wouldn't hesitate to return, which makes it a solid Tohoku view stop, if not quite a destination inn.
- Food 3.5/5: Meals are served in a private dining room (not your own room), and the strength is the locally caught seafood, above all the sashimi, with the abalone another highlight. KI-NRT enjoyed the meals but was not blown away, which was fine because he never expected Sakan Shoan to be a culinary destination; a bit more ingenuity and creative flair would help the kaiseki.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen anywhere on the property. The rooms have baths but not hot-spring ones, and there is no gender-segregated communal onsen either, which surprised KI-NRT for a luxury ryokan in this part of Japan. He called the lack a real bummer given the serenity and beauty of the setting, though he notes that part of this is out of the property's control.
- Service 4/5: Sakan Shoan is hosted to a very high standard. Dinner was looked after by Nana Suzuki, who was charming and proactive and explained every detail of each course to KI-NRT.
- Room 3/5: KI-NRT booked Oimatsu, a B Type Japanese and Western corner room, the top category with a bay view. It had sufficient but not abundant space, a tatami sitting area and a separate bedroom with two Western beds, and is otherwise Japanese in decor and furnishings, which he found the best of both worlds. The larger Tokubetsu-shitsu suites above it have the space but no view, so if the bay matters, take a B Type.
- Place 4.5/5: Sakan Shoan is tucked into its own small cove about ten minutes' drive from Matsushima's centre, so it is private and serene, and the view from just about anywhere is spectacular, above all at sunset. Because the inn is on its own secluded bay you miss the whole island-studded panorama, though KI-NRT still calls it a million-dollar view. He adds that Matsushima's billing as one of Japan's three great views oversells it.
- Transit: Sendai ~0h35 (1 transfer) · Tokyo ~2h20 (1 transfer)

## Satoumitei Kinparo Hontei — Oarai, Ibaraki
C · 6.5/10 · 8 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/satoumitei-kinparo-hontei
An eight-room seaside inn in Oarai, founded in 1888 and rebuilt in 2011, that KI-NRT chose for its location: twenty minutes from both Hitachi Seaside Park and Kairakuen, and within reach of Ashikaga's wisteria. He calls it not remotely in the league of Japan's top ryokans and no destination in itself, but the torii view, the waves and an enjoyable local dinner made a flower-season base he would use again.
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner is rustic countryside cooking of local seafood and Hitachi ingredients, bought from local fishmongers daily and served in Kasama-yaki pottery. KI-NRT found it enjoyable: Hitachi beef shabu-shabu, a kinmedai-broth noodle soup in place of rice and a shirasu pizza that worked shockingly well, though courses came out too fast, the next set down before the last was finished. Breakfast was much weaker (nikujaga and one fish the first morning).
- Bath 3/5: The semi-open-air bath in the Sodegaura suite is plain heated water and not onsen, because Ibaraki has no major hot-spring source, which KI-NRT found understandable, and for him the sea views more than compensated. The gender-segregated communal baths do not stock towels, so you carry your own from the room, something he noted even fairly average ryokan no longer ask of guests.
- Service 3/5: Service is friendly and refreshingly informal while still polite. KI-NRT enjoyed chatting with Ms. Akita, the dinner server and an Oarai local, and Ms. Nakata, an energetic young woman from Hitachinaka who handled breakfast. It fell short in the details. Dinner courses came out on top of each other, slippers had to be asked for, no sleepwear beyond yukata was provided, and the meal plan could not be varied by night without a phone call.
- Room 3.5/5: Sodegaura, the 85 square metre end-unit suite, has separate sleeping, dining and tatami spaces, a semi-open-air bath and a seaside terrace, and gets the best angle toward the Kamiiso-no-Torii gate. KI-NRT calls it spacious and very comfortable but more rustic than luxurious: one sink, yukata but no sleepwear, and slippers only on request over floors that did not seem heated. Entry-level rooms also have a private veranda over the rocks.
- Place 4/5: The inn sits on the Oarai coast beside Oarai Isosaki Jinja, whose Kamiiso-no-Torii gate stands on the sea rocks and glows orange at dawn. The shoreline is a designated Place of Scenic Beauty, part rocky, part sandy beach, and from the rooms you watch families in the tide pools. The exterior is dated and concrete-heavy with almost no signage (KI-NRT drove past it twice), but inside it is warm and wood-heavy, with rooftop terraces over the sea.
- Transit: Tokyo ~1h40 (1 transfer) · Mito ~0h30 (1 transfer)

## Umioto Mari — Shodoshima, Kagawa (Shikoku)
C · 6.5/10 · 6 rooms · Oceanfront ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/umioto-mari
A six-room seaside ryokan on Shodoshima, Japan's olive-growing island, opened in April 2019 as the modern sister property to the traditional Shimayado Mari (about 10 minutes away by car). The star attraction is a twelve-course Olive Kaiseki dinner that KI-NRT called wonderful, but there is no onsen anywhere on site, only a tub you fill yourself, cut with spring water carried over from Shimayado Mari, which is a real letdown if onsen is what you are after. Ikyu's guests love it regardless, with meals and satisfaction near the top of their marks.
- Food 4.5/5: The star attraction is the twelve-course Olive Kaiseki, in which just about every dish carries olive oil: celery juice with yuzu olive oil, miso-marinated olive-fed hamachi, grilled olive-fed Sanuki wagyu shank, and a milk and rosemary sorbet with olive oil frozen over it into a hard shell. KI-NRT worried about being 'olived-out' halfway through, but the olive never overpowered the other ingredients. Ikyu guests give the meals their highest mark.
- Bath 2/5: There is no onsen here, and no communal bath either. The owner drilled deep but never hit a spring, so the bath in your room is one you fill yourself, with onsen water carried over from Shimayado Mari and mixed with ground water, which makes it technically half onsen. KI-NRT called it nice but said that if onsen is what you are after, this isn't going to cut it.
- Service 3.5/5: The waiters explain the olive oil in each dish the way a sommelier explains wine, down to how it was farmed, which KI-NRT found a tad overboard even for someone who loves the stories behind the food, though they had an answer to any question he asked. The one drawback is the meal times: dinner is at 17:30 or 19:30 and nothing else, and with half the rooms empty they still refused to shift his by 30 minutes. Ikyu guests mark the service lowest.
- Room 3/5: There are six rooms in all, each with a view of the sea, and two of them are 'hanare' villas of 73 square metres. KI-NRT's villa To no Oto was adequate, but for a property that opened in 2019 he was surprised to find a single sink and vanity, and even the top category room has no separate bedroom and living room. Ikyu guests mark the rooms among the property's highest categories.
- Place 3.5/5: A small, charming property by the sea on Shodoshima, with no Japanese garden but a wonderful view of the ocean from the rooms. Shimayado Mari sits in the centre of town about 10 minutes away by car, a plus or a minus depending on what you are after, and with a car KI-NRT preferred the more tranquil setting here. The island itself is a peaceful place to laze away and do some light sightseeing, though he says nothing on it is bucket-list material.
- Transit: Takamatsu ~1h35 (1 transfer) · Himeji ~2h20 (1 transfer)

## Mifuneyama Rakuen Onsen — Takeo Onsen, Saga (Kyushu)
C · 6.4/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/mifuneyama-rakuen-onsen
A non-traditional art-hotel ryokan in Takeo Onsen that shares the same onsen and the magnificent Mifuneyama Rakuen garden with its luxury neighbor Chikurintei, with a dark lobby, a flashlight check-in and a colored-light show at the front desk. Nagasaki Joe's 2023 stay found pleasant meals and a much-touted spa that did not live up to its billing, at a fraction of the neighbor's price. His advice is to book Chikurintei if you can and to fall back on this decidedly non-luxury alternative when it is full.
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner and breakfast were both pleasant on Nagasaki Joe's 2023 stay, though he does not single out any dish, and nobody else in the thread has eaten here.
- Bath 3/5: The spa is a proper Takeo Onsen hot-spring bath with saunas and cold baths, and it gives you the same onsen experience as Chikurintei next door, which Nagasaki Joe thinks may be jointly owned. It is promoted as the number one spa in Japan, but he found it just OK and overrated.
- Service: Check-in happens in a very dark lobby with no lights on at the front desk, so the staff work by flashlight. Beyond that, nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: Nobody in the thread has described the rooms. Nagasaki Joe booked the hotel as the cheaper alternative when Chikurintei had no availability, and he does not count it as a luxury ryokan.
- Place 4.5/5: The vast Mifuneyama Rakuen garden is right next door and free for guests. The whole area around Mt. Mifuneyama bursts with color when the azaleas bloom in April, and KI-NRT expects the momiji against the evergreens in mid to late November to be a stunning sight, with a fall illumination he says could be spectacular. Inside, the lobby is kept dark, and a vast array of colored lights near the front desk gives an artistic light show.
- Transit: Fukuoka 1h (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 2h35 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 0h25 (0 transfers)

## Sekitei — Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima (Chugoku)
C · 6.4/10 · 12 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: Some (top room self-fill)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sekitei
A 12-room garden ryokan in mainland Hatsukaichi near the Miyajima ferry, with a hypnotic garden and an oyster-and-conger-eel kaiseki. Japanese travelers adore it (4.81 on Ikyu), but KI-NRT gave it three stars, near the bottom of anything he reviews, for the aging, under-cleaned suite and the hassle of the self-fill tub, and he calls it a convenient overnight that is not a destination ryokan in its own right. Yet five years on he still sends Miyajima-bound travelers here and still praises the food and garden; it works as a single night if you choose your room carefully.
- Food 4.5/5: Dinner is an extravagant full kaiseki of local Setouchi ingredients and wild mountain vegetables, served in the room in artisan ware: conger eel prepared masterfully several ways, oysters, mugwort tempura with mugwort-buckwheat soba. Breakfast in the main restaurant is a grand, creative spread. KI-NRT calls the meals exceptional, just outside his own top ten, and Japanese travelers count Sekitei among the country's ten culinary destinations.
- Bath 4/5: The communal open-air onsen is the bath to use, and KI-NRT found it wonderful. Only some of the 12 rooms have onsen at all, and in Oimatsu the open-air tub is not free-flowing: you fill it yourself from a tap, which takes 20-plus minutes, then dilute it with cold non-onsen water to cool it, and he found dead skin in the bath after filling it. He does not recommend Sekitei if an in-room onsen is your main goal.
- Service: Dinner is served in the room and breakfast in the main restaurant, and shoes are collected at reception when you arrive. KI-NRT told the staff about the dirty bath but does not say how they responded, and nobody in the thread has written about the service otherwise.
- Room 2.5/5: All 12 rooms differ in space, layout, view and privacy, and the style is a mix of traditional Japanese and early-20th-century, so do your research in advance. KI-NRT's Oimatsu, a two-story suite with an open-air bath, was decent in size but chopped into too many little nooks and felt claustrophobic, aging and under-cleaned (dust, grime, dead skin in the tub), with no internet. The tatami floors were heated, a godsend in winter.
- Place 4/5: Most of the rooms face the inner garden in a U-shape, and that garden, with its views of the Seto Inland Sea and Miyajima, is what Sekitei is famous for; KI-NRT found it hypnotic. Several detached rooms farther down the hill have better privacy but inferior views. The inn is in Hatsukaichi on the mainland near the Miyajima ferry, and he would still rather stay on Miyajima itself, since Sekitei is a convenient overnight and no destination ryokan.
- Transit: Hiroshima 0h40 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h25 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 2h15 (1 transfer)

## Teisui — Oga, Akita (Tohoku)
C · 6.4/10 · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/teisui
A rare outpost of luxury on Akita's remote Oga Peninsula, revived since 2017 by the okami Emiko Hirabayashi's investment in a new onsen source and refurbished rooms. KI-NRT calls it the most polarizing property he has experienced in Japan: breathtaking views and a soothing onsen against uneven service, food that is merely "good" and rooms he would avoid. She seemed cold at first and then warmed into an engaged host who gave them a tour of the whole property, and he says that without those conversations the stay would have ranked among his more underwhelming.
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner is built on good Oga ingredients served in the traditional way: the local red snow crab was excellent and so was the abalone, but they came steamed and sauteed, and the zensai ran to 16 small bites, too many for KI-NRT to savor at once. The deep-fried horsehead fish went well with the eel and Akita Komachi rice, while the matcha ice cream finale was a downer in a prefecture with no tea tradition. He calls the food merely "good".
- Bath 4/5: The onsen is a rare hazel-brown water that the okami dug for on site, at a cost of almost a million dollars, after the nearby source she depended on began to decline, and KI-NRT found it soothing. In the Nishinokaze suite the in-room bath runs straight from the source and unfiltered and comes out brown, while the public and private rental baths are treated and recirculated, which leaves them clear.
- Service 2.5/5: Service is uneven and not anticipatory. KI-NRT found the staff a bit timid, and at dinner the server could not explain many of the appetizers and called on the okami, Emiko Hirabayashi, to step in. She seemed cold and inflexible at first (she initially refused to take the meat off the crab for Mrs. KI-NRT, who had one working arm), then warmed into long, engaging conversations and a tour of the property. There are no English-speaking staff yet.
- Room 3/5: Quality splits sharply by category. KI-NRT's 77m² Nishinokaze suite was clean, contemporary and comfortable, a bit tight but with an incredible balcony over the ocean and bay and its own brown onsen tub. The 92m² Kitanokaze "special room" already looks tired, with no balcony and no bath at all, and he cannot imagine anyone choosing it over Nishinokaze. Interiors are simple, with no flowers or art, and the bathrooms carry no amenities.
- Place 4.5/5: Teisui sits on the remote Oga Peninsula of Akita, where anything resembling luxury is remarkable, and the views from the rooms are breathtaking: an unobstructed sweep of capes, nearby reefs and a lighthouse on Tomi Island that reminded KI-NRT of Prince Edward Island and Cape Cod, like a Monet painting. The building is huge for ten rooms, with a lounge holding far more chairs than it needs and whole floors and corridors left unused.
- Transit: Akita ~1h30 (1 transfer) · Tokyo ~5h20 (1 transfer)

## Ginyu — Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
C · 6.3/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ginyu
A Hakone ryokan with the best views in the area and its hardest reservation, which in KI-NRT's eyes is resting on its laurels, with those views wrapped in Balinese interiors that could use a refresh, impersonal hotel-like service and a recirculated onsen. 'It's still nice, but for the prices they command I'd expect a bit more,' and its claim to fame nowadays is the difficulty of booking it; he would not return. If you do go, get the highest floor you can for the view.
- Food 3/5: KI-NRT found the food hit-and-miss, and when he steers people to Ginyu it is for the views and never for the kitchen.
- Bath 3/5: The onsen water is recirculated instead of being fed continually straight from the source, which KI-NRT counts against it. Room layouts vary a lot, and in some of them the bath's barriers stand in front of the views, so the room you get matters.
- Service 3/5: Service is a bit impersonal and very hotel-like. When KI-NRT pulled up to the front there was nobody waiting at the entrance and he had no idea where to park, and at check-in you are seated in the lounge to enjoy the wonderful views, then called back to the front desk counter to do the formalities.
- Room 3/5: The interiors are Balinese in style, and KI-NRT, who prefers either modern or well-maintained traditional Japanese, finds Ginyu is neither; the place could also use a refresh. Room layouts vary a great deal, and some put bath barriers in front of the view, so the higher the floor the better.
- Place 4.5/5: For views it is no contest, the best in Hakone, and the higher the floor the better; even KI-NRT, who does not count Ginyu among his Hakone favourites, sends people here when the view is the priority. The seating area where you wait at check-in has the same wonderful views. Ginyu is one of Hakone's prominent luxury ryokans alongside Gora Kadan and Gora Hanaougi, and more centrally located than Yama no Chaya.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h15 (1 transfer)

## Ryokan Kurashiki — Kurashiki, Okayama (Chugoku)
C · 6.3/10 · 8 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ryokan-kurashiki
An eight-room inn in an authentic historic building at the heart of Kurashiki's canal district, with Meiji-era antiques throughout and a spot right on the main canal by the Nakabashi Bridge, and the default luxury choice in town. KI-NRT's stand-alone Inui suite came with a service gap and a stairway that ruled out room dining, but he closed by saying he'd stay again with a different room and a better-briefed server; by 2025 he was calling it a coin toss against the newer Yoruya nearby.
- Food 3/5: Dinners are straightforward kaiseki, well presented though not particularly innovative, and KI-NRT enjoyed the vast majority of dishes and called them more than satisfactory. Breakfast was a bit lacking, with small portions and not the variety he is used to at other luxury ryokans. Meals are served in the rooms except in the Inui suite, whose steep stairs mean its guests eat every meal in the main restaurant, and the inn does not say so online.
- Bath: There is no onsen in the rooms, and the only hot spring bathing is a small onsen bath in a separate facility on the premises, which KI-NRT noted but did not describe.
- Service 2/5: Service was the big irritation of KI-NRT's stay. The same waiter served every meal, which would have been good had he known and cared more about his work; asked about a dish, he picked up the handwritten menu on the table and read it aloud. KI-NRT expects a top ryokan to train its servers in the intricacies of each dish and found Kurashiki does not, and a year on he told another poster that the butler service 'left a lot to be desired.'
- Room 3.5/5: Luxury Suite Inui is in a stand-alone building across the rear garden, 63.1 square metres and the newest, most modern of the rooms, bright and airy with vaulted ceilings and light-coloured wood, though with only one sink. The steep stairs are the bigger problem, because the staff consider them a hazard and will not carry meals up, so Inui is the only room without in-room dining, and KI-NRT would pick another room next time.
- Place 4.5/5: Ryokan Kurashiki stands at the heart of the Kurashiki Bikan historical quarter, on the main canal by the Nakabashi Bridge, and the historic building blends in nicely with the rest of the old town, with Meiji-era antiques inside in darned good shape. Kurashiki is touristy but gorgeous, and KI-NRT found two nights the right length to see it slowly. Even after a disappointing stay he still called the inn charming and centrally located.
- Transit: Okayama ~0h30 (1 transfer) · Hiroshima ~1h20 (2 transfers)

## Setouchi Retreat Aonagi — Matsuyama, Ehime (Shikoku)
C · 6.3/10 · 7 rooms · Villa retreat · in-room onsen: No (indoor pool/jacuzzi)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/setouchi-retreat-aonagi
A seven-room Tadao Ando retreat above Matsuyama that appears on many 'ryokans to stay at before you die' lists, and KI-NRT is not entirely sure why. It is exclusive, with that famous pool, and the food and service draw real praise: sea bream and a spectacular Takikomi Tai Meshi at dinner, staff who got everything right. But there is no true onsen (the rentable pool, sauna and jacuzzi struck him as an artificial, party-mood dungeon), and the aging concrete is the flaw that leaves him cold, so he would sooner return to Oborozukiyo.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is built on Seto Inland Sea seafood, and the local red sea bream, Spanish mackerel and white horse head were all fantastic, with the Takikomi Tai Meshi (rice cooked with red sea bream) spectacular. The executive chef came over from sister property Iki Kairi Murakami and still brings in longtooth grouper and blackthroat seaperch from Iki. KI-NRT puts the food at very good, memorable but not top class.
- Bath 2.5/5: There is no onsen bath in the rooms or communal bath; instead Aonagi has a pool with a sauna and an onsen jacuzzi that guests rent privately. KI-NRT did not like it: a jacuzzi gives off a party atmosphere where an onsen should be calm and relaxing, and stylish as they are, the pool and jacuzzi struck him as an artificially created dungeon. He would have preferred something open-air, and the missing real bath in the room is his one nit to pick.
- Service 4/5: Service is attentive and prompt, and KI-NRT says everything about the property was done right. He went in unsure about the food and service, since so much of the attention goes to the architecture, and they turned out to be the definite highlights of his stay.
- Room 3.5/5: The best of the seven rooms is the Aonagi Suite, a massive 169.6 square metre duplex, and although KI-NRT prefers single-storey rooms, the maisonette layout allows gigantic double-height windows that look over the iconic pool to the Seto Inland Sea and its islands. The decor is tastefully minimalistic, but the interior is beginning to show its age in design and maintenance. It is also the only room where meals are served in the room.
- Place 3.5/5: Aonagi is Tadao Ando's creation above Matsuyama, with the iconic pool as the centrepiece and a view of the Seto Inland Sea that KI-NRT calls Instagram-worthy. The architecture left him cold. There are interesting nooks and crannies, but to him it is a sea of concrete, more like a museum or a European castle than a comfortable home. It is a 25-minute drive from Dogo Onsen, and he thinks you need to be a big fan of Ando to stay more than a night.
- Transit: Matsuyama ~0h25 (1 transfer) · Okayama ~3h (1 transfer)

## Hyakuna Garan — Nanjo (Okinawa main island), Okinawa (Okinawa)
C · 6.2/10 · 18 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: No (rooftop hot tub)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hyakuna-garan
Hyakuna Garan is an 18-room property in Nanjo on Okinawa's main island, and its standalone Garan Annex is immense at 130 square meters, with a rooftop hot tub and a panoramic ocean view; like most Okinawa properties it has no onsen. KI-NRT's four nights there in December 2020 were enjoyable, with warm service and the Goya Champuru and desserts among the highlights, but the furnishings were dated, the local beef fell flat, and it isn't a beach destination, so his hunt for a true Okinawa luxury ryokan continues.
- Food 3/5: The food is unique and varied, built on local Okinawan produce, seafood and seaweed, and staff explain each ingredient. Some of it hit and some missed: the Goya Champuru (bitter melon with Agu pork, egg and tofu) was fantastic, as was the Okinawan soba, and each dessert brought at least five little bites. But the local beef was tough, chewy and bland with no marbling, and KI-NRT would have preferred one taste and then wagyu from elsewhere.
- Bath 2.5/5: There is no onsen at Hyakuna Garan, as at the vast majority of Okinawa properties. The Garan Annex has a hot tub on its rooftop terrace with a commanding view of the ocean, but it is heated water and no hot spring.
- Service 4/5: Service was of generally high quality, and everyone was warm, gracious and attentive. The manner is easier than at a typical luxury Japanese hotel, though never overly familiar, which KI-NRT found right for an island resort as opposed to a buttoned-up city hotel.
- Room 3/5: The Garan Annex Bekkan is a stand-alone 130m² unit plus two terraces (the rooftop one with hot tub and ocean view), and the only room that takes children. It has a bedroom with two large Western beds, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room with a table for eight, almost too large for its own good. But the whole resort is in so-so shape, with furnishings straight out of the 80s and cheap-looking, and KI-NRT thinks a refurbishment is overdue.
- Place 4/5: Hyakuna Garan is in Nanjo, quite a distance from Naha, which is a plus or a minus depending on your plans; for KI-NRT it was a hideaway from the city and from the cold that grips Honshu in winter. The main restaurant and the Annex rooftop look out over the ocean. With a rental car it made a good base for Okinawa World, Sefa Utaki and Gangala Valley, but it is not really a beach destination, so look elsewhere if that is what you want.
- Transit: Naha ~0h35 (0 transfers) · Naha Airport ~0h35 (0 transfers)

## Iwaso — Miyajima, Hiroshima (Chugoku)
C · 6.2/10 · 38 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No (communal only)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/iwaso
A celebrated 1854 institution in the single best spot on Miyajima, beside Itsukushima Shrine and the floating torii, and that location is most of what it has going for it. There are no onsen baths on the property, the rooms run from dated to tiny, and KI-NRT came away 'very underwhelmed,' switching rooms mid-stay and still finding little comfort. The food was decent but unexceptional, service was friendly, and a member in the newer rooms enjoyed her stay. You stay for the shrine at night and put up with the rooms.
- Food 3/5: The kitchen leans on local Hiroshima ingredients, and the farmed Hiroshima oysters were the dish KI-NRT loved. The anago (conger eel) was tough and chewy and their presentation of it was not done well, and the local beef pales next to Tajima, Hida or Kobe. He called the food decent but not exceptional, some great dishes and some only so-so. Meals come to the room in the Hanare cottages, but guests in the newer wing eat in the main dining room.
- Bath 1.5/5: There are no onsen baths anywhere on the property, and KI-NRT lists that among the things the historic setting fails to deliver. In the Senshin Tei cottage the wash basin sits by the veranda across from the bathroom and shower, and because heating is limited to the main living area, a winter visit to the bathroom or shower is even colder than the room itself.
- Service 4/5: Service from the friendly staff was the one part of the stay KI-NRT praised without reservation, and when he asked to leave the freezing cottage after the first night they found him a room in the Annex the same day, even though only standard rooms were free.
- Room 2.5/5: Honkan rooms are dated and small, the Shinkan run down and tight even in the Suites, and KI-NRT's cottage Senshin Tei was 'wonderfully Japanese, and tremendously uncomfortable': one room under 30 square metres, no closet, no insulation (freezing in November), no WiFi and curtains shut against hikers on the path opposite. After a night he took a 26 square metre Annex room, warmer but smaller, without in-room dining. peachy3 liked the newer rooms.
- Place 4.5/5: Iwaso has the absolute best location on Miyajima, minutes from Itsukushima Shrine and the floating torii and next to Momiji-dani park and the Mount Misen ropeway. The 1854 Honkan is as gorgeous and traditional as they come, and swarms of day-trippers come to photograph it and the maples around it, which is why the cottages lack privacy. Once the crowds have gone you have the island to yourselves, and peachy3 loved exploring Miyajima at night.
- Transit: Hiroshima 1h (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h40 (2 transfers)

## Kotohira Kadan — Kotohira, Kagawa (Shikoku)
C · 6.1/10 · 43 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: —
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kotohira-kadan
A 43-room Kotohira inn built around Chouseiden, a history-steeped standalone villa once home to the local lord and hung with the original owner's art collection. KI-NRT calls the room well worth the privilege as an experience and dinner a delight, and sums it up as a good stay at a reasonable price, though the service was indifferent and the villa has no private onsen bath, only free use of the rentable one.
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner is served in the room, and KI-NRT calls it a delight: the kitchen makes an effort with seasonal, local dishes that give you a good taste of Kagawa, and the deep-fried pike conger with simmered vegetables in dashi broth was unique and flavorful, as was the red sea bream shabu-shabu. It is not the best ryokan meal he has had, and breakfast was varied and bountiful without anything that blew them away, which suited a morning of udon tasting.
- Bath: The Chouseiden villa has no onsen bath of its own, which KI-NRT counts as its one drawback, since he expects one in the top room of a top-level ryokan. Some of the standard rooms do have in-room onsen baths, which might tip some people toward them, and there is a private bath that can be rented by the hour and is free for guests in the Hanare villas. Nobody in the thread has described the water itself.
- Service 2.5/5: Service is not up to the standards of the top luxury ryokans, which KI-NRT puts down partly to the high room count and perhaps to a less refined service culture in Kagawa. There was nothing wrong with the staff, but their attitude was indifferent overall: nobody came running out to help with the bags when they pulled into the parking lot, requests were met at a leisurely pace at best, and in the thread he calls them robotic and cold.
- Room 3.5/5: Chouseiden is the top room, a stand-alone villa once home to the local lord and hung with the original owner's art collection of screens, sliding doors and scrolls by famous artists. It has 152m² of space, but it is so old and history-laden that KI-NRT calls it scary (a famous sumo wrestler supposedly ran screaming out of its traditional second bathroom), and he thinks it needs a refurb. As an experience he found it well worth the privilege.
- Place 3/5: Kotohira Kadan is within easy walking distance of Kotohira-gu (Konpira-san), one of Shikoku's top sights, and some of the finest Sanuki udon restaurants are close by. The grounds are not massive, though there is a pretty little pond with interesting vegetation around it, and the architecture of the Hanare villas gives the property a real sense of place next to the shrine. With 43 rooms there can be a walk to reception, outdoors from Chouseiden.
- Transit: Takamatsu 1h10 (1 transfer) · Okayama 1h30 (1 transfer)

## Kusatsu Onsen Kei — Kusatsu Onsen, Gunma (Kanto)
C · 6.1/10 · 7 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Some
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kusatsu-onsen-kei
Kei is the 2019-opened bid for luxury in Japan's most famous onsen town, and as of KI-NRT's November 2023 stay it isn't there yet: genuine two-source onsen and a satisfying kaiseki inside an inn that cut corners on towels, toiletries and, most damagingly, staff training, given what it charges. He left glad to have seen Kusatsu and unconvinced by Kei, and two years on he still says the town "just doesn't have an amazing place to stay."
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner, served in a private room, runs to delicacies such as fugu, suppon (soft-shelled turtle) and kobako-gani (female snow crab), each creatively prepared, artfully presented and wonderful in taste. KI-NRT has had better kaiseki, but he was satisfied with quality and quantity and doubts anyone leaves hungry or without a few memorable dishes. Breakfast was equally refined, though the variety at both meals fell a little short of the luxury norm.
- Bath 4/5: Kei draws on two hot springs. Takasago and the A01 suite have open-air room baths fed from the more acidic Bandaiko Gensen, while C01 and the two indoor rental baths run on the softer Jizo Gensen, better for sensitive skin. The indoor rentals are unique and atmospheric, and Ryoku, the open-air one, is ordinary. Only three of the seven rooms have their own onsen, which KI-NRT calls inexcusable for a place sold as Kusatsu's pinnacle of luxury.
- Service 2.5/5: Service was uneven and somewhat cold. Someone is usually behind the reception counter, but not once on leaving or returning was KI-NRT greeted or welcomed back. At dinner no single waitperson is assigned to your table, and the servers, eager and charming, did not know the dishes well, so "where did this rice come from?" often got "let me find out." He left saying staff training is what stands between Kei and true destination status.
- Room 3/5: The 85m² A01 Type Suite has a separate living room and bedroom (split by a partition), a two-sink bathroom with the open-air onsen, and a tatami area with a heated sunken cutout for your feet. It ticks most boxes, but the corner-cutting shows: uneven furnishings, small thin towels that barely absorb, a toilet without the one-touch seat lift, and minimal low-grade toiletries. An odd work alcove off the bedroom got nicknamed "the dungeon".
- Place 3.5/5: Kusatsu Onsen town itself is the attraction: Yubatake, the hot-spring field at its centre, is lit up at night to eerily beautiful effect, and the streets are full of visitors in yukata and geta. Kei is a nondescript building a five-minute uphill walk from there, facing the small Jizo Gensen spring square. There is no garden or grounds at all, though KI-NRT doubts any ryokan near the centre has one either.
- Transit: Tokyo ~3h40 (1 transfer) · Karuizawa ~1h25 (0 transfers)

## Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan — Hayakawa-cho, Yamanashi (Chubu)
C · 6.1/10 · 37 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Top room (Kitadake, open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan
Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan is a 37-room hot-spring inn in the Yamanashi mountains, founded in 705 AD and run by 52 generations of one family, and KI-NRT went out of his way to visit for that history. Guinness World Records lists it as the oldest hotel in the world. The onsen was sublime and the top suite impressed him, but a typhoon erased the old buildings decades ago and maglev-tunnel construction dusts up the approach, and he closes by naming smaller, more polished, better-located ryokans he would pick first. The record and the water justify the detour, and the surroundings add nothing.
- Food 3.5/5: Meals come to your room only if you book one of the handful of special suites such as Kitadake, which KI-NRT enjoyed, and the food itself exceeded his expectations. He calls it good, and he notes that many smaller, more intimate ryokans offer great food as well.
- Bath 4.5/5: The water is natural hot spring, free-flowing into the open-air bath of the Kitadake suite and into quite a few public baths on site, a scale only a handful of much smaller luxury ryokans can match, and KI-NRT found both the in-room and the communal baths sublime, wonderful even by Japan's high standards. The one drawback is the showers, since the public baths have none and the suite's own shower is outdoors.
- Service: The same family has run the inn for 52 generations. KI-NRT says little about the current staff beyond a room attendant who explained the maglev works in the valley, and when he lists what many smaller ryokans do better, more polished service is on the list.
- Room 3.5/5: Book the special room Kitadake if you go, a top-floor corner suite with its own free-flowing open-air onsen that had KI-NRT giddy before he arrived and proved plenty spacious once he did, and one of the few rooms where meals are served in the suite. The building around it is a single large block of 37 rooms put up in 1997 with zero historic charm, which he calls bland, and the in-room shower is oddly outdoors, though the wifi is fast.
- Place 2.5/5: Keiunkan sits deep in the Hayakawa mountains of Yamanashi, an area KI-NRT found super remote but not uniquely beautiful, with nothing to see or do within a 30-minute drive (Minobusan's temple, half an hour away, is not a must-do). The road in follows a dusty river lined with quarries and gravel trucks, and road works for the maglev tunnel continue until at least 2027. A typhoon destroyed the original inn, a few miles downriver, some 60 years ago.
- Transit: Tokyo ~3h05 (1 transfer) · Kofu ~1h35 (0 transfers)

## Bettei Yaeno — Minakami, Gunma (Kanto)
C · 6/10 · 4 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bettei-yaeno
A four-room, family-run villa ryokan in Minakami, ten minutes from the better-known Bettei Senjuan, and on KI-NRT's stay it was not quite on Senjuan's level. He calls it perfectly adequate, with good but not spectacular kaiseki, trucked-in onsen water and nothing at all to do outside your room. He would be hard pressed to recommend the arduous detour just to stay here, and points anyone passing through Minakami to Senjuan instead.
- Food 3.5/5: The kaiseki is mountain-interior cooking, heavy on wild vegetables and freshwater fish, from a chef who has been here since the inn opened in 2006, and KI-NRT found it good but not spectacular, well short of Senjuan's. Two dishes stood out: iwana (white-spotted char) as sashimi, a very rare treat because it must be prepared just before serving, and charcoal-grilled Masuda beef, a little-known grass-fed Gunma breed, flavorful and well marbled.
- Bath 3/5: The bath is in your room, and it becomes a semi-open-air onsen when you slide the glass windows open. The water is trucked in, because Yaeno has no onsen source of its own, so it is not gensen kakenagashi, which KI-NRT counts as another drawback next to Bettei Senjuan (it matters to him somewhat). There is no communal or rental bath anywhere on the property, so the room tub is all the bathing there is.
- Service 3/5: The staff are three people, the owner (the GM), his wife the proprietress and Ms. Shimada, who has been there for 15 years, and you see little of them because you spend nearly all your time in your room, where meals are served. KI-NRT found the service fine and no more; Ms. Shimada was polite but somewhat impersonal, and being locally born and raised she probably does not speak much English.
- Room 3.5/5: All four rooms are villa-type units, two of 60m² and two of 70m². KI-NRT took Yamaboushi, a 70m² unit with a separate bedroom, living room and dining room, a patio and light, warm, comfy futons, and called it perfectly adequate. They were last renovated in 2009, but the classic Japanese style is reasonably well maintained and it did not feel old. There is only one sink, though, and the button on the two-generations-old toilet seat did not work.
- Place 3/5: Minakami is a sleepy, pretty little town flanked by the photogenic Mt. Tanigawa, and the drive in from Niigata is beautiful, but Yaeno itself gives you almost none of it. Arriving is not wow-inducing, you are ushered straight from the car to your room, and there is no lobby, lounge, gift shop, garden or exhibit; the only space outside the room is a small glass-enclosed private lounge with two chairs looking onto the nondescript inner courtyard.
- Transit: Tokyo ~2h (1 transfer) · Niigata ~1h25 (1 transfer)

## Sakurayu Sanshuyu — Nanyo, Yamagata (Tohoku)
C · 6/10 · 7 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sakurayu-sanshuyu
Sakurayu Sanshuyu is a seven-room ryokan in Akayu's onsen town in Yamagata, in a nondescript building along the main highway with no real garden, though it has in-room dining and special rooms like the 79m² Oyama Renge with its own open-air onsen bath. KI-NRT finds this famous Tohoku name overrated, a good property and quite cheap by luxury-ryokan standards but not worth visiting the area just to stay at. One other guest, Michaeljinnyc, called his stay completely unforgettable. It makes sense only if Akayu is already on your route.
- Food 3/5: Dinner runs to 12 courses and is served in your room. KI-NRT has nothing in particular to say about it, and he finds that Yamagata The Takinami, a five-minute walk away in Nanyo town, has a vastly more interesting cuisine.
- Bath 3.5/5: The Oyama Renge special room has its own open-air onsen bath, so you get Akayu's hot-spring water in private. KI-NRT lists the bath as a feature of the room and says nothing more about it, good or bad, and nobody in the thread has written about the inn's other baths.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 3.5/5: Oyama Renge, one of the Tokubetsu-shitsu special rooms, gives you 79.3 square metres with an open-air onsen bath and both meals served in the room, and KI-NRT calls the property good overall. The one drawback is the room's own yard, which was poorly maintained if it was maintained at all, with shabby weeds all over the place.
- Place 2.5/5: The inn is a nondescript building on the main highway through Nanyo, street-facing in the middle of Akayu's onsen town with no real garden to speak of, and KI-NRT calls this famous Tohoku name overrated, starting with the setting. The area itself has more to offer, though, since Osteria Sincerita is here and Akayu lies near the heart of Yamagata's cherry-growing regions, which brought him back a third time one June.
- Transit: Yamagata ~0h30 (1 transfer) · Tokyo ~3h (1 transfer)

## Naoshima Ryokan Roka — Naoshima, Kagawa (Shikoku)
D · 5.9/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/naoshima-ryokan-roka
Roka is Naoshima's first true luxury ryokan (opened 2022), from the family behind Kifu no Sato, modern and artsy, and on KI-NRT's 2023 stay still a work in progress: no onsen, corporate service, rigid meal times and thin amenities around a good island kaiseki. Next time on Naoshima he would take a suite at Benesse House, which he doesn't think is a major compromise and costs a fraction of what Roka charges. Roka is worth a stay for the art island more than for the inn itself.
- Food 3.5/5: Dinner is a kaiseki built on the bounty of Naoshima and the Seto Inland Sea, carefully crafted and presented with care. KI-NRT left plenty satisfied, but the later, larger courses could have used more imagination: the miso-glazed amberjack is a dish found all over Japan, and the yuzu-soy Spanish mackerel was bland. Dinner at Umioto Mari was the more memorable meal. Menus come in Japanese and English, though curiously there is none for breakfast.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen at Roka. The bath is an ordinary one, and to make up for it the inn supplies a large jar of onsen concentrate from Yunogo Onsen (where Kifu no Sato is) to add to the water, which KI-NRT calls better than nothing. He knew going in, but the lack of hot spring was the big bummer of his stay, and he would have thought the heir to Kifu no Sato could have found a way to get some onsen here.
- Service 3/5: Everyone was friendly and accommodating, but KI-NRT found the service too corporate for an 11-room inn: black uniforms, check-in in a lounge next to the kitchen, no butler and no private dining. Dinner is at 18:00 or 18:30 and breakfast at 08:00 or 08:30, and servers described each course by the book, so asking whether the fugu was local got "let me check with the chef". Bilingual menus and many non-Japanese staff suit foreign guests.
- Room 3.5/5: The Roka Suite is the only one of its kind, 106m² with a tatami room, a Western living room, a bar counter, a semi-kitchen, a bedroom and a separate bath, which is spacious for two. The other ten rooms are smaller, and all eleven face a small hill that is not much to look at; there is no TV. The toiletries are very limited for a luxury ryokan: only a toothbrush, toner and razor, with no moisturizer, cotton swabs or shaving foam.
- Place 3.5/5: Roka is about as secluded as a place on Naoshima can be, a 10-minute walk from the Honmura district and its Art House Projects, with not much else around. KI-NRT spent most of his time at the museums around Benesse House, a 25-minute walk or an hourly shuttle away for non-guests. Roka itself is modern and stylish but the grounds are not huge: a rock garden out front and an outdoor hearth where a bonfire is lit for nightcaps.
- Transit: Takamatsu ~1h05 (1 transfer) · Okayama ~1h35 (2 transfers)

## Fufu Kyu-Karuizawa — Karuizawa, Nagano (Chubu)
D · 5.6/10 · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fufu-kyu-karuizawa
Fufu Kyu-Karuizawa is a Fufu-brand hot-spring hotel in old Karuizawa, and the one member who has stayed, OWHKG2016, arriving straight from Fufu Nikko, called it a big letdown and would not go back. The restaurant is good and Kumoba Pond is at the doorstep, but poorly trained staff and a zoo-like courtyard layout spoiled the stay. That single one-night stay is all anyone in the thread has written about it, so treat it as a warning and no more.
- Food 4/5: The restaurant was the best part of OWHKG2016's one-night stay, with food and service they called great, though the tables are placed close together and the dining room looks onto the same small inner courtyard as the rooms, so you watch other guests come and go while you eat.
- Bath: Nobody in the thread has written about the baths or the water here.
- Service 2/5: Service was the real letdown of OWHKG2016's stay. The staff were mostly quite young and not really well trained, and they call the result extremely unacceptable: the front desk was unmanned and reception ignored them when they came back in. This is the stay they would not repeat, and a year later they placed Fufu Kyoto alongside Kyu-Karuizawa at the opposite end of the brand from Fufu Nikko.
- Room: The hotel is nicely decorated, but the rooms, the lounge and the restaurant all face the same small inner courtyard, so everyone can see you going in and out of your room, which struck OWHKG2016 as pretty much a zoo. Nobody in the thread has described the rooms themselves.
- Place 3/5: The hotel stands in old Karuizawa, a good base for Kumoba Pond's autumn foliage, and like the streets and buildings around it it has a much smaller footprint than Fufu Nikko, with the whole compound built around a single small inner courtyard. OWHKG2016, who came straight from Nikko, found the contrast a big letdown.
- Transit: Tokyo ~1h10 (0 transfers) · Nagano ~0h35 (0 transfers)

## Sanso Kannawaen — Beppu, Oita (Kyushu)
D · 5.6/10 · 30 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (Ume villa open-air)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sanso-kannawaen
A 30-room Beppu stalwart behind a grand thatched gate, with a lovely Noh-stage garden attached to a big-box building. KI-NRT was not quite impressed on his 2022 stay, which fell mid-renovation, and later downgraded his advice to calling it solid while recommending Yufuin instead, where the ryokans are superior, and the member who followed his original recommendation in 2024 was openly unhappy. The renovation may have changed the building since, but nobody has stayed to say so.
- Food: The Kaede restaurant serves teppanyaki, which is rare among Kyushu ryokans, and KI-NRT names Kannawaen when asked where to find grill dining in the south. Nobody in the thread has written about the food itself.
- Bath: Nobody in the thread has written about the baths here, though Beppu supposedly produces more hot-spring water than anywhere else in Japan, with steam rising all over the city.
- Service 2.5/5: KI-NRT booked the top room, Special Room Shun, and was told only at check-in that the whole floor was closed for renovation and the room unavailable. Michaeljinnyc, who booked on his recommendation in 2024, wrote from the property that they were not too happy with it.
- Room 3/5: The 30 rooms are in a building that looks like a big-box hotel. As of KI-NRT's 2022 stay the facilities were decent but could stand to be renovated, and a renovation was under way, so his impressions may no longer apply. The top room, Special Room Shun on the top floor, is a 143 square metre suite where meals can be served in the room, but its floor was closed for the renovation when he stayed.
- Place 3/5: An impressive thatched-roof entrance gate leads to a wonderful garden with a Noh stage, a tea house and a koi pond, which gives the big-box building a decent atmosphere. Steam rises all over Beppu and you can smell the sulfur, but KI-NRT says in the end it is just another city, with the touristy Beppu Hells a bit fabricated, and he recommends Yufuin instead. Michaeljinnyc ranks Beppu among the least enjoyable places he has been in Japan.
- Transit: Fukuoka ~2h30 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima ~4h20 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki ~4h45 (2 transfers)

## Hazu Gassho — Toyooka, Shinshiro, Aichi (Chubu)
D · 5.5/10 · 5 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: No (shuttle to sister onsen)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hazu-gassho
A five-room Meiji-era ryokan in the forest near Nagoya, its thatched-roof buildings recalling Shirakawa-go, but the shared, thin-walled building undermines the seclusion: a note in the room admitted the "authentic" construction has little sound-deadening, and KI-NRT heard the neighbors talking and the guests overhead walking about. Food was good, if unmemorable, and his in-room bath ran too cold to bother heating, while dining in a shared hall was the other letdown. He would explore other options before returning.
- Food 3.5/5: The food is good and appropriate, built on seasonal local produce plus local beef, duck and river fish, which KI-NRT says gave them an education in the area's traditional ingredients, and ayu (sweetfish) lightly salted and grilled to perfection. Nothing was unique or mind-blowing, but he was satisfied with the quality of the meals. Dinner is served in an open dining area and not in your room, which he found inexcusable for a five-room property.
- Bath 2/5: There is no onsen here: neither of the two communal baths is hot-spring water, and the alternative is a courtesy shuttle to an onsen facility nearby, which KI-NRT finds pointless when he would expect every room in a small high-end ryokan to have its own spring. Two of the five rooms have an open-air hinoki tub, his among them, but at 5°C in December the water was not warm enough and he did not bother topping it up, so he used the communal bath.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 2.5/5: All five rooms share one two-storey building with little sound insulation, so KI-NRT heard the neighbors talking next door and the guests above walking in their room, and a note in the room asks guests to keep the noise down at night. His 50m² suite was reasonably comfortable, with a tatami room where the futons go out during dinner and a second room with a large kotatsu. With five rooms on a large footprint, he argues each should be detached.
- Place 4/5: Hazu Gassho sits in a secluded spot surrounded by forest, with a tranquil river flowing behind the ryokan, and the thatched roof of the Meiji-era main building, which gives the place its name, reminded KI-NRT of the farmhouses at Shirakawa-go. Inside, the furnishings and the structure itself are charming in an old-country-home way and take you back a century or more. It is one of very few luxury properties within an hour of Nagoya.
- Transit: Nagoya ~1h25 (1 transfer) · Toyohashi ~0h50 (0 transfers)

## Ginrinsou — Otaru, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
D · 5.2/10 · 18 rooms · Traditional ryokan · in-room onsen: Top suite (Tsuru) open-air
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ginrinsou
Ginrinsou is the most famous address in Otaru, an 18-room historic ryokan on a hillside above the town with perhaps the finest suite in Hokkaido, and KI-NRT still swore he will never patronize it again, after average kaiseki, staff so full of themselves that they think guests should feel privileged to be there, and a cold-handed checkout that cost him hundreds of dollars. It is about as harsh a judgment as he has published, and the treatment outside the room outweighs the magnificent Tsuru suite, which is why the property ends up far below what the room and the setting alone would suggest.
- Food 3/5: The kaiseki was decidedly average on KI-NRT's stay, and he asks how a top property on the coast of Hokkaido can serve "ok" food. There is also a French restaurant on site, which he did not try.
- Bath: The Tsuru suite has its own in-room onsen bath. Nobody in the thread has written about the bathing itself or about the communal baths.
- Service 2/5: Service is why KI-NRT will never go back. The style is old-school snobbery, with staff who think guests should feel privileged, a nakai-san who talked down to him about etiquette and a butleress without warmth. Checkout was the bombshell, since Ginrinsou left the Go To Travel discount paperwork to its guests and said so too late, which cost him hundreds of dollars with no apology, unlike Gora Kadan or Kayotei, where your problem becomes theirs.
- Room 4.5/5: Tsuru, the top-floor suite in the new wing, is 118.6 square metres of bright, airy, functionally modern space with every amenity, an in-room onsen bath and a 270-degree view of Otaru and the bay, and KI-NRT calls it one of the more inspiring ryokan suites he has ever stayed in; he lamented booking only two nights. The rest of the 18-room house is semi-traditional inside and very well maintained.
- Place 4/5: Ginrinsou is a distinguished, historic property on a hillside overlooking the charming town of Otaru and the Sea of Japan, and its exterior architecture is old-school Japanese, in a good way. It is widely regarded as the most historic and luxurious ryokan in Otaru, if not in all of Hokkaido.
- Transit: Sapporo ~0h40 (0 transfers) · New Chitose ~1h30 (0 transfers)

## Okutsuso — Okutsu Onsen, Kagamino, Okayama (Chugoku)
D · 5.2/10 · 8 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes (open-air, walled view)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/okutsuso
An eight-room 1927 ryokan on the Yoshii River in Okutsu Onsen, prized by Japanese connoisseurs for its water and food. On KI-NRT's stay he was the only guest, with a green, short-staffed team, and dinner was the real letdown (the house specialty, a steamed-yam custard, was incredibly bland), though he found the indoor baths very nice. He closes calling it "still a pretty good place", just not one that beat out other top ryokans for a return visit.
- Food 2.5/5: Dinner was the lowlight of KI-NRT's stay. The ingredients were largely local and the plates had a spring theme (hinasushi for Girls' Day), but none of it was memorable, and the house specialty joyomushi, a mountain-yam custard steamed at the hot-spring source, was incredibly bland. He calls the meal decent, and says decent does not cut it in Japan, and wonders whether the kitchen had turned over, since they were the only guests.
- Bath 3/5: The water is free-flowing and sourced nearby, supposedly among the best in Japan, though KI-NRT could not tell the difference. Two indoor gender-separated baths, Kagiyu and Tachiyu, are lined with large rocks from the Yoshii River for a rough, natural feel, which he found very nice, and two more can be rented free, and only Kawa-no-yu is semi-open-air, its river view blocked by railings. The indoor baths feel cramped with two others in them.
- Service 2.5/5: Service was warm and welcoming but lacked the polish KI-NRT has had at other ryokans. Of the three staff they mainly dealt with, one was a trainee, one an intern and the veteran had been there about a year, with no knowledge of the ryokan's history or the area. The okami was nowhere to be found, and the waka-okami (the future proprietress) seemed indifferent and not particularly engaging. He suspects COVID cost the inn its experienced staff.
- Room 3/5: Seikantei, one of two detached Hanare villas among the eight rooms, is a cabin with a separate bedroom and living room and an onsen bath on its deck, reasonably spacious, with a bit more privacy and space than the main-building rooms. As at other old properties there is no shower, so guests would get into the onsen unwashed, only one sink, and the hallway to the deck gets very cold on winter nights, as only the bedroom and living room are heated.
- Place 3/5: Okutsuso is a small family-owned ryokan founded in 1927 in the heart of Okutsu town, on the banks of the Yoshii River, and the main building and its interior are well preserved, traditional and charming. The footprint is very small and there are no grounds at all, no garden and no pond. Okutsu is one of Okayama's three famous onsen towns and far sleepier than Kinosaki or Kusatsu, which KI-NRT says is a plus or a minus depending on taste.
- Transit: Okayama ~1h30 (0 transfers) · Hiroshima ~2h20 (1 transfer)

## Hoshino Resorts Kai Tsugaru — Owani, Tsugaru, Aomori (Tohoku)
D · 5.1/10 · 40 rooms · Modern ryokan · in-room onsen: No (communal only)
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hoshino-resorts-kai-tsugaru
A 40-room Hoshino KAI property in Owani, Aomori, billed as a luxury onsen ryokan, which KI-NRT found to be anything but that: no greeting, no welcome tea, Western uniforms, carpeted rooms and an unattractive building, compounded by rigid two-seating dining and no laundry service. Above-average food and a shamisen performance were the only pluses, and unless there is a reason to be in the area he sees zero reason to stay again, after one stay in 2021.
- Food 3.5/5: The food quality exceeded KI-NRT's expectations, and they put effort into the dining. The quantity is much less than at many luxury ryokans, though: you will not go hungry, yet the sheer number of dishes that is part of a ryokan meal's appeal comes up short, at breakfast too. Dinner is in the restaurant at 5:45 or 7:30 only, with no in-room or private-room option, and after dinner a well-known shamisen player performed and explained its history.
- Bath 3/5: The bath is a communal natural hot-spring bath, one for men and one for women, which KI-NRT calls decent, and that is all there is: no room has its own onsen, and there are no baths that couples or families can book for private use, unlike at some luxury ryokans.
- Service 2.5/5: KI-NRT says nothing about the service suggested a luxury ryokan. Nobody was outside to greet them or help with luggage, the entrance was deserted every time they came and went, and the staff stay behind the front desk, which left him cold. There was no welcome tea or sweets at check-in, no room attendant is assigned to you, the server changes from meal to meal, and there is no laundry service. There were no major mishaps, just nothing personal.
- Room 2.5/5: The rooms are Western-style and carpeted, and shoes stay on even in the room, which KI-NRT finds unsanitary in a self-styled luxury ryokan. His 50m² room (category TC2) was comfortable but too small and constricting to want to stay in, the same complaint he has about Hoshinoya Tokyo, and the only suite was being remodeled and unbookable. Guests get samue instead of yukata, and the toiletries are substandard, with not even a moisturizer.
- Place 2/5: The main building is depressingly unattractive as you pull up, the grounds are very small, and KI-NRT found the property bland, a place that could be anywhere in Japan. Behind the building is a man-made pond, seen from the lobby, restaurant and most rooms, with lanterns along the walkway and in the water lit at night, which he calls cute but a cheap way to spruce up a bland backyard. Inside is a Neputa art exhibit from the nearby artisan village.
- Transit: Shin-Aomori ~1h (2 transfers) · Tokyo ~4h10 (2 transfers)

## Satoyama no Auberge Maki No Oto — Nanto, Toyama (Chubu)
D · 5/10 · 3 rooms · Auberge · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/satoyama-no-auberge-maki-no-oto
A three-room auberge in the farmland of rural Toyama, where the setting is pretty and calming and almost everything else disappointed KI-NRT, who came away 'unimpressed in almost all aspects': the best of the three rooms is basic and its bathroom puts toilet, shower and sink in one space, and the French-Japanese food was only good. He would neither return nor recommend it, and the scenery alone does not justify the trip out.
- Food 2.5/5: Maki no Oto is known among Japanese travelers for its French-Japanese fusion cooking, and the food is what disappointed KI-NRT most. He found it only 'good', with no dish that stood out: the grilled red tilefish with vermouth sauce was just okay, the cutlass fish with kogashi butter likewise, and the grilled ayu over vegetable terrine only adequate. He expected more umami from Sea of Japan seafood and would not drive out just to eat here.
- Bath 1.5/5: There is no onsen. The bath in the room is an ordinary tub with jacuzzi functionality, and the bathroom is where the property feels most dated: green wall tiles that look 1980s (though the building went up in 2005), a single sink, and the shower and toilet sharing one space, which KI-NRT despises.
- Service 2.5/5: Service was not particularly proactive on KI-NRT's stay, and the arrival set the tone. The entrance is unassuming and narrow enough to mistake for someone's small home, they had to go inside and call for someone, and were then pointed to a parking structure about a quarter of a mile away with no offer to park the car for them. He felt the inn never managed the special vibe that other luxury ryokans pull off, though nothing was a big fail.
- Room 2.5/5: KI-NRT booked the best of the three rooms, the executive room that takes up the whole second floor, and even that felt smaller than its listed 57 square metres. The bedroom is only partly cut off from the living room by a glass wall that stops short of the walls, and its sheer curtain gives neither privacy nor darkness. The furnishings are 'fine' and basic, going for a country vibe, and a raised tatami corner crowds the living room.
- Place 3.5/5: The auberge sits in remote farmland in Nanto, a satoyama landscape of fields that is pretty and serene though not jaw-dropping, a 15 minute drive from Ainokura, so there is major sightseeing nearby. The fields are the calming influence, so a garden is no loss, yet on the property there is nothing to do: one building holds the lounge, restaurant and three rooms, with no talk or performance to give a sense of place, which KI-NRT counts against it.
- Transit: Shin-Takaoka ~0h40 (0 transfers) · Nagoya ~3h20 (2 transfers)

## Uoshizu — Yugawara, Kanagawa (Kanto)
D · 4.9/10 · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/uoshizu
A Yugawara ryokan that is a cautionary tale about the bottom of the price range. At roughly 30,000 yen for two with kaiseki half-board, benihana320 found the service lacking and the building a little run-down, and KI-NRT's response was blunt: you cannot expect awesomeness at that price. The one stay in the thread ended in disappointment and benihana320 would not return.
- Food 3/5: The kaiseki meals are the one part of benihana320's May 2025 stay that drew no complaint: the food was not too bad, which is as far as the praise goes, and no dish is named.
- Bath: Uoshizu is in Yugawara, a hot-spring town, but nobody in the thread has written about the baths here, so the water situation is unknown.
- Service 2.5/5: The quality of service was lacking on benihana320's May 2025 stay, and that was the main disappointment. benihana320 had not thought of Uoshizu as a cheap pick and left asking the thread what the price floor now is for excellent service in a well-kept building; KI-NRT's answer was that at Uoshizu's rate for two, half board included, you cannot expect awesomeness.
- Room 2.5/5: The building seemed a little run-down to benihana320 in May 2025, and that is the extent of it; nobody in the thread describes the rooms themselves.
- Place: Uoshizu is in Yugawara, but nobody in the thread has written about the location or the grounds here.
- Transit: Tokyo ~1h35 (0 transfers) · Odawara ~0h30 (0 transfers)

## Gora Karaku — Gora, Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
D · 4.5/10 · 70 rooms · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/gora-karaku
A 70-room Orix-run onsen hotel in Gora that photographs like a modern ryokan but runs like a business hotel. stargold's one-night stay was not good, with dinner and its service the failure, and KI-NRT later told a poster weighing it to pass, even while granting it gets decent crowd reviews. stargold's group concluded that the Hotel Indigo, where they stayed the next night for half the cost, was a far better experience overall.
- Food 2/5: Dinner was the absolute low point of stargold's stay, served in the restaurant with little privacy and no explanation of the courses beyond the scant description on the menu. The menu said the rice was cooked to order, but the pot was never presented and it did not taste freshly made, and he thought the food was ordinary at best and nowhere near ryokan standard. The paid upsells for the fish and meat courses felt like a cheap money-grab.
- Bath 3.5/5: The rooms have their own outdoor onsen baths, and stargold found his pleasant, one of the few things in the room that worked. Nobody in the thread has written about the water itself or any other bathing here.
- Service 2/5: Service at dinner was absolutely atrocious: inexperienced, inelegant and clumsy staff with no experience of a luxury setting. At one point the server dropped a plate of tsukemono onto the tray, put the pickles back with a fork and his fingers, and tried to serve it without seeing any need for a new one. stargold summed the place up as a typical Japanese hotel with none of the character, history and service levels you expect from a ryokan.
- Room 3/5: The bed was comfortable, but otherwise the room was a slightly nicer version of the soulless dark grey wood decor you find in a typical modern business hotel. There are more than 70 rooms and they are basically identical, differing only by east wing (mountain views) or west wing.
- Place: Gora Karaku is a large modern building in Gora, which has easy access to most of Hakone's sights, and its public areas have been done up to be very Instagrammable, with decent decor. The other choices in Gora are Gora Kadan, Gora Byakudan, Gen Hakone (opened 2021), Gora Hanaougi and Gora Hanaougi Madoka no Mori, and KI-NRT would pass on Karaku in favour of those.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h15 (1 transfer)

## Akariya Geihanro — Inuyama, Aichi (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.9/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/akariya-geihanro
Inuyama's oldest inn, founded in 1919 on the Kiso River and rebuilt in 2017 as a ten-room house with a semi-open-air onsen bath in every room and the National Treasure castle keep on the bluff above the water. Ikyu's crowd gives it 4.87 across 155 reviews and ranks it first in all of Tokai, with bathing (4.89) and hospitality (4.88) its strongest marks and cooking (4.83) its softest. The house takes no children below elementary age, and it is about thirty minutes out of Nagoya.
- Food: Dinner is seasonal Japanese cooking built on river and Ise Bay catch (ayu sweetfish, flathead, sakura shrimp) and beef grilled long and low, and the head chef comes out to the table to check the seasoning. Ikyu guests put meals at 4.83, which is the softest of the inn's six marks and still a high one, and the quibbles that do surface are about texture and nothing bigger.
- Bath: The Inuyama Onsen 'Hakutei no Yu' spring feeds a semi-open-air bath in all ten rooms, and several are angled so that the castle keep or the Kiso River sits in the opening. There is a bookable private bath below. Ikyu guests put bathing at 4.89, the inn's top mark, and repeat guests write specifically about how much closer the castle looks from the water.
- Service: Guests write about the staff more than anything else: they hold luggage after checkout, arrange rides to the station, and are remembered by the shift they worked. Guests describe the proprietress photographing them against the castle and bowing until they were out of sight. Ikyu guests put hospitality at 4.88, and the number of return visitors backs that up.
- Room: There are ten rooms only, rebuilt in 2017, each with a semi-open-air bath, wood-battened ceilings and a river-facing wall of glass onto a private terrace, and the Kiso Premium Suite runs 75 m² in a Japanese-Western layout. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.88. No children below elementary school age stay in the house, which is a large part of why guests describe it as quiet.
- Place: Geihanro stands directly on the bank of the Kiso River in old Inuyama, with the keep of National Treasure Inuyama Castle (one of Japan's twelve surviving original towers) on the bluff above. The castle town and the Urakuen tea garden are a walk away, cormorant-fishing boats work the river in season, and Meitetsu Nagoya is about thirty minutes down the line.
- Transit: Kanazawa 3h40 (2 transfers) · Tokyo 2h40 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 1h35 (1 transfer)

## Akazawa Geihinkan — Izukōgen, Itō, Shizuoka (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/akazawa-geihinkan
Akazawa Geihinkan is a 15-room sukiya hideaway on 1,000-plus tsubo above the Akazawa coast at Izu Kōgen, with Ajiro-woven ceilings and a private open-air bath in every room. Its signature is deep-sea water, drawn from about 800 m offshore and run through the room baths, the public baths and the cooking, and there is no hot spring, though guests get the adjoining Akazawa resort's sea-view day-bath, spa and sauna free. Ikyu guests put it near 4.73 over about 81 stays, with the baths and facilities their high marks.
- Food: Dinner is seasonal kaiseki built on the Izu coastal catch and served in private dining rooms, and guests praise the chef's technique and generous portions. Ikyu guests put the meals near 4.63, below the baths, and the occasional chipped clay pot or piece of tableware has been noted since the change of ownership.
- Bath: Unusually, there is no hot spring here. Every room's open-air bath, the two public baths, a deep-sea-water pool and a barrel sauna all run on deep-sea water drawn from about 800 m off the Akazawa coast, prized for its buoyancy, and guests also get the neighbouring Akazawa resort's sea-view day-onsen, spa and sauna free. Ikyu guests put the baths near 4.84, among the top marks.
- Service: Warm, smiling welcomes and smooth escorting to the room draw repeat praise, and anniversary guests leave delighted, but Ikyu guests put the service near 4.59, the softest of the marks, and the recurring friction is meal explanations from international staff that some guests found hard to follow.
- Room: The fifteen Japanese-style rooms run about 68 square metres, up to a 150-square-metre detached villa, and each opens onto a private open-air deep-sea-water bath framed by garden or landscape; some detached villas add a private sauna. Ikyu guests put the rooms near 4.77 and call them bright, clean and relaxing, with the bird-song garden views a repeated highlight.
- Place: The inn is a 1,000-tsubo sukiya estate above Sagami Bay at Izu Kōgen, with Ajiro-woven ceilings, Juraku-plaster walls and a broad Japanese garden, and guests have free run of the Akazawa onsen resort next door: spa, bowling and sea-view day-bath, plus a games lounge with free drinks. Ikyu guests put the facilities near 4.86, among the strongest marks, and call them strong value.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h20 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 3h45 (1 transfer)

## Amane Resort Seikai — Beppu, Oita (Kyushu)
unscored · Jalan 4.8/5 · Modern ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/amane-resort-seikai
Seikai is the larger, original half of Beppu's two-inn Amane pair, and it holds the complex's big communal onsens, the French dinner restaurant and the buffet breakfast, which makes it the family-friendly counterweight to Gahama next door. Jalan guests rate it 4.8 across nearly 1,600 stays. KI-NRT has only crossed over from a stay at Gahama for its restaurant and breakfast, and nobody in the thread has written up a stay at Seikai itself.
- Food: Dinner at Seikai is French, while the kaiseki table is at its sister Gahama, and guests at either inn can eat at both. KI-NRT, staying two nights at Gahama, wanted to try both kitchens, and he called Seikai's breakfast buffet wonderful and a big hit with his kids. Jalan guests give dinner and breakfast 4.7 each and describe a tasty French dinner and a breakfast they enjoy.
- Bath: Seikai has the pair's large communal onsens, which Gahama lacks, and KI-NRT found them unnecessary for adults but great fun for kids. An ocean-view sauna was added in 2023. Jalan guests give the bath 4.7 and repeatedly praise how clean the baths are kept.
- Service: A complimentary golf cart runs on demand between Seikai and its sister Gahama, a one-minute ride, and guests at either inn can use the facilities and restaurants of the other, which KI-NRT counted as a requirement. Nobody in the thread has written about the service here. Jalan guests give it 4.5, their lowest mark, and describe friendly staff in aloha shirts; many are marking an occasion, and how the staff handle it decides the review.
- Room: Seikai is the larger, original half of the two-inn complex, and some rooms have their own open-air bath. Nobody in the thread has described a room here. Jalan guests give the rooms 4.8, their highest mark, and clean rooms are a recurring note.
- Place: Seikai stands in Beppu, where hot-spring steam rises from the ground all over the city and you can smell the sulfur, which KI-NRT calls an awe-inspiring sight, though in the end he finds Beppu just another city, pleasant but no more, and the famous Hells very touristy and a bit fabricated. The property shares a parking lot with a big Nitori furniture store, and its sister Gahama is a five-minute walk across it.
- Transit: Fukuoka ~2h30 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima ~4h20 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki ~4h45 (2 transfers)

## Amanojyaku — Amakusa Matsushima, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/amanojyaku
A small suite ryokan on Maejima in the Amakusa archipelago, built around in-room onsen baths behind motorized window-walls that open the whole room to the sea. Ikyu guests put it at 4.78 across roughly 170 stays and single out the rooms and the bathing as its strongest points, but the dissent is consistent: dinner is their lowest mark, and recent reviewers describe an over-worked kitchen. Nobody in the thread has stayed yet, though KI-NRT had booked the top suite for December 2025 before Tayuta lured him away.
- Food: Dinner is a sushi-centred omakase of about twelve courses from a Ginza-trained chef at a ten-seat counter that takes only about five groups a night, so ask for it on your first night. Amakusa's purple sea urchin is famous. Food is nonetheless the lowest Ikyu mark (4.64), and the recurring complaint in recent reviews is a kitchen that over-works its ingredients and a breakfast below the class of the inn, with portions running light.
- Bath: Every room has an onsen bath, which KI-NRT calls a huge advantage over the sister inn Tenku no Fune, with water straight from the source. In the Junior Suites the bath is indoors behind a motorized window-wall: closed, it is a hot indoor bath with the whole sea view, and opened fully it is a semi-open-air soak. The top suites add a terrace rotenburo, a sauna and a cold plunge. Ikyu guests put the bathing at 4.84, just behind the rooms.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has stayed here, though KI-NRT found the service first-rate at Amakusa Tenku no Fune, the older sister inn under the same owners. Free pickup is from Matsushima Port or the bus stop only, with no airport pickup, and cancellation penalties start 61 days out. Ikyu guests put service at 4.81, close behind the rooms and the bath, and recent complaints are about the food, none of them touching the staff.
- Room: The Junior Suites run 78 square metres plus a 26 square metre terrace, with the onsen bath at the window; the top suites reach 115 square metres with a terrace rotenburo, sauna and plunge. Rooms draw the highest Ikyu mark (4.87), and the space of the suites, with glass walls that retract fully toward the sea, is what their reviews praise.
- Place: Amanojyaku stands on Maejima in the Amakusa archipelago, and everything faces the water. KI-NRT calls Amakusa breathtakingly scenic, more beautiful even than Matsushima, with small islands dotting the bay, and the sushi counter hangs over an infinity basin with the early-January sun setting around 5:25 in view. The one car-free excursion is the dolphin-watching boats two minutes away, and Amakusa is a remote place to reach.
- Transit: Fukuoka 1h55 (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 2h20 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h25 (3 transfers) · Kumamoto 1h10 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 5h (1 transfer)

## Ancient Hotel Asama Karuizawa — Nagakura, Karuizawa, Nagano (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.9/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ancient-hotel-asama-karuizawa
Ancient Hotel Asama is a 13-room design boutique in the Karuizawa woods with jewel-box rooms and pleasant local cooking, and at $400–650 a night it sits well below what its peers charge. Ikyu guests adore it, marking it 4.9 across 41 stays and praising warm, attentive staff, with only minor gripes breaking the consensus. KI-NRT has 'yet to find a Karuizawa stay worth its salt', and this is the affordable design pick more than a connoisseur's destination.
- Food: Dinner is a creative kaiseki on local, seasonal ingredients, comfortable cooking and no destination kitchen, and breakfast gets as much praise as dinner in the reviews. Draft beer flows free with the stay, with no time limit, and the guests who come back or say they want to name the food alongside the staff as the reason. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.88, level with the rooms and just behind the service.
- Bath: Bathing is an indoor mineral hot-spring bath plus a private family bath that you reserve, and there is no in-room onsen, so the private slot is the route for anyone with tattoos. It shares Karuizawa's usual caveat of imported onsen water. Ikyu guests put the bath at 4.88.
- Service: Service is the strongest part of this inn, and the hotel sends a free car to Karuizawa Station. Ikyu guests describe warm, at-home hospitality, with staff who arrange surprises for birthdays and Christmas down to the detail, greet repeat guests like family and look after small practical things in the mountain weather, from warming shoes on a snowy morning to lending boots for the waterfall walk. They put service at 4.95.
- Room: There are thirteen rooms, each named for a natural stone and done in jewel tones, and one suite has a rotating central fireplace. Guests describe them as comfortable, with a balcony, though there is no shower in the room and no TV. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.88.
- Place: The hotel sits in the Karuizawa woods at Nagakura, and TripAdvisor ranks it first of 53 places to stay in town. It is easy to reach, but it shares Karuizawa's light snow and near-Tokyo resort character, so there is no deep-country atmosphere. Guests praise the location, and the inn lends boots and bear bells for the walk to the waterfall nearby.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h35 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 2h10 (1 transfer)

## Araya Totoan — Yamashiro Onsen, Ishikawa (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.6/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/araya-totoan
An 18-generation Yamashiro Onsen inn where Rosanjin lived for a year, with source-fed cypress rotenburo in most rooms and his art on the walls. Ikyu guests mark it 4.58 across 70 reviews and repeatedly praise the bathing and the crab-course dinner, calling the house Michelin-1-Key quality, though more than one flags service and amenities as below what the price should buy. Nobody in the thread has stayed since the renovation that began in 2018, which leaves it a historically compelling unknown.
- Food: Dinner can be a whole tagged snow crab per person from Hashidate port, served as kobako crab, then chilled sashimi, charcoal-grilled, boiled and finally zosui. There is an owner-chosen wine list to go with the kaiseki, and Rosanjin, the artist-gourmet, lived and worked in the house for a year. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.57 and repeatedly praise the dinner kaiseki.
- Bath: The spring won a gold medal at an international mineral springs exposition in Germany in the early Taisho era, and eleven of the seventeen rooms have an open-air cypress bath fed straight from it. The three communal baths are large and quiet, one arranged as two tubs, hot at 42 to 43 degrees and tepid near 37. Ikyu guests put the bath at 4.74, their highest mark.
- Service: Eighteen generations of one family have run the house, holding the Maeda clan's hot-spring stewardship, and the hospitality is courteous and formal. Ikyu guests put the service at 4.56 and divide on it: many praise the staff, but a recurring view is that the service could be more polished for an inn at this price.
- Room: The rooms are historic and full of art, with Rosanjin's screens and ceramics and works by Suda Seika on display, and the whole inn was renovated from 2018. Ikyu guests give the rooms and amenities 4.47, their lowest mark for the inn, so the rooms are where the crowd's enthusiasm is most measured.
- Place: The inn is in Yamashiro Onsen on the Ishikawa coast, but guests describe the inside more than the town: Rosanjin spent a year living and working here, and the corridors are tatami from the front door onward, so you walk barefoot through the inn and past his gallery.
- Transit: Kanazawa 0h35 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 3h (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h30 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h30 (4 transfers) · Kagoshima 5h (3 transfers)

## Atami Sekaie — Atami, Shizuoka (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/atami-sekaie
Atami Sekaie is a modern 25-room ryokan on the hillside above Sagami Bay, and bathing is its strength, with a private source-fed ocean-view rotenburo in every room plus a pool-size main bath, and the easiest access in Izu. Ikyu guests mark it 4.68 across 307 stays and mostly rave, with the bath their highest mark, while TripAdvisor's softer 3.8 cites train noise and English-service friction. The one drawback to know before you book is that the JR tracks run directly below.
- Food: Dinner is restaurant-based modern kaiseki across two kitchens, Japanese at TSUKUSHI and a meat-focused teppanyaki counter at 1SHIO, and your plan decides which kitchen you eat in. Ikyu guests praise the teppanyaki and the griddle breakfast cooked in front of you; the teppanyaki draws the steadier praise, while opinion on the Japanese kaiseki is more divided. They put the food at 4.67, in the middle of their marks for the property.
- Bath: Every room has its own source-fed open-air bath on the balcony looking over Sagami Bay, and that balcony bath is what Ikyu guests praise again and again. Behind it is the pool-size Koumei-no-Yu main bath with a sauna and a cold bath. Ikyu guests put the bath at 4.75, their highest mark for the inn.
- Service: A free shuttle meets guests at Atami Station, about five minutes away. Ikyu guests describe natural, unforced service and small surprise gifts on anniversary and birthday stays, which make up a good share of the bookings, and put service at 4.65. Floor staff who work from a script are the complaint in the cooler reviews, and TripAdvisor's foreign guests report friction with English, part of why it fares far worse there than on the Japanese sites.
- Room: All 25 rooms are modern and each has its own source-fed open-air onsen on a wide balcony facing the ocean, with the trees just below and Sagami Bay beyond, which guests single out as the highlight of the room, and even the reviews that fault the food or the staff call the room and the view good. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.72, second only to the bath among their marks. The recurring complaint is JR train noise from the tracks directly below.
- Place: The inn perches on the hillside above Sagami Bay in Atami, and from the balconies the view is trees below and the open sea beyond. The one drawback is that it sits directly above the JR line, and train noise is the complaint that recurs, especially among the foreign guests on TripAdvisor.
- Transit: Tokyo 0h55 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h20 (0 transfers)

## Ayunosato — Hitoyoshi Onsen, Kumamoto (Kyushu)
unscored · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ayunosato
An affordable inn in Hitoyoshi Onsen, the quiet hot-spring town in southern Kumamoto where Suiranrou is the famous name and Ayunosato is the alternative when it is full. Recent stays describe a decline. Fc912's summer-2025 visit was fine for the reasonable rate but the service was seriously lacking, because most of the staff were foreign trainees who had not been trained enough, and KI-NRT's friends on their third stay found the same thing and said it starts with an okami who is not very engaging and uses her mobile phone near reception. Fc912 would not return.
- Food: Nobody in the thread has written about the food here.
- Bath: Ayunosato is in Hitoyoshi Onsen, a hot-spring town, but nobody in the thread has written about the baths here, so the water situation is unknown.
- Service 2/5: Both recent stays complain about the service, and both point at the okami. Fc912 found most of the staff were foreign trainees who could not give the service expected, and saw the okami hanging out with friends in the common area. KI-NRT's friends on their third stay made the same remark: she used her phone near reception (a big no-no in Japanese hospitality), never greeted guests, and at dinner said only "do you want some sake?".
- Room: Nobody in the thread has written about the rooms here.
- Place 3/5: Hitoyoshi Onsen is in southern Kumamoto, which is not much of a tourism hotspot, because most travelers to the prefecture go to Amakusa, the Mt. Aso region or Kumamoto City and its castle, and Fc912 found the town a bit in the middle of nowhere. Fc912 stopped there only to break up the long drive from Kirishima up to Amakusa, and the town's famous inn is Suiranrou; Ayunosato is where Fc912 ended up when Suiranrou was fully booked.
- Transit: Fukuoka 3h (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 1h35 (0 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h (3 transfers)

## Azuma Farm Koiwai — Shizukuishi (Koiwai Farm), Iwate (Tohoku)
unscored
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/azuma-farm-koiwai
Azuma Farm Koiwai is Adrian Zecha's farm resort on the historic Koiwai Farm below Mt Iwate, with 24 Shiro Miura villas, farm-driven French-technique dinners, private sauna pavilions and deep January snow. It opened in April 2026, has under a year of operating history, and nobody in the thread has stayed yet. The villa baths are filled with onsen water and the dedicated onsen facility was slated for November 2026 at the earliest, so confirm it has opened before booking a winter stay.
- Food: Dinner is included and is a French-technique tasting menu built on Sanriku seafood, Koiwai dairy and wagyu, which is the farm-to-table premise of the place. Nobody in the thread has eaten here yet.
- Bath: Each villa has a large stone bath meant to be filled with hot-spring water, and there are three private sauna pavilions on the grounds. The dedicated onsen facility was slated for November 2026, so ask whether it has opened before you book a winter stay. Nobody in the thread has bathed here yet.
- Service: The resort is Adrian Zecha's project with Azumi's Hayase and JR East, and it only opened in April 2026. Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: The 24 villas are built of red pine and cedar, and each has its own large stone bath. They are brand new (the resort opened in April 2026) and nobody in the thread has slept in one yet.
- Place: The resort sits on the 130-year-old working Koiwai Farm at the foot of Mt Iwate, at Shizukuishi in Iwate, under deep snow in January, and Kyoto architect Shiro Miura of Rokakuya, a sukiya-style specialist, designed its buildings from 100-year-old red pine and cedar he picked out and had felled on the farm itself. Nobody in the thread has visited yet.
- Transit: Tokyo 3h (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 4h45 (1 transfer) · Sendai 1h30 (0 transfers)

## Azumi Setoda — Setoda, Ikuchijima, Hiroshima (Chugoku)
unscored · Ikyu 4.6/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/azumi-setoda
Azumi Setoda is Adrian Zecha's first Azumi, a restored 1876 salt-merchant estate turned 22-room inn on Setoda that is often cited as the bench-setter for the modern ryokan. Ikyu guests rate it 4.58 across 14 reviews and praise the French-trained chef's fusion kaiseki and the attentive staff, and the one recurring friction is group bookings at dinner. You stay for the architecture and for the slow pace of the Inland Sea.
- Food: Dinner is a French course from a chef who trained twelve years in France, cooked as a fusion of French and kaiseki technique, and Ikyu guests describe it as a string of surprises, with the chef's skill and his care over each ingredient visible on every plate. Ikyu diners put the food at 4.64.
- Bath: Bathing splits between a deep hinoki tub in every room and Yubune, the bathhouse across the street with lemon baths and a sauna, which Japanese guests call a sento. Ikyu guests describe the in-room tubs as spacious and open, and they mark the bath 4.5, their lowest mark here.
- Service: Ikyu guests describe warm, personal attention from the front of house through to the kitchen, with the dining-room staff and the chef's team both drawing praise, and service is the warmest of the Ikyu marks at 4.71. The one recurring friction is group bookings at dinner, and several guests have found a party crowding the dining room or the advertised Western course withdrawn for a group night, so confirm the dinner plan when you book.
- Room: The 22 rooms sit inside the restored 1876 Horiuchi salt-merchant estate, and each has its own deep hinoki bath; some are two-storey maisonettes. Ikyu guests praise the design of the rooms and the built-in joinery, which more than one ranks among the best in Japan, and they repeatedly call the in-room bath and shower room spacious and open. They put the rooms at 4.57, level with the building and the facilities.
- Place: The inn is the 140-year-old compound of the Horiuchi salt-merchant family in Setoda, a port town on Ikuchijima in the Seto Inland Sea, renovated by Kyoto architect Shiro Miura, known for contemporary sukiya-style teahouse work. Setoda itself has few places to eat in the evening, so reserve dinner at the inn.
- Transit: Hiroshima 1h35 (2 transfers) · Kyoto 2h30 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 4h10 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h10 (1 transfer)

## Bessho SASA — Fujiyoshida (Mt. Fuji), Yamanashi (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.4/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/bessho-sasa
Bessho Sasa is the adults-only private-onsen-suite annex of Hotel Kaneyamaen in Fujiyoshida, where every suite gets its own Fuji-facing hot-spring bath and in-suite counter kaiseki. Its own Ikyu guests are split, and a 4.38 average over 61 reviews covers guests who question whether the premium floor is worth its price over the main hotel alongside guests who call the Fuji views and taiko welcome unforgettable.
- Food: Dinner is kaiseki served in the suite at a live counter, and the lounge pours Yamanashi wine and beer free of charge. Food is where Ikyu guests are least happy, at 4.07 their lowest mark, and the reviews split between guests who enjoyed every course and guests who left disappointed with the meals.
- Bath: Every suite has its own natural hot-spring open-air bath facing Mt. Fuji, and Kaneyamaen's 10th-floor observatory bath looks at the mountain too. The spring is around pH 10, and the shared baths are those of the big family hotel downstairs. Ikyu guests give the bath 4.57, their highest mark.
- Service: Arrival brings a traditional welcome and a taiko drum performance, and the taiko is what Ikyu guests keep naming as the best part of the stay, even in reviews critical of the food. The service itself is praised across the reviews, including the critical ones, and Ikyu guests give it 4.44.
- Room: The suites are the premium floor of a large hotel, the fourth and fifth storeys of Kaneyamaen, and they are adults only. Ikyu guests give the rooms 4.34, one of their lower marks here, and the critical reviews ask whether the premium floor justifies its price over the main hotel.
- Place: The suites are the top two floors of Hotel Kaneyamaen, a large ryokan in Fujiyoshida, and they are placed for the view of Mt. Fuji, so the stay hinges on whether the mountain shows, and the Ikyu reviews turn on it, with cloud on arrival a recurring disappointment and a clear morning the highlight. Downstairs is lively and full of families, which some guests enjoy and others find mass-market.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h (0 transfers) · Kyoto 4h15 (1 transfer)

## C'est La Vie — northern Saitama, Saitama
unscored · Jalan 5.0/5 · Auberge
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/c-est-la-vie
A quirky antique-furnished inn in northern Saitama that KI-NRT flags as effectively the region's only luxury option, known for reportedly incredible food, stellar service, and a station pickup in a rare Toyota Classic sedan. Nobody in the thread has stayed, and KI-NRT only relays guest feedback, but Jalan guests back the reputation, averaging 5.0 across 532 reviews and praising a homey small-hotel feel, bathing among greenery and local-ingredient kaiseki.
- Food: Nobody in the thread has eaten here. KI-NRT passes on only that the food is supposedly incredible from guest feedback. Jalan guests give both dinner and breakfast full marks and describe local-ingredient kaiseki that leans on vegetables and sansai, with seasonal menus and plating and tableware praised as often as the cooking itself.
- Bath: Nobody in the thread has written about the bathing here. The rooms have their own open-air bath set among greenery, and Jalan guests give the bath full marks, though none of them says whether the water is hot-spring.
- Service: KI-NRT relays that service is stellar, though only from guest feedback, and that they collect you at the station in a rare retro Toyota sedan, the Toyota Classic, of which only 100 were made. Jalan guests give service full marks and describe attentive staff from check-in to check-out.
- Room: Rooms are on the small side and quirky, furnished with antiques, by the reputation KI-NRT relays, and nobody in the thread has slept in one. The rooms are where Jalan guests are least effusive (4.6 where everything else is at or near 5.0), though they still describe calm, lovely furniture and an open-air bath in the room, and they put cleanliness at 4.8.
- Place: C'est La Vie is a tiny hotel in northern Saitama, quite a bit north of Kawagoe and close to the Gunma border, and KI-NRT points out that when you are talking luxury in Saitama the pickings are slim. Jalan guests describe a homey small-hotel atmosphere with greenery around the bath and interiors dressed for the season.
- Transit: Tokyo ~2h50 (2 transfers) · Omiya ~1h50 (1 transfer)

## Daikon no Hana — Akiu, Miyagi (Tohoku)
unscored · 52 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/daikon-no-hana
Daikon no Hana is a 52-room onsen ryokan in the Sendai area, and its strength is the water: every bath runs straight from the source with nothing recirculated, and KI-NRT singles out the rental bath surrounded by forest. He stayed many years ago and describes it as the country home-style, relaxed alternative to the pricier, more tranquil and more traditional Saryo Souen, a matter of taste between the two. Nobody in the thread has written about the food, the rooms or the service.
- Food: Nobody in the thread has written about the food here.
- Bath 4/5: All the onsen at Daikon no Hana run straight from the source and nothing is recirculated, and there are some nice baths, especially the rental bath surrounded by a forest, which KI-NRT singles out.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: At 52 rooms it is fairly large for a luxury ryokan, but nobody in the thread has written about the rooms themselves.
- Place 3.5/5: Daikon no Hana has a country home-style atmosphere, and KI-NRT contrasts it with Saryo Souen, the other luxury choice around Sendai, which is more tranquil and more traditional; he calls the choice between the two a matter of taste. He was last at both places many years ago.
- Transit: Sendai ~0h35 (1 transfer) · Tokyo ~2h20 (1 transfer)

## ESPACIO The Hakone Geihinkan Rin-Poh-Ki-Ryu — Miyanoshita, Hakone
unscored · Ikyu 4.5/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/espacio-the-hakone-geihinkan-rin-poh-ki-ryu
Espacio is nine villas at the bottom of a private cable car in Hakone's Dogashima river valley, with undiluted source onsen piped to every villa and saunas in most. At $2,100–$3,500 a night it is one of the most expensive stays here. Ikyu guests rate it 4.49 across a thin sample of 13 reviews, praising the arrival, the butler service and the bathing, while the two weakest reviews both question whether it is worth the price.
- Food: Takahiro Yamagishi of Kyoto's Tominokoji Yamagishi, a kaiseki restaurant that has held a Michelin star every year since 2017, supervises the kitchen. There is no restaurant on the property, so dinner and breakfast are served in your villa, and the courses are finished on the spot so they arrive hot, which guests notice and appreciate. Even the two harshest Ikyu reviewers found the food delicious, and Ikyu guests put it at 4.54.
- Bath: Every villa has its own bath fed with undiluted, free-flowing Dogashima spring water, five of the nine add a sauna, and the flagship TAKUMI villa adds a plunge pool and a hot-stone bath. Nobody has complained about the water, and bathing is the highest of the Ikyu marks at 4.69, though from only 13 reviews.
- Service: A butler is assigned to your villa for the whole stay, and most of what you see of the staff happens at your own door, since there is no restaurant, bar or lounge to go out to. Four of the five sampled Ikyu reviews call the service excellent or very good, and the praise holds even where the same guests are unhappy about the interiors or the price. Ikyu guests put service at 4.54, level with the food and the rooms.
- Room: The nine villas are each a house of their own, standing behind their own gates along the monorail line, with undiluted Dogashima source water running to each villa's bath and a sauna in five of the nine. The flagship villa, Takumi, adds a plunge pool and a hot-stone bath. Guests call the villas clean and very nice, with touches like choosing your own key-card design and souvenir chopsticks, and Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.54.
- Place: The inn lies at the bottom of Hakone's Dogashima river valley below Miyanoshita, reached by its own cable car dropping a hundred metres, and then a mini-monorail runs past the garden to each villa's gate. There is no restaurant, bar or library, so you spend the whole stay inside your villa.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Guntû — Floating — the Seto Inland Sea (boards near Onomichi), Floating — the Seto Inland Sea (boards near Onomichi)
unscored
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/guntu
Guntû is a 19-cabin floating ryokan that cruises the Seto Inland Sea, designed by Yasushi Horibe, with a sushi bar and terrace cypress baths on the top suites. It books as a cruise instead of as a room, and at $3,750–$5,250 a night it is the most expensive stay here. The only guest reviews are on Tabelog, where 3.08 over 19 reviews is respectable on that restaurant-review scale, and the repeat passengers there praise the attentive crew and the eat-as-you-like menu. Nobody in the thread has sailed on it.
- Food: Meals run on the ship's own rule, whatever you like, as much as you like: the chefs cook what you ask for from the fresh ingredients on display, there is a sushi bar, and the dinner menu changes daily around that day's recommendations, so no two voyages eat the same. The handful of Tabelog reviewers, several of them repeat passengers, are satisfied with it, but nobody in the thread has eaten on board.
- Bath: The top suites have private open-air cypress baths on their terraces over the water, and there is a communal hinoki bath for everyone else. These are heated tubs on a ship, so there is no hot-spring water anywhere on board. Nobody in the thread has written about the bathing here.
- Service: The crew is what the Tabelog reviewers praise most, and the repeat passengers among them describe friendly, attentive hospitality that leaves nothing wanting. The press routinely calls Guntû one of the world's great hotel experiences. Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: The 19 cabins are Yasushi Horibe's work, and the top suites have open-air cypress baths on private terraces facing the water. Nobody in the thread or among the Tabelog reviewers has written about the cabins themselves.
- Place: Guntû cruises the Seto Inland Sea from a marina near Onomichi, so the islands and water outside the window change through the stay, and Yasushi Horibe shaped the ship's roofline and hull to echo the tiled-roof towns of the Setouchi coast. Routes vary between voyages.
- Transit: Hiroshima 1h (1 transfer) · Kyoto 2h20 (1 transfer)

## Hakone Retreat före & villa 1/f — Sengokuhara, Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
unscored · Ikyu 4.0/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hakone-retreat-fore-villa-1-f
A Scandinavian-styled forest resort of 18 log-house villas in Sengokuhara, deliberately built as something other than a ryokan. Ikyu guests give it 4.03 over 34 reviews, and the reviews explain the middling number: forest quiet and the private-onsen villas draw raves, but service is the recurring sore point, with undertrained staff and breakfast lapses. It is a villa resort with private onsen tubs and makes no claim to be a traditional inn.
- Food: Dinner is in the kaiseki room or at the wood-fired grill instead of in your villa, so you choose between a Japanese course meal and food cooked over a wood fire, and either way you walk out of the villa to eat. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.29, well above their mark for the service, and the complaints run to the serving more than the cooking, with breakfast the meal that repeatedly falls short.
- Bath: Every villa has its own open-air onsen bath fed from a Hakone spring, and there are shared indoor and outdoor baths as well. Ikyu guests put the bathing at 4.21, and they praise having the spring to themselves at the villa.
- Service: Service is the weak point, and three of the five recent Ikyu reviews are about it. The recurring complaints are halting, undertrained staff, many of them foreign hires with limited Japanese, meals that go wrong in the serving, guests hurried toward checkout, and a level of care that does not match the price. Ikyu guests put service at 3.47 against 4.2 or better elsewhere.
- Room: The 18 villas are Scandinavian-styled log houses, each standalone with a wood stove and its own onsen bath, which is a long way from a ryokan room, and some villas take dogs. The rooms hold up in the reviews even where the service does not, and Ikyu guests put them at 4.24 against 3.47 for service.
- Place: The resort spreads its villas across about 50,000 m² of Sengokuhara forest off the Hakone Ekiden course, and in 2025 it won a Good Design Award for the way the new Ibuki villa area fits the woods and the site's history. Guests write about the silence of the forest before anything else.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Hatago (Arima) — Arima Onsen, Hyogo (Kansai)
unscored · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hatago-arima
A small Arima inn where every room has its own bath of the golden kinsen spring water. The only stay in the thread is KI-NRT's from roughly a decade ago, which he remembers as pretty decent with junior-suite-sized rooms and a maybe on returning, yet in January 2026 he shortlisted Hatago first for an Arima night and found it fully booked. You stay here for the gold-spring bath in your own room; nobody in the thread has written about the food, the service or anything else.
- Food: Nobody in the thread has written about the food here.
- Bath 4/5: Every room has its own bath of Arima's famous kinsen, the golden spring, and some rooms have an open-air bath as well. The kinsen is high in iron and salt, emerges transparent and turns reddish-brown on contact with air. It is not fed straight from the source here, though: by KI-NRT's own digging only four Arima facilities draw directly from the spring, and Hatago is not one of them. Nobody in the thread has described the baths themselves.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room 3/5: KI-NRT took the Hatsuzora Suite about a decade ago and found the rooms more junior-suite sized than suite sized, though the stay was pretty decent and he is a maybe on returning.
- Place: Hatago is in Arima Onsen, Japan's oldest recorded hot spring and one of its big three onsen towns with Kusatsu and Gero, and KI-NRT counts it among Arima's big four luxury ryokans with Gosho Bessho, Nakanobo Zuien and Arima Onsen Kinzan. He has never been particularly fond of Arima or its town, though it is a delightful place for walks, browsing the shops and sampling carbonated onsen rice crackers. Nobody in the thread has described the grounds.
- Transit: Osaka 1h05 (0 transfers) · Kobe 0h35 (1 transfer)

## Hitotsu Notojima — Notojima, Nanao, Ishikawa (Hokuriku)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hitotsu-notojima
Hitotsu Notojima is Hokuriku's first sushi auberge, opened in 2023 on Notojima island in the calm inner bay off Nanao, with six sea-facing rooms, a bar-lounge along the water and a wood-fired sauna, run around a Noto-seafood sushi dinner and a sushi-chef's breakfast at the counter (drinks were all-inclusive until September 2026). There is no hot spring, and the room baths hold plain water with the bay for a view. Ikyu guests give it 4.81 across roughly 26 stays, with hospitality and cooking their high marks, and it holds a Michelin Key. Nobody in the thread has stayed here yet.
- Food: Dinner is a Noto-seafood sushi omakase at the counter and breakfast is a sushi-chef's spread at the same counter (grilled nodoguro one morning), which is why the house calls itself a sushi auberge. Ikyu guests mark the cooking high, near 4.85, and call the sushi and the sake superb, though the local sake stopped being all-inclusive in September 2026.
- Bath: There is no hot spring here. The sea-facing rooms have a private view bath and a wood-fired sauna looks out over the same bay, and that sauna is one of the three things the house sells, with the sushi and the view. Ikyu guests put the bathing a little below their other marks, so the sauna and the view are what you get from the bathing here, and there is no spring water.
- Service: Service is personal and all-inclusive. Check-in is a welcome drink in the lounge above the bay, and staff pour and talk with you over the water. With six rooms the stay runs between that lounge and the sushi counter, where dinner and breakfast are served, and drinks and the minibar are in the rate until September 2026. Ikyu guests mark hospitality highest of all their marks, at 4.88, and attentive, unhurried care recurs across reviews.
- Room: The six rooms all face the sea and run around 51 square metres, each with a private view bath over the calm inner bay off Nanao and a minibar included with the stay. Ikyu guests give the rooms their softest mark, 4.69; they are comfortable and well-kept but the plainest part of the stay.
- Place: Hitotsu Notojima stands on Notojima, an island in the sheltered inner bay off Nanao, and opened in 2023. The view over the bay as you walk in is what guests write about first, the bar-lounge runs along the water, dolphin and sunset cruises leave from the private pier below, and a golf course and a clear-water beach are nearby. The peninsula is still rebuilding after the 2024 Noto earthquake.
- Transit: Kanazawa 1h15 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 4h (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h45 (2 transfers)

## Hoshinoya Fuji — Lake Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi (Chubu)
unscored
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hoshinoya-fuji
Japan's first luxury glamping resort puts 40 concrete cabins on a slope above Lake Kawaguchi, every one aimed at Fuji, with terrace living and dawn canoeing in place of tatami and kaiseki, which makes it the deliberate opposite of a ryokan. There is no onsen, just a small public bath, and Rakuten guests split on the service, some praising courteous staff and others finding some of it careless.
- Food: Dinner here is not a ryokan kaiseki, and nobody in the thread or among the Rakuten guests has written about the food.
- Bath: There is no hot spring. Each cabin has an ordinary bathroom, and the only shared bathing is a small public bath of heated water, so bathing here amounts to a tub, and Rakuten guests say nothing about it.
- Service: Rakuten guests split on the service, Hoshinoya's programmed kind built around outings like dawn canoeing and the Cloud Terrace forest lounge. Some describe courteous, wonderful staff who live up to the reputation, while others found some of the staff careless and the stay well short of it. The complaints are about logistics on a resort spread across a slope, where you depend on the staff to book outings and to get between cabin and reception.
- Room: The 40 cabins are minimalist concrete boxes, each with a heated open terrace so you can live outdoors in any season, and every one of them faces Fuji. Rakuten guests call the room and the location the best part of a stay.
- Place: Architect Rie Azuma set all 40 cabins on a forested slope above Lake Kawaguchi so that every one faces Fuji, and each minimalist concrete cabin has a heated open terrace aimed at the mountain, with a forest lounge called the Cloud Terrace. It was Japan's first luxury glamping resort. Rakuten guests call the location superb and the Fuji view the point of the stay, and KI-NRT calls snow-capped Fuji gorgeous in winter.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h (0 transfers) · Kyoto 4h15 (1 transfer)

## KANAYA RESORT HAKONE — Sengokuhara, Hakone, Kanagawa (Hakone)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kanaya-resort-hakone
KANAYA RESORT HAKONE is a 14-room forest villa on 6,500 tsubo of Sengokuhara woodland, the retreat arm of the Kinugawa Kanaya Hotel. The kitchen is French eaten with chopsticks, carrying on the legacy of Nishi-Azabu's Seiyozensho John Kanaya, and every room has a free-flowing Ōwakudani bath, with service that guests praise as much as the food. Ikyu guests put it near 4.80 over about 103 stays, with meals, baths and service their high marks; there is no large public bath, and the building is stairs-heavy and not barrier-free.
- Food: Dinner is French cooking eaten with chopsticks, carrying the legacy of Nishi-Azabu's Seiyozensho John Kanaya, served in the Black-and-Gold dining room: a signature egg-and-double-consommé opener, fish courses and an optional melt-in-the-mouth chateaubriand, then a Japanese ochazuke breakfast. Ikyu guests put the meals near 4.89, their top mark, and the cooking is what their reviews praise most.
- Bath: Every room has its own bath fed free-flowing from the milky-white Ōwakudani source, a silky 'beauty' water whose colour shifts through the day, and it comes as an open-air bath, an indoor stone bath or a tub in the Western rooms. There is no large public bath, which a few guests miss, but the bathing here is meant to be private and in your room. Ikyu guests put the baths near 4.85.
- Service: Guests praise the hospitality above all else. The staff carry on the philosophy of the old John Kanaya house, warm and attentive without hovering, and Ikyu reviews repeatedly describe small things anticipated before guests ask. Ikyu guests put the service near 4.86, and several call it the reason they return.
- Room: The fourteen wood-and-stone rooms are tuned to the forest, from Superior twins of 41 to 52 square metres up to the 113-square-metre John Kanaya Suite, each with a private Ōwakudani bath and windows onto the trees. Ikyu guests put the rooms near 4.71, the softest of their marks, and the building is stairs-heavy and not barrier-free.
- Place: The inn stands on a 6,500-tsubo estate of primeval forest in Sengokuhara that has drawn villa-goers since the Meiji era, with moss-walled paths, a garden Forest Terrace for champagne and wide Fuji-and-Hakone skies, yet only about 90 minutes from Tokyo. The grounds are compact and easy to navigate, though there is almost no common space beyond the restaurant and a tiny bar; Ikyu guests put the facilities near 4.63, the lowest of their marks.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Kaiseki Inn Suihuen — Gero Onsen, Gifu (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kaiseki-inn-suihuen
Suihuen is a fifteen-room kaiseki house on the high ground above Gero Onsen, looking across the valley to Gero-Fuji, with private open-air baths in eight of the rooms and a 'yojo kaiseki' dinner brought course by course to your own room. Ikyu's crowd gives it 4.75 across 107 reviews, and cooking (4.83) is its clear high mark while rooms (4.68) come in lowest. The inn's free shuttle takes four minutes from Gero Station, and Takayama is forty-eight minutes up the same line.
- Food: Suihuen calls itself a kaiseki inn, and dinner is a 'yojo kaiseki' brought course by course to a private room, built on Hida beef and Gero's prize-winning local rice. There is also a separate Hida-beef tearoom, Kangetsu, on the property. Ikyu guests put the cooking at 4.83, the inn's clear high mark and the only one above its 4.75 overall, and it is what returning guests lead with.
- Bath: Gero's alkaline water is one of Japan's three great springs and famously silky on the skin, and here it runs to private open-air baths in eight of the fifteen rooms, with an open-air bath, a large public bath and a bookable private bath below. Ikyu guests put bathing at 4.75, and guests who have stayed elsewhere in Gero single out the water quality in both the room baths and the public one.
- Service: Guests keep describing the staff as courteous from welcome to send-off. Meals are served in the room, and the staff who bring them are described as consistently pleasant across the whole stay and not only at the set-pieces. Ikyu guests put hospitality at 4.75. A fifth-time visitor to Gero puts the house in the town's top one or two on overall satisfaction and recommends it without qualification.
- Room: There are fifteen rooms across the main building and the adults-oriented Yukatei annex, eight of them with private open-air baths, ranging from barrier-free premium suites to junior suites with a garden or valley bath. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.68, the inn's softest mark, and at this price that is an honest trade, because the house spends on the kitchen and the water and less on square metres.
- Place: Suihuen sits on high ground above the Gero Onsen townscape, in a landscaped hillside garden near the Gassho-mura open-air village, and Gero-Fuji (Mt. Nakane) fills the view across the valley. Gero Station is four minutes below by the inn's shuttle, and Takayama is forty-eight minutes up the same Takayama Line.
- Transit: Kanazawa 3h (1 transfer) · Tokyo 3h40 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h05 (1 transfer)

## Kamenoi Besso — Yufuin, Oita (Kyushu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.9/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kamenoi-besso
A 1921 lakeside estate on Lake Kinrin at the foot of Mt. Yufu, with seventeen rooms all built differently, garden-source kakenagashi in every tub and public rooms (a teahouse, a bar, a gramophone lounge) that guests keep writing about. It holds Two Michelin Keys in 2025, one of only twenty properties in Japan to do so. KI-NRT calls it 'the original luxury Yufuin inn' and has a return booked for November 2026. Ikyu's crowd (4.87 across 122 reviews) ranks it near the top of Kyushu, and dinner is the one softer note. Nobody in the thread has written a full review yet.
- Food: Dinner is a kaiseki of Ōita mountain vegetables and local meat, in the room for the hanare and in the restaurant for the main building. Tuesday to Thursday there is also Jūbankan, a counter annex with wine pairings. Food is where Ikyu guests mark the inn lowest, at 4.77, and dishes arriving lukewarm is the recurring complaint.
- Bath: The spring is the garden's own, and every tub runs kakenagashi from it: two shared bathhouses, three open-air baths and the tubs in all seventeen rooms, ten of them outdoors. The shared baths stay open all night, and even the main-building twins now have indoor onsen tubs. There is no sauna and no private-hire bath. Ikyu guests put the baths at 4.89.
- Service: KI-NRT, who stayed years ago, calls Kamenoi the original luxury Yufuin inn and has booked a return for November 2026. Arrival is old-school, with several staff lined up at the entrance when you pull in, and Ikyu guests put service at 4.87, describing warm, unhurried attention from everyone they met. Praise for the staff is uniform across the reviews, including the ones that fault the food.
- Room: The seventeen rooms are all built differently: eleven detached hanare under the trees, with dinner served in the room, and six Western-style twins in the main building with Danish furniture alongside local craft. Special Room 7, a 140 square metre two-bedroom villa, has just been renovated, and ten rooms have their own open-air bath. The cheapest twins are 36 to 45 square metres, up stairs, and take no children below junior-high age.
- Place: Ten thousand tsubo of garden under 200-year-old trees beside Lake Kinrin at the foot of Mt. Yufu, begun in 1921 as a private villa. The lane outside is packed with tourists, but once you cross the small bridge the noise stops and you hear birdsong and koi in the pond. The public rooms matter as much as the garden: the Tenjōsajiki teahouse in a relocated sake warehouse and a fireside lounge with records on the gramophone each evening.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h10 (0 transfers) · Kagoshima 3h10 (1 transfer) · Nagasaki 3h (0 transfers) · Kumamoto 2h25 (1 transfer) · Tokyo 4h (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 6h (3 transfers)

## Kanshuku-en Eshikoto — Eiheiji, Fukui (Hokuriku)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kanshuku-en-eshikoto
Kanshuku-en Eshikoto is an eight-villa auberge opened in November 2024 by the Kokuryu sake brewery beside its ESHIKOTO complex near Eiheiji, the Soto Zen head temple, and each is a whole-villa rental of about 103 square meters with a semi-open-air onsen bath and Echizen-craft art. Dinner is at the Michelin one-star Japanese En or the French cadre, with the house Kokuryu sake. Ikyu guests give it 4.71 across 38 stays, with the villas and the bathing their high marks and breakfast the recurring quibble. Nobody in the thread has stayed yet, though KI-NRT recommends it to anyone visiting Eiheiji.
- Food: Dinner is at En, the Michelin one-star Japanese restaurant, or the innovative French cadre, with the house Kokuryu sake, and breakfast is a French-touched Japanese spread at the neighboring acoya. Ikyu guests mark the meals their softest note (4.54), and while the cooking is praised, breakfast is the recurring quibble, judged too plain for an inn of this class.
- Bath: Every villa has a semi-open-air bath fed by the alkaline Eiheiji Zen spring, a sodium-chloride-bicarbonate 'beauty' water that arrives by pipe and is not free-flowing. It looks out over the fields and the Kuzuryu River, and Ikyu guests put the bathing among their highest marks, just behind the villas themselves, with the in-villa soak and its valley view what they praise.
- Service: It is a quiet eight-villa auberge run by the Kokuryu sake house next door, and brewery tours come with a stay. Ikyu guests mark hospitality solidly (4.74), below the villas and bath. The whole-villa privacy and the sake-and-food framing suit a low-key stay better than a staffed ryokan's bustle.
- Room: The eight villas are whole-villa rentals of around 103 square metres in three concepts, with art chosen by the ceramicist Koichi Uchida from Echizen crafts and global pieces, and most face the Kuzuryu River. Ikyu guests give the rooms and amenities their highest mark, with the design and the space the standout, and KI-NRT describes the place as new and modern.
- Place: The villas stand at the foot of Mt. Johoji on the Kuzuryu River in Eiheiji, beside the Kokuryu brewery's ESHIKOTO complex and near the Soto Zen head temple, which KI-NRT calls phenomenal and historic, though he notes the inn is a bit out of the way. Cherry blossom comes in spring, deep snow and river mist in winter, and zazen and the dawn sutras at Eiheiji are a short drive away.
- Transit: Kanazawa 1h (0 transfers) · Tokyo 3h15 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 1h45 (1 transfer)

## Kinnotake Tonosawa — Tonosawa, Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
unscored · Ikyu 4.5/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kinnotake-tonosawa
Kinnotake Tonosawa is an adults-only Hakone gorge property built around in-room open-air onsen bathing from its own alkaline spring. Ikyu guests rate it 4.51 across 86 reviews, and the reviews split sharply by floor: the 4F suites get unanimous five-star reports while the lower floors generate nearly all the complaints, and two recent reviews report a drop in staff experience and warmth. Book a 4F suite or reconsider.
- Food: Dinner is kaiseki in one shared dining room with two seatings, and there is no in-room dining. Ikyu guests often name the food a highlight of the stay. The alternative is the teppanyaki counter Zen, and the 4F suites get an upgraded menu with A5 kuroge filet and Ise-ebi. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.62.
- Bath: All 21 rooms have their own open-air bath, free-flowing from the property's pH 9.5 spring, and the water runs at a coolish 40°C, though staff will raise it; there is no communal bath. In most rooms the washing area is outdoors, a cold dash in winter, and only TEN adds an indoor hinoki bath. Ikyu guests often call the room bath the best part of the stay and put it at 4.57.
- Service: On the suite floor check-in happens in the room and the minibar is free, the lounge pours sparkling wine and beer free-flow until 22:00, and the staff will raise the temperature of the in-room bath (it runs around 40°C) if you ask. Most Ikyu guests describe warm, attentive staff, and Ikyu puts the service at 4.64, but two 2025 reviews describe a drop, with mostly trainee-badged, inexperienced young staff, smiling but not yet steady.
- Room: The 4F suites TEN, SORA and KUMO are the rooms to book: every review on the inn's own per-room pages for them is five stars, while all the complaints about roof views, noise and cramped tubs come from the 1F and 2F rooms. KI-NRT, relaying friends who stayed, warns that the entry-level rooms are small, long and narrow, and that the decor is more country home than traditional ryokan. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.43, near their lowest mark.
- Place: You enter over a suspension bridge across the Tonosawa gorge, and all the rooms face the forest and river away from Route 1. The inn is adults-only (12 and up). On January 2 and 3 the Hakone Ekiden relay crosses Route 1 by the bridge, a three-minute walk away, so a New Year stay puts you on the course.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Kofuyuden Beniya — Awara Onsen, Fukui (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/kofuyuden-beniya
A long-established 24-room inn in Awara Onsen with a private partly open-air bath in every room and Echizen snow crab in winter, which is why most people make the trip. Ikyu guests hold it in very high regard (4.82 across 183 reviews), praising the crab kaiseki and hands-on hospitality, and the recurring caution is that the room-bath water runs very hot. It is a different inn from Beniya Mukayu in Yamashiro, which is in a different prefecture.
- Food: Winter here is Echizen crab, served in your room, and you choose how it comes: the whole crab boiled, or the legs as sashimi with the shoulders and shells grilled. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.9, their highest mark, and the crab kaiseki and the unhurried pacing of the in-room dinner are what they praise most.
- Bath: All 24 rooms have their own semi-open-air onsen bath piped straight from the source, unrecirculated and unchlorinated, which KI-NRT singles out for anyone wanting a real onsen stay. The recurring note from Ikyu guests is that the water runs very hot, so the staff warn you to add cold water before getting in; they put the bath at 4.75, their lowest mark for the inn.
- Service: Ikyu guests put service at 4.85 and describe warm, hands-on hospitality, an in-room dinner paced course by course and staff who warn you about the hot room bath before you get in. Two 2026 reviews are cooler on the staff's polish. Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: All 24 rooms have their own semi-open-air onsen bath, and since the 2021 rebuild KI-NRT finds them traditional in type but airy and fresh. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.79, just below their marks for the food and the service, and describe them as clean and well kept.
- Place: The inn was rebuilt in 2021 by the architect Tetsuo Kobori (winner of both the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize and the JIA Grand Prize in 2017) after a 2018 fire destroyed the property and three registered cultural-property buildings. It stands in the heart of Awara Onsen, Fukui's quiet Sea-of-Japan hot-spring town and the most prominent in the region, and KI-NRT recommends pairing Fukui with Eiheiji, which he calls phenomenal.
- Transit: Kanazawa 0h40 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 3h15 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 1h45 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h45 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h45 (4 transfers) · Kagoshima 5h15 (3 transfers)

## Lakeside Villa Suimeikaku — Lake Shikotsu, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)
unscored · 8 rooms · Traditional ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/lakeside-villa-suimeikaku
An eight-room chalet-style ryokan from 1967, the only property sitting directly on Lake Shikotsu, full of old-school charm and serving a posh Italian gourmet dinner. Michaeljinnyc, the one member to have stayed, calls it the best hotel he has stayed in in Hokkaido and would go back, but he wrote nothing about the bathing, the service or his room.
- Food 4/5: Dinner is Italian gourmet cooking, which Michaeljinnyc called fantastic, very posh and old school, and he thought enough of it to come back and add it to his post. He named no dishes.
- Bath: Every one of the eight rooms has a natural hot-spring indoor bath facing Lake Shikotsu, and two private open-air baths sit at the shore, Ruri in cypress and Hisui in stone. The inn pitches them as the closest baths to the lake of any local lodging, and it does not publish how the water is delivered. The one guest who has written about the inn never mentions bathing.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: Suimeikaku is a single-story chalet-style building from 1967 with eight rooms and plenty of old-school charm, but Michaeljinnyc did not describe his own room, and nobody else in the thread has stayed.
- Place 4/5: Suimeikaku sits directly on the shore of Lake Shikotsu, the only hotel here with a true lakeside position, in a single-story chalet-style building from 1967 that is full of old-school charm. Michaeljinnyc puts Shikotsu miles ahead of Lake Akan and calls this the best hotel he has stayed in in Hokkaido.
- Transit: New Chitose 0h35 (0 transfers) · Sapporo 1h (0 transfers)

## Machiyado Ichiryu — Takayama, Gifu (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/machiyado-ichiryu
An adults-only town inn of eleven rooms a few minutes' walk from Takayama's morning market and old streets, opened in November 2024 in place of the 53-year-old Ryokan Seiryu, whose 25 rooms were rebuilt as 11, six of them suites, each with a semi-open-air bath. Around them are three private baths on the Hida Takayama spring, an all-day lounge with Hida sake and an irori hearth, and Hida beef dinners served in a warehouse annex across the lane. The Ikyu crowd gives it 4.70 over 55 reviews, with hospitality (4.84) far ahead of meals and bathing (4.58 each).
- Food: The inn calls itself a Hida beef specialist, and dinner is top A5 cuts served course by course in private rooms in a converted warehouse across the lane. An all-day lounge pours local Hida sake and draft beer, with snacks that change by the hour. Ikyu guests put meals at 4.58, the inn's softest mark, because a real minority reports over-marbled or tough beef or a thin breakfast, while many others call the pacing faultless.
- Bath: There is no large public bath. The Hida Takayama spring (a mild alkaline simple onsen) reaches guests through three ground-floor private baths, two of them free whenever vacant and the premium Miyagawa reservable by the hour for ¥4,400. Every room also has a semi-open-air bath, but it runs plain hot water, and guests say so repeatedly at this price. Ikyu guests put bathing at 4.58, and the other gripe is that the tubs are deep and have no step.
- Service: Hospitality is what guests write about first, and Ikyu guests put it at 4.84, the inn's strongest mark by a clear margin. They describe valet parking with a hand-drawn map of the lot, staff waiting outside with umbrellas for the walk to dinner, unprompted lifts to the station, handwritten notes in the room and a contactless butler box at the door. The staff are mostly young, and guests take that as warmth. Nobody has complained of inexperience.
- Room: Eleven rooms only, six of them suites, were rebuilt from the old Ryokan Seiryu's 25, and each has its own semi-open-air bath. They run 40–50 m² and up in a Japanese-Western style, with Hida-crafted furniture, tatami corners, semi-double twins, ReFa shower heads and amenities throughout, and free minibar and lounge drinks. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.73. The higher floors get the mountain view, and the lower ones look onto neighbouring roofs.
- Place: Ichiryu is the rare ryokan that cooks a full dinner and still lets you walk out the door and be sightseeing: the Miyagawa morning market is three minutes away, the preserved sake-brewery streets of the old town five, Takayama Jinya six, and the station and the Kanazawa bus seven. The lounge (Hida furniture, an irori hearth, a terrace) is where the inn keeps its town-inn character. It is adults only, and elementary age and under are not accepted.
- Transit: Kanazawa 2h25 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 4h55 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h50 (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h55 (2 transfers) · Nagoya 2h45 (0 transfers)

## Madoka no Mori — Gora, Hakone, Kanagawa (Kanto)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/madoka-no-mori
A forest ryokan in Gora (opened 2014) whose strengths are the shared facilities: three open-air forest tubs per gender fed by a second spring, a private stone sauna and a basement speakeasy bar. The crowd picture is strong (Jalan 4.9, Ikyu 4.78 across 86 reviews). Recent Ikyu reviews split on where it is heading, though: most still rate it near-perfect, while two 2025-26 stays sense the service sliding toward ordinary. Book a bedroom-plus-tatami or a deluxe room and avoid the 30 m² studios.
- Food: Hida beef shabu is the standout course, extraordinarily buttery, and a new head chef has refreshed the tableware and the appetizer courses. Standard rooms eat in private dining rooms; in-room dinner is for the suites only. The sushi course is the weak link and the menu barely rotates. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.84, their highest mark here, and even the critical reviews call the meals excellent.
- Bath: The inn draws on two hot-spring sources: the big baths run on one the staff describe as sterilizing, the in-room tubs on a second, moisturizing one, and they will tell you to take the big bath first. Each gender side has one indoor bath and three open-air tubs in the forest, and a private stone sauna (ganbanyoku) can be booked by the slot. Two 2025-26 reviews question the cleanliness of the big baths.
- Service: Guests are greeted with a welcome drink and the house pastry chef's pudding, with handmade sweets left in the room, and Ikyu guests describe the staff as uniformly pleasant and well trained, putting service at 4.8. The inn has a strong repeat clientele, and returning guests say the unobtrusive attentiveness is what brings them back. Two 2025-26 reviews report the service slipping toward that of an ordinary luxury ryokan.
- Room: Every room has its own onsen tub, but the 30 m² studios, where the beds take over and there is no sofa, draw the most repeated complaint. Ask for one of the 36.5-41 m² bedroom-plus-tatami rooms instead, or the 53 m² deluxe rooms Ebine 311 and Akebonosou 215 with their window sofas; KI-NRT's advice for a first Hakone trip is a suite here. The rooms have exposed-beam ceilings, and the 2014 fittings are starting to show.
- Place: Madoka no Mori sits in the forest above Gora at about 550 m, high enough for occasional real snow, and the January-February reports are uniformly positive. Inside, the corridors are tatami and guests walk them barefoot, the lobby is spacious and impressive, and KI-NRT counts it (with its sister Gora Hanaougi) among the few traditional-style inns at the top of Hakone, where most of the highly regarded properties are modern and Western in design.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Meigetsuso — Kaminoyama Onsen, Yamagata (Tohoku)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/meigetsuso
Meigetsuso is twenty detached sukiya villas on a wooded hillside above Kaminoyama Onsen, fifteen of them with their own open-air rotenburo, and it runs as an in-room Yamagata kaiseki retreat with hiba-cypress communal baths. Ikyu regulars rate it 4.77 across 39 reviews and call the food some of the best of all their stays. Winter access over the Itaya pass is prone to snow delays.
- Food: Dinner is seasonal Yamagata kaiseki from local ingredients, served in the room, and the course guests talk about is the beef comparison that puts Yonezawa beef next to Yamagata beef. Breakfast rice is kettle-cooked in two local varieties, and the cellar lets you pick from three labels of Juyondai sake. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.84 and several rank it among the best of all their stays.
- Bath: Fifteen of the twenty villas have their own open-air rotenburo, and there are also two reservable private baths and communal baths in Aomori hiba cypress with outdoor tubs. Ikyu guests put the baths at 4.79, and it is the private baths, in the room and the reservable ones, that they praise most.
- Service: The inn pays the taxi fare from the station, which several guests mention with surprise, and with only 20 detached villas and dinner and breakfast served in the room, contact with staff is low-key and you see little of the other guests. Repeat visits are a theme in the Ikyu reviews, where several writers are back for a second or third stay or end by saying they will return. Ikyu guests put service at 4.85, the highest mark they give the inn.
- Room: The twenty rooms are detached sukiya-zukuri villas on a wooded hillside, with a relocated 1920 kura storehouse on the grounds. One room type has a tatami room, a dining room and a twin-bed Western bedroom plus a half-open-air bath and a terrace facing the Zao range. Another is a 55-square-metre main room and living room with a Zao view. Ikyu guests give the rooms 4.67.
- Place: Meigetsuso sits on a wooded hillside facing the Zao range at Kaminoyama Onsen, a quiet castle town in Yamagata off the foreign-tourist circuit, and with only twenty rooms the whole place is quiet. From the verandas you look at the Zao peaks, and at night the moon the inn is named for. Late January puts the Zao snow monsters next door, and KI-NRT had planned a stay here around cherry picking in nearby Sagae and Tendo.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h45 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 4h35 (1 transfer) · Sendai 1h20 (0 transfers)

## Ochiairo — Yugashima Onsen, Izu, Shizuoka (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.6/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ochiairo
A heritage onsen inn at an Izu river confluence, built around a bath-and-sauna complex inside 90-year-old architecture. It holds a Michelin 1-Key, and is #1 of 47 in Izu on Booking at 9.4 and 4.64 across 101 Ikyu reviews. The recurring complaint is service short of the price. Book by room name, because only four rooms have private open-air onsen, and note that the rebuilt thermal spring now runs mixed-gender in bathing wear.
- Food: An 8 to 9 course Izu kaiseki is served in private dining rooms, and the menu changes completely across a two-night stay; the breakfast cult item is wasabi rice, and there is also a steakhouse, which KI-NRT points out is a rarity at a traditional ryokan. Sake, wine and champagne pairings are included. Several 2026 guests found dinner neither good nor bad for the price, and Ikyu guests give the meals 4.54.
- Bath: The tea-room sauna at the Moon Bath, produced by sauna expert Dai Matsuo, made Japan's SAUNACHELIN ranking in 2019 and 2020, and the hinoki-lined Tengu Sauna is one of the few in Japan to use hot-spring water for its steam, with a river plunge of about 14°C in winter. The private Hoshi-no-yu bath is free if you reserve at check-in, and tattoos are fine. The rebuilt thermal spring is mixed-gender in bathing wear, which Japanese guests dislike.
- Service: Everything is included (station shuttle, a nightly-restocked minibar, a beer as you leave the bath). The reviews split on the hospitality itself, and Ikyu guests put service at 4.46, their lowest mark for the inn, with the recurring complaint that the staff fall short of what the price demands.
- Room: Only four rooms have a private open-air onsen, so book by name: Ukifune (74 m², heritage Meiun-tei wing), Kobai and Tokonatsu (both with an indoor tub too) and Yamazakura, which has the best outdoor bath but no indoor one. The Meiun-tei three are the most secluded but farthest from the baths (stairs, no elevator); Yamazakura is steps away. Corridors and tatami are floor-heated.
- Place: The inn drapes down a hillside in Yugashima, inland Izu, where the Nekkoshi and Hontani rivers meet, and the bath complex hangs right over the confluence; KI-NRT calls it the famed Ochiairo. It is quiet wherever you are in the building, with a reading room and tea lounge off the main building and the heritage architecture kept immaculate. The one blemish anyone mentions is the derelict buildings visible across the river.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h05 (1 transfer)

## Risonare Yatsugatake — Kobuchizawa, Hokuto, Yamanashi (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.3/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/risonare-yatsugatake
Hoshino's Bellini-designed alpine-village resort at Yatsugatake has 172 rooms, a design pool and wine education around a 2,000-bottle cellar, and it is family-friendly and lively, the counterpoint to the quiet inns, at the bottom of its price class at $300–600 a night. The Ikyu crowd (4.32 across 74 reviews) is lukewarm and pool-shy, marking the bathing weakest at 3.69 against food's 4.62, and couples without children should expect a resort run for families.
- Food: The food program is built around wine, with a cellar of about 2,000 bottles, a daily Wine School and winemaker's dinners. At the YY Grill Ikyu guests praise the cooking and the wine that goes with it, and the buffet lets you choose your main. After dinner the Awa Lounge pours wine and grape juice free of charge. Ikyu guests give the food 4.62, the property's best mark.
- Bath: There is no hot spring. Bathing is an all-weather design pool and a spa with heated water, and some rooms have a private open-air bath, the one private soak at a 172-room resort. Families praise the pool as clean, big and child-friendly, and Ikyu reviewers write about the pool far more than the bath; most of them are there with children, so expect children in the water. Ikyu guests give the bath 3.69, the property's lowest mark by far.
- Service: This is a 172-room Hoshino resort, and the service is resort operations at scale for families with children. Ikyu guests repeatedly call the staff lovely, and those booking through Ikyu mention small perks waiting in the room. Ikyu guests give the service 4.46.
- Room: The rooms are spread through the resort's alpine-village complex. Nobody has written about the rooms themselves. Ikyu guests give them 4.35, middling next to the food and service.
- Place: Italian architect Mario Bellini designed the master plan, a walkable alpine village at the foot of Yatsugatake on the Yamanashi-Nagano wine border. It is overwhelmingly a family and children's resort, and the Ikyu reviews come almost entirely from families with small children, so couples travelling without them should expect a lively, child-filled lobby.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h (0 transfers) · Kyoto 3h30 (2 transfers)

## River Retreat Garaku — Sasazu (Jinzu gorge), Toyama (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.6/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/river-retreat-garaku
River Retreat Garaku is Toyama's design showpiece on the Jinzu gorge, with Hiroshi Naito architecture, serious art, in-room onsen-and-sauna suites and a French restaurant, and nobody in the FlyerTalk thread has stayed here. The kitchen holds a Michelin Green Star, and Ikyu guests rate it 4.63 across 89 reviews and describe a strong art-and-dinner stay, though a recurring minority calls the aesthetic self-indulgent, the bathing ordinary and the staff inexperienced. It is a promising design-and-sauna stay, but an unproven one.
- Food: Dinner is French at the in-house Trésonnier, which holds a Michelin Green Star (L'évo and its chef left in 2020, so older food press describes a kitchen that is no longer here). Guests praise the Toyama ingredients, crab, white shrimp, grass-fed beef and vegetables from the hotel garden, with strong wine pairings. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.59, though a minority find the more experimental courses miss.
- Bath: The Annex Premier suites have their own hot-spring bath, and two of them pair it with an in-room sauna, while the guest spa adds a dry sauna and a cold plunge. That is an unusually strong sauna offering for a ryokan, and the in-room bath is also the way around the tattoo ban in the public baths. Ikyu guests put the bathing at 4.7.
- Service: Service is understated and hospitable in the guest accounts, and the staff are described as cheerful. After check-in they run a guided art tour of the building and garden that explains the thinking behind the pieces. Ikyu guests put service at 4.52, their lowest mark for the inn, and the recurring complaint is inexperienced staff, so a stay that goes right on the design and the dinner can still stumble on the floor.
- Room: There are roughly 23 rooms, each individually designed, across a forested riverside estate, and the Annex Premier suites with their own onsen run 115 to 150 square metres. Hiroshi Naito's architecture and a museum-grade art collection set the tone, and the rooms look onto the Jinzu River. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.67, among the strongest points here.
- Place: The estate sits in the forest on the Jinzu gorge outside Toyama, and the lobby's stacked precast-concrete wall in the azekura style was designed by the architect Hiroshi Naito. Art fills the building and garden (a guided tour after check-in explains the pieces), the garden grows vegetables for the kitchen, and rooms look straight onto the river. It is riverside scenery in the foothills near the city, so snow is lighter than at deep-belt inns.
- Transit: Kanazawa 1h05 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 2h55 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 3h15 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h45 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h45 (4 transfers) · Kagoshima 5h15 (3 transfers)

## STAY366 — Kōshū (Katsunuma vineyards), Yamanashi (Chubu)
unscored
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/stay366
A two-rooms-a-night micro-auberge run by the 98WINEs winery above Katsunuma, Japan's first inn with an in-house winery and craft brewery, pairing soba-kaiseki with the maker's own back vintages. Ikyu guests describe it uniformly enthusiastically, praising the Fuji views, personal hosting from the owner, and inventive food, with roughly 40% returning within a year. It is best slotted as a single wine-centric night for the drinking-and-dining concept, which strong crowd sentiment backs up.
- Food: Dinner is a soba-based kaiseki with a different wine paired to every plate, all from the 98WINEs cellar next door and reaching back into older vintages, and the owner serves it himself. The specialty is grilled eel and black truffle wrapped in a soft galette, and Ikyu guests praise both the inventive cooking and the pairing. Before dinner the house craft beer flows freely until 6pm.
- Bath: There is no hot spring here. The private bath looks out over the Katsunuma valley and is filled with heated water. Nobody has written about the bathing itself.
- Service: The owner serves dinner himself and the conversation runs along with it, and on arrival the winemaker and the brewer each talk you through their own tasting. Ikyu guests describe the staff as warm and smiling and count the talk with them among the pleasures of the stay, and after its first year open the inn was reporting that four in ten guests came back.
- Room: The rooms are calm and not showy, with the owner's taste visible in the small choices and the fittings and amenities chosen with care down to the smallest item, and there is no TV or clock, in keeping with the inn's idea of a stay as an extra day. Only two rooms are let each night.
- Place: The inn sits above the Katsunuma vineyards in Koshu with a view of Mount Fuji and the mountain ranges below it that Ikyu guests praise again and again, and the winery and craft brewery are on the property, so the afternoon runs from a tasting at 98WINEs (named one of the world's best wineries in 2023) to beer with the brewer in front of the mountains.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h30 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 3h45 (2 transfers)

## Saryo Souen — Akiu, Miyagi (Tohoku)
unscored · Ikyu 4.6/5 · Traditional ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/saryo-souen
A tranquil, traditional ryokan near Sendai that KI-NRT names on his Tohoku recommendation list and calls a matter of taste against the larger, homier Daikon no Hana, while flagging it as quite a bit pricier. He stayed, but many years ago, and left little beyond that one impression of the atmosphere. Ikyu guests have more to say, putting it at 4.62 overall with the baths at 4.77, and their reviews return to the garden, the detached rooms and the attentive hospitality.
- Food: Nobody in the thread has written about the food here, and KI-NRT's comparison with Daikon no Hana does not touch it. Dinner is kaiseki, and Ikyu guests give the meals their lowest mark at 4.55, a little under their other marks. The few reservations they voice are about dinner, both the make-up of the courses and the pace at which the meal is served.
- Bath: Akiu's own sodium-calcium chloride spring feeds gender-split main baths, each with a rock-built open-air bath onto the garden, and the nine detached cottages have private open-air baths. Whether the flow is free-running is not published. KI-NRT's own comparison says nothing about the baths. Ikyu guests make them the best-liked part of the stay (4.77), praising the bathhouse and the cottage rotenburo.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service. Ikyu guests put it at 4.64, in line with their other marks, and describe attentive staff who keep a discreet distance, close at hand when needed and never hovering, and the warmest reviews call the whole stay close to perfect.
- Room: Nobody in the thread has written about the rooms. On Ikyu the detached rooms are what guests talk about, looking onto the inner garden with their own open-air baths, which reviews repeatedly call spacious. The rooms draw 4.59 from Ikyu guests, a little under their other marks.
- Place 4/5: KI-NRT found it more tranquil and traditional than Daikon no Hana, and that is all he has said, from a stay many years ago, so treat the impression as dated. Ikyu guests fill in the picture with a beautiful inner garden that the detached rooms look onto, polished corridors and deep quiet, and there is no guest lounge.
- Transit: Sendai ~0h35 (1 transfer) · Tokyo ~2h20 (1 transfer)

## Seiryuso — Shimoda (Rendaiji Onsen), Shizuoka (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/seiryuso
Seiryuso is a classic garden sukiya inn at the bottom of Izu with a seafood kitchen and a one-of-a-kind spa (own-source onsen plus Japan's oldest Kelo sauna, a Thermarium and an onsen pool). Ikyu guests rate it 4.66 over 75 reviews, with recurring niggles about weak shower pressure and a dated, stairs-heavy building.
- Food: Seafood leads the kitchen, with kinme-dai (golden-eye snapper), Ise lobster and abalone, and food is the top mark this inn gets on every platform. Guests call the meals delicious, and the new maisonette rooms come with free drinks through dinner. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.67.
- Bath: The onsen is the inn's own source, free-flowing in the indoor and open-air baths and even in the garden pool (swimsuits on). The spa adds Japan's oldest Kelo Finnish sauna, with löyly and open-air rest beds, plus a Roman-style Thermarium. The room baths are rock-lined onsen usable at any hour. Weak shower pressure in the main bath is the recurring complaint.
- Service: Service gets the warmest marks here. The staff are young, and Ikyu reviews repeatedly praise them as kind and good at explaining the ingredients as they serve the courses. Ikyu guests put service at 4.76, their highest mark for the inn.
- Room: The inn is a classic sukiya building set in 6,600 square metres of garden, and the rooms show their age. Guests describe dated, Showa-retro tatami rooms and a building with many level changes and steps. On the plus side, the in-room open-air baths are huge, with a small private garden in front, and the maisonette rooms added in December 2025 are clean and new. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.64.
- Place: Rendaiji Onsen at Shimoda is the far-south tip of Izu, and the inn sits in generous gardens, 6,600 square metres of them, with a calm, old-school atmosphere that flows through the whole place. From the room baths you look onto small private gardens. The one drawback is geography, since Shimoda is a long way down the peninsula and a backtrack to go anywhere else, so it works best as a southern out-and-back.
- Transit: Tokyo 3h15 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 4h30 (1 transfer)

## Sekiyo — Yugawara, Kanagawa (Hakone)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5 · in-room onsen: Y
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sekiyo
A quiet nine-room retreat on the wooded slope of Mt. Wakakusa above Yugawara, a former villa dressed with antiques and local artists' work, with wide views to Mt. Iwato and the Jukkoku Pass. Its own free-flowing spring feeds the public baths and the in-room kakenagashi tubs in seven of the nine rooms, and the kaiseki leans on Sagami Bay seafood, with the Manazuru abalone course as the seasonal centrepiece. Ikyu guests rate it 4.77 across 51 stays, the rooms and the cooking their high marks. Nobody in the thread has stayed yet, though KI-NRT counts it with Yui as Yugawara's two top luxury inns.
- Food: The kaiseki leans on Sagami Bay seafood from Manazuru and local organic vegetables, cooked to bring out the ingredient, and the Manazuru abalone course is the seasonal headline. KI-NRT says it is highly regarded for its food, and Ikyu guests put the meals near 4.82, among their high marks; repeat guests come back for it. Some 2025 and 2026 repeaters found the seasoning heavier.
- Bath: The inn draws its own 76° sodium-chloride spring and runs it free-flowing through two public bath areas, each with an indoor and an open-air bath, which swap at midnight. Seven of the nine rooms have a private kakenagashi bath, but those are all indoors (Shiroyama and Midori have none), so the only open-air bathing is communal. KI-NRT notes that Yui has an open-air onsen in every room. Ikyu guests put the baths near 4.80 and call the onsen quiet.
- Service: Sekiyo is a quiet, understated inn where the hospitality is personal, and Ikyu guests put the service near 4.71, singling out the considerate, unobtrusive attention and the spotless upkeep. KI-NRT has heard of incredible hospitality here, but two 2026 Ikyu reviews describe lapses at dinner service, and a FlyerTalk member's two emails went unanswered for two weeks.
- Room: The nine wooden sukiya rooms sit in a former villa on a wooded slope, spread across a main building and detached annexes, dressed with antiques and local artists' work and open to garden and mountains. Seven have their own indoor onsen bath; Shiroyama and Midori do not, so avoid those two if the in-room bath matters. Ikyu guests give the rooms their highest mark and praise the serene seasonal detailing.
- Place: Sekiyo sits on the wooded slope of Mt. Wakakusa above Yugawara Onsen, a former villa woven into the hillside with a tended garden and wide views to Mt. Iwato and the Jukkoku Pass. Plum and cherry bloom in spring and camellias in winter, and it is quiet up here, a short climb from the coast. Yugawara is a tiny onsen town, but KI-NRT says it has more good ryokans than its size suggests.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h15 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h20 (1 transfer)

## Sengokuhara COCON — Sengokuhara, Hakone, Kanagawa (Hakone)
unscored · Ikyu 4.9/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sengokuhara-cocon
Sengokuhara COCON is a five-suite small-luxury auberge opened in February 2024 in the Sengokuhara highlands of Hakone (800 m, on a 1,000-tsubo garden), where each suite has an in-room Owakudani onsen plus its own dry sauna and cold bath, and dinner is a modern French menu poured with free-flow champagne. A rotating 'stay & art' program dresses the rooms and the gallery. Ikyu guests give it 4.87 across some 140 stays, with service their highest mark at 4.94. Nobody in the thread has stayed here yet.
- Food: Dinner is modern French built on Hakone and Izu produce by chef Yokoyama, poured with free-flow champagne, and the pairings (Meursault and Château Talbot have appeared) recur in the praise. Ikyu guests mark the cooking near 4.86, the softer of the top marks only because every mark here is high, and repeat guests report the cooking holding up visit after visit.
- Bath: Each of the five suites has its own in-room Owakudani onsen plus a private dry sauna (up to 90°C on request), a cold plunge and a terrace for the air bath, and there is a large public bath too. There is no open-air tub in the rooms and no bath has a view, but the in-suite sauna-and-plunge set is what guests praise, and Ikyu guests mark the bathing near 4.85.
- Service: COCON is a five-suite house where the staff-to-guest ratio shows, and Ikyu guests mark hospitality 4.94, the highest of every sub-mark, with anticipatory, unhurried care the recurring theme. Repeat guests dominate the reviews, and they describe preferences remembered from earlier visits and every request met gladly.
- Room: The five rooms are all suites, at 800 m in the Sengokuhara highlands, and each has an in-room onsen, a dry sauna and a cold bath, plus artworks that change under the 'stay & art' program; the room baths are wide and comfortable. Ikyu guests put the rooms among their highest marks, with the space and the design the standout.
- Place: COCON sits on a 1,000-tsubo garden in the Sengokuhara highlands of northern Hakone (800 m), near the Owakudani source and the pampas-grass fields, a quiet upland-resort address opened in February 2024 whose gallery and rotating 'stay & art' installations run through the common spaces. Three goats live on the grounds. Mount Fuji shows from the rooms.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Shiojitei — Toba, Mie
unscored · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/shiojitei
A Toba seaside ryokan known from a single 2018 member stay, which ruby&carlos recalled as quite nice and definitely in the luxury category, with great views, good food that stopped short of spectacular, and strong value at the price she paid. She posted to ask what the thread's two-to-three-times-pricier inns offer over it, and with no second stay in the thread the impression stays a thin one, comfortable and no more than that.
- Food 3.5/5: ruby&carlos, who stayed in 2018, called the food good though not spectacular, and she came to the thread to ask what the far pricier kitchens deliver that this one does not. Nobody else has described a meal here.
- Bath: Her 2018 room had no private onsen, and nobody in the thread has written about the baths themselves.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: The only thing said about the rooms is that hers in 2018 had no private onsen, and nobody in the thread has described the rooms themselves.
- Place 4/5: Great views are the one thing ruby&carlos singled out about this seaside ryokan in Toba, and nobody else in the thread has described the location.
- Transit: Nagoya ~1h40 (0 transfers) · Osaka ~2h10 (1 transfer)

## Shoraiso — Yudanaka Onsen, Yamanouchi, Nagano (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.9/5 · 5 rooms · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: Yes
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/shoraiso
A five-room inn re-opened in 2024 a five-minute drive from the Jigokudani snow-monkey park, with large in-room onsen baths (bigger than Takinami's, by KI-NRT's research) and dinner served in-room or in private rooms. Ikyu guests put it at 4.86 over 90 reviews and mostly rave, though a minority found the kaiseki unmemorable and the main bath a walk to the older sister property. It looks promising, and the crowd largely loves it.
- Food: Dinner is a monthly-changing kaiseki built around the head chef's dashi, and guests split on it more than anything else. Ikyu guests put food at 4.83 and repeatedly single out the delicacy of the dashi, and several rank it among the best they have eaten at any ryokan, though a minority find the meal less memorable than the price suggests. A lounge pours free-flow craft beer, local juice and pudding.
- Bath: Every room has its own onsen bath, and they are large, bigger than Takinami's by KI-NRT's research. The main bath is the famous Momoyama bath at Yorozuya, the older sister inn across the way, with a small sauna attached, though it means a walk across to the older building. Nobody says whether the water runs free from the source. Ikyu guests put the baths at 4.88.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has stayed here. Ikyu guests give service their highest mark (4.92) and describe well-paced, attentive staff, and the head chef comes to the table himself to finish the meat course, a visit guests divide on, some counting it a highlight and others a performance. Spheres_pnw wondered whether the effusive early reviews are unprompted, since the owner answers almost all of them on Google.
- Room: Five rooms since the 2024 re-opening, each with its own onsen bath, and KI-NRT, who has not stayed, rates them highly from his research, with larger in-room onsen than at Yamagata The Takinami and the choice of dinner in the room or in a private dining room. Ikyu guests put rooms at 4.83 and like the Nagano-themed amenities, the Japanese-made fixtures and the cleanliness of a new building. The smallest of the five is Shakunage, upstairs.
- Place: Shoraiso is in Nagano about a five-minute drive from Jigokudani Monkey Park, which KI-NRT counts as a plus if you are into that sort of thing, and outside snow-monkey season he says there is not enough to do nearby to warrant more than one night unless you have a rental car. The inn is the newer annex of Yorozuya, whose retro main building stands just across the way, and Ikyu guests describe a peaceful, new and spotless place.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h35 (1 transfer) · Kanazawa 2h10 (1 transfer)

## Sosuikyo — Yunoyama Onsen, Mie (Kansai)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/sosuikyo
Twelve detached villas scattered through trees at the foot of the Suzuka range, opened in July 2020 as the annex of Aqua Ignis. Each villa is built around a single material (earth, stone, wood, lacquer, washi, glass, iron) with the art chosen by the ceramicist Koichi Uchida, every one has a free-flowing open-air onsen off a 43°C spring on its terrace, and two villas have added a hinoki sauna and cold plunge. Dinner comes from the Aqua Ignis restaurants a shuttle away. The Ikyu crowd gives it 4.67 over 85 reviews, with bathing and service high and the meals softer.
- Food: Sosuikyo has no kitchen of its own, so dinner is chosen from the Aqua Ignis complex a shuttle away: the Michelin-starred kaiseki counter Roan Yumiji (villa guests only), Okuda Masayuki's Italian Al Checciano, HINOMORI, an eel house and a soba shop. Ikyu guests put meals at 4.48, the inn's weakest mark, for a specific reason: the kaiseki and the kappo draw superlatives, while the Italian and the thin breakfasts collect most of the complaints.
- Bath: People come back for the water: an alkaline simple spring at 43°C and 460 litres a minute, unwatered and free-flowing into a private open-air bath at every villa, with the big Kataoka baths at Aqua Ignis a shuttle away. Ikyu guests put bathing at 4.76. Two villas, Kinotoki and Sekiro, now add a hinoki 'kupu' sauna with a hinoki or Komono-stone cold plunge on Suzuka groundwater. In winter the crowd has found the bath temperature running lukewarm.
- Service: Service is the inn's strongest mark, with Ikyu guests putting it at 4.79, and it is of a small, unshowy, adjusting kind. Guests describe their car recognised before they have given a name, luggage carried, shuttles run on demand well before check-in, and again and again a complaint from one stay fixed by the next. A minority found the manner formal and without much warmth.
- Room: Each of the twelve detached villas runs roughly 90 m² and is built around one of eight materials (earth, stone, plaster, wood, lacquer, washi, glass, iron), with a bedroom, a tatami corner, a mini-kitchen and antiques chosen by the ceramicist Koichi Uchida. No two are alike, and regulars work through them stay by stay. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.69, and the recurring gripes are draughtiness in winter and visible wear in the older villas.
- Place: The villas sit on a quiet wooded parcel along a river at the foot of the Suzuka mountains, five minutes' walk from Kintetsu Yunoyama-Onsen and about an hour out of Nagoya, so the valley feels remote even though it is on a commuter line, with Mount Gozaisho above and Ise within a day. The one drawback is that the inn keeps almost no common space of its own, because dining, the large bath and the bakery are all over at Aqua Ignis.
- Transit: Kyoto 2h (2 transfers) · Tokyo 2h55 (2 transfers) · Nagoya 1h05 (1 transfer)

## Takaragawa Osenkaku — Takaragawa Onsen, Gunma (Kanto)
unscored · Onsen ryokan · in-room onsen: No
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/takaragawa-osenkaku
A rustic bath destination in Minakami and no luxury ryokan, which SeamasterLux, the one member who has stayed, says himself ("not luxurious by any means") while calling it a wonderful experience he would repeat, all for the large riverside mixed-gender rotenburo. The river runs through the middle of the property with the open-air baths along its banks, and the baths are why people come, since nobody has praised the rooms, the food or the polish. The soak in an extraordinary place is the memory he took away, and the inn around it is beside the point.
- Food: Nobody in the thread has written about the food here.
- Bath 4.5/5: The large mixed-gender open-air onsen is the reason people come, with the river flowing through the middle of the property. SeamasterLux calls the baths beautiful and the stay a wonderful experience ("What an experience!"), and he came back to the thread looking for anything comparable, without much luck. KI-NRT has never stayed, though he confirms Takaragawa Onsen is well regarded for exactly this kind of communal mixed-gender bath.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
- Room: Nobody has described the rooms. SeamasterLux, the one member who has stayed, calls the property "not luxurious by any means", and that is all the thread says about the accommodation.
- Place 4/5: The river flowing through the middle of the property, with the open-air baths on its banks, is the setting, and SeamasterLux calls it the highlight of the stay. Nothing else about the surroundings has been described in the thread.
- Transit: Tokyo ~2h (1 transfer) · Niigata ~1h30 (1 transfer)

## Tamakiya — Matsunoyama Onsen, Tokamachi, Niigata (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tamakiya
Tamakiya is an eight-room food-and-sake auberge in snowbound Matsunoyama, built on chef Akira Kuriyama's terroir French and the owner-sommelier's sake pairings, with in-room source-fed saline baths, though rooms run small for the price. The restaurant holds a Michelin star from the 2020 Niigata guide. Ikyu guests praise the pairing and the solo-friendly hosting while marking food and rooms softer, and the solo fallback shabu-shabu course divides them. You stay here for the kitchen.
- Food: Dinner is chef Akira Kuriyama's French cooking from Niigata ingredients, and the restaurant holds a Michelin star from the 2020 Niigata guide. The owner pairs sake to each course, and the pairing is what Ikyu guests praise most, for labels they would never have picked themselves. The French course needs two or more diners, so solo guests get pork shabu-shabu, on which opinion splits. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.58.
- Bath: The spring is ancient seawater, salty and counted among Japan's three great medicinal waters, and Ikyu guests praise its quality and go back in several times a stay; they put the bath at 4.92. Six of the eight rooms have a private source-fed semi-open-air bath. There is a sauna, and the communal bath bans tattoos, so book a room with its own bath.
- Service: Ikyu guests put service at 4.92, their highest mark here, and what recurs in the reviews is that solo guests are looked after as attentively as groups and that the inn runs a free lounge with massage chairs, drinks and sweets, remarkable for eight rooms. The owner works the dining room himself, choosing the sake for each course and talking it through at the table, and guests who mention him are as warm about the conversation as about the pour.
- Room: The eight rooms are clean and easy to use, and six have their own semi-open-air bath fed from the source, so book one of those six, because the water is what guests praise most about the place. The rooms themselves run small for the price, and Ikyu guests put them at 4.54, the lowest mark they give the inn.
- Place: Matsunoyama Onsen sits deep in the mountains of Tokamachi in Niigata, one of the snowiest towns in Japan, and the resort itself is a small cluster of inns of the kind the Japanese call a hidden hot spring, buried in snow through the winter.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h30 (2 transfers) · Kanazawa 3h20 (2 transfers)

## The Hiramatsu Karuizawa Miyota — Miyota, near Karuizawa, Nagano (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/the-hiramatsu-karuizawa-miyota
The Hiramatsu Karuizawa Miyota is a French auberge that opened in 2021 at the foot of Mt. Asama near Karuizawa, built around the food pedigree of Hiramatsu's Tokyo restaurant and an in-room onsen bath in every room (the water is brought in from Ueda). It holds two Michelin Keys, one of only 20 hotels in Japan with that many. Nobody in the FlyerTalk thread has stayed, but Ikyu guests are vocal at 4.7 over 137 reviews, praising the rooms, the bathing and the staff, while the kitchen, which the property is built around, draws the sharpest complaints.
- Food: The place is built around its dinner, a grand French and Italian auberge kitchen on Shinshu produce. Head chef Shigeo Yanagihara trained in the Paul Bocuse lineage and buys from roughly 40 local producers, from orchards to game hunters. Ikyu guests are divided over the result, and while some find the cooking well above what an onsen ryokan serves, dinner draws the most complaints here, and food is the lowest of the Ikyu marks at 4.55.
- Bath: Every room has its own semi-open-air hot-spring bath, and the water is real onsen, trucked in daily from Ueda because nothing rises on site, which also makes tattoos a non-issue. Ikyu guests praise the in-room bath and the highland air on the verandah while you soak, and they put the bathing at 4.74.
- Service: The Hiramatsu group runs the hotel as a French auberge, so the hospitality is a restaurant house's kind, and Ikyu guests describe warm, attentive staff from arrival to send-off, with the dining room's course explanations and the sommelier drawing particular praise. Michelin gave the hotel two Keys in October 2025, one of only 20 hotels in Japan at that level. Service is still marked below the rooms and the bath on Ikyu, at 4.62.
- Room: There are 37 rooms and villas, all opened in 2021, in a contemporary style with floor-to-ceiling glass and Mt. Asama filling the windows, and each has its own semi-open-air hot-spring bath. Guests praise the size, the cleanliness, the view and the amenities, and even guests who disliked dinner call the rooms spacious. Ikyu guests put rooms and facilities at 4.79, their highest marks here.
- Place: The hotel stands at the foot of Mt. Asama in Miyota, one town west of Karuizawa, a highland resort where you can see a long way and the air on the verandah is a pleasure. The snow is light and dry on this Pacific side, which makes it a refined wind-down and no deep-snow finale. In the evening there is the TAKIBI bonfire lounge with marshmallow roasting.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h35 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 2h10 (1 transfer)

## The Hiramatsu Kashikojima — Ise-Shima (Ago Bay), Mie (Kansai)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/the-hiramatsu-kashikojima
The Hiramatsu group's original auberge (2016) has eight rooms over Ago Bay with in-room onsen and a serious French kitchen, which on food alone would outcook Yusura, the other Ise inn. It has held one Michelin Key for two straight years, 2024 and 2025. Ikyu guests are enthusiastic and specific, 4.77 over 27 reviews, with the food their highest mark; the only recurring gripe is the silent shuttle driver.
- Food: The kitchen is French, an auberge menu built on Ise lobster, abalone and Matsusaka beef, and it is what Ikyu guests praise most, at 4.89. Dinner and breakfast both draw praise across the reviews, and the sauces are elaborate, which most guests love and which is the one point where taste divides.
- Bath: The water is real onsen from the Okushima-Hamashima source, and every room has its own onsen bath, with a private open-air bath you reserve as well. Ikyu guests find both good, though the bath is the lowest of the marks they give here, at 4.63, and the reserved open-air bath, a walk over from the main building, is where the complaints come in.
- Service: Ikyu guests put service at 4.78 and describe care that starts before arrival, with transfers and special requests arranged in advance, smart service at table and a strong regard for privacy. The recurring complaint is the shuttle driver, who says nothing and does not offer to take the bags.
- Room: The house was purpose-built in 2016, and all eight rooms look over Ago Bay and have their own onsen bath. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.81 and describe them as beautiful and well designed, a comfortable size with the bay in view.
- Place: The inn sits on Ago Bay in Ise-Shima, and the view from the lounge and the rooms is the pearl-raft water of the bay, which Ikyu guests call spectacular. The quiet recurs in review after review, and it is possible to go a whole stay without seeing other guests.
- Transit: Kyoto 2h (1 transfer) · Nagoya 1h35 (0 transfers)

## The Hiramatsu Sengokuhara — Sengokuhara, Hakone
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/the-hiramatsu-sengokuhara
A 20-room Hiramatsu auberge in Sengokuhara where every room has a private Ōwakudani-source onsen bath and dinner is a full Italian course, a Western kitchen that is welcome after a run of kaiseki nights. It holds one Michelin Key, its second straight year with one. Ikyu guests love it overall (4.77 across 98 reviews), with portion size the one complaint that recurs.
- Food: Dinner is a full Italian course, and most Ikyu guests find it superb, with the food at 4.7 across their reviews. The dining room seats families apart from couples. The complaint that recurs in the critical reviews is portion size, with small courses at dinner and a modest breakfast.
- Bath: Every room has its own half-open-air bath, and the water is real onsen, kakenagashi from the Ōwakudani source, so hot that guests add cold water before they can get in. There is also a private bath to reserve, booked at check-in, so arrive early for a good slot. Ikyu guests give the bath 4.78, in line with their other marks here.
- Service: At check-in the dinner and breakfast menus are handed to every guest and gone through ingredient by ingredient, with changes made willingly. Staff keep the right distance, and Ikyu guests give the service 4.79, with the faults in the reviews limited to small things like the fitness room's hours, now 8 to 8.
- Room: Twenty modern auberge rooms, spacious and clean, with a huge two-person tub built into the room itself so it is easy to slip into, Bulgari toiletries, a well-chosen Gabbeh rug and a free minibar, and Ikyu guests give the rooms their highest mark here at 4.82. The quibbles in the reviews are small ones about the bathroom fittings.
- Place: Sengokuhara is the quieter, grassy-highland corner of Hakone, and on clear days Mount Fuji shows from the room. The car park is a wide flat lot at the door.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h10 (1 transfer) · Kyoto 3h (1 transfer) · Osaka 3h25 (2 transfers)

## Tobira Onsen Myojinkan — Tobira Onsen, Matsumoto, Nagano (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.6/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tobira-onsen-myojinkan
A single inn standing alone at 1,050 m in the Tobira Onsen canyon above Matsumoto, known for its standing bath over the canyon, with real onsen water in the rooms and a choice of two kitchens that sidesteps kaiseki fatigue. It has been a Relais & Châteaux member since 2008. The crowd adores it (TripAdvisor #1 in Matsumoto, Ikyu 4.56 across 166 reviews), but the reviews are mixed, with the food and the rooms the softest of the Ikyu marks and the service the best. KI-NRT stayed 20-odd years ago and found it pretty good.
- Food: You choose between two kitchens, organic French at SAI and modern Japanese at TOBIRA, both built on Shinshu farm-to-table produce, and Ikyu guests who write about the food mostly call the local cooking delicious. Food is nonetheless the softest of the Ikyu marks at 4.51, and what complaints there are come from the Japanese dining room.
- Bath: The water is real Tobira Onsen, and there are three baths, the main bath, the lying bath and the famous half-open-air standing bath over the canyon stream, which Ikyu guests single out above the other two. Not all rooms have onsen, as KI-NRT notes. Ikyu guests put the bath at 4.61.
- Service: Service is the best of the Ikyu marks at 4.67, at about the level of an international hotel, with staff who talk with you beyond serving the plates, and a dedicated shuttle from Matsumoto makes the remote spot easy. Myojinkan has been a Relais & Châteaux member since 2008, re-audited by a mystery guest every three years. With 39 rooms and two dining rooms (SAI and TOBIRA) it is a big house, and the weaker Ikyu reviews find the care uneven.
- Room: Around 40 rooms make this a resort-sized inn (KI-NRT calls the 39-room footprint rather large, though it makes availability easier to find), and not every room has onsen; some have a private open-air hot-spring bath. The rooms are among the softer Ikyu marks at 4.54, and guests describe interiors that show their age in places.
- Place: The inn stands alone at 1,050 m in the Tobira Onsen canyon above Matsumoto, a single house in the mountains that Ikyu guests describe as healing and as a place to reset, with the sound of the stream and birdsong around the bath. If you drive, the last 7 km or so of road are narrow with no room to pass, so leave the large car at home. Matsumoto is close enough for a day at the castle, which KI-NRT calls a must.
- Transit: Tokyo 3h25 (0 transfers) · Kanazawa 3h (1 transfer) · Kyoto 4h (1 transfer)

## Tsuruko — Kanazawa, Ishikawa (Hokuriku)
unscored · Ikyu 4.9/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/tsuruko
Tsuruko is the venerable Kanazawa kaiseki house, reopened in November 2025 as a four-suite auberge in the Takaoka-machi teahouse quarter, where each suite has its own in-room open-air onsen and the restaurant's cooking is served to order in the room, and a detached 'Jihaku' annex adds a private kappo counter. Ikyu guests give it 4.87 across 23 stays, with the meals and the bathing their highest marks, and a Michelin one-star Sushi Jin collaboration runs some nights. Nobody in the thread has stayed yet, though KI-NRT names it with Asadaya as the top ryokan option near the center of Kanazawa.
- Food: Dinner is the Kaga kaiseki of the old Tsuruko restaurant, cooked to order and served in your suite, and some nights a Michelin one-star Sushi Jin chef takes the counter. KI-NRT has heard the food is incredible, and while crab is a big part of the menu he doubts it is 95% crab like some Hokuriku houses. Ikyu guests mark the cooking their highest mark, near 4.9, and repeat guests single out the meals and the counter breakfast by the open kitchen.
- Bath: Every suite has its own in-room open-air bath drawn from hot spring, which is rare in Kanazawa (KI-NRT says few if any of the city's properties have onsen, and Asadaya's bath is not hot spring), and the Koju suite adds a private sauna. There is no communal bathhouse. Ikyu guests put the bathing near the top of their marks, level with the cooking.
- Service: Tsuruko is a four-suite house where the owner talks Kanazawa proverbs, local ingredients and sightseeing over breakfast at the counter, and the staff explain each dish and the sake, which Ikyu guests call perfect. They mark hospitality 4.87, and the intimacy and anticipatory care recur across reviews.
- Room: The four suites run over 90 square metres each, with a bedroom, a living room and a dining area set around a counter that resembles the original Tsuruko restaurant, in Kanazawa's Takaoka-machi teahouse quarter, and a detached 'Jihaku' annex has its own kappo counter; everything was renovated in 2025. Ikyu guests praise the space and calm, and the rooms are among their higher marks at 4.83.
- Place: Tsuruko sits in the Takaoka-machi teahouse district of central Kanazawa, an easy walk from Kanazawa Castle, though KI-NRT puts Kenrokuen and the Higashi Chaya geisha quarter at more like a 30-minute brisk walk. It is a machiya-quarter address built around its own kaiseki restaurant, with no hot-spring town around it. Like most Kanazawa ryokans it has no big garden, but Kenrokuen is close and extremely photogenic under January and February snow.
- Transit: Kanazawa 0h (0 transfers) · Tokyo 2h40 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h30 (1 transfer) · Osaka 2h45 (1 transfer) · Fukuoka 3h45 (2 transfers) · Nagasaki 5h45 (4 transfers) · Kagoshima 5h15 (3 transfers)

## Ubuya — Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi (Chubu)
unscored · Rakuten 4.4/5 · Onsen ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ubuya
Kozantei Ubuya has the best Fuji view of any ryokan on Lake Kawaguchi, at $480–770 a night, a real saving over Fufu, and KI-NRT calls the property itself solid but not on the level of Fufu. Rakuten guests are consistently warm, putting it at 4.36 over 717 reviews with the lake-and-Fuji location their highest mark at 4.79 and the buffet dinner their lowest at 4.0. The view sets it apart, and everything else about the stay is solid without being a showstopper.
- Food: KI-NRT has heard that the food isn't amazing, merely very good, though he has not eaten here himself. Rakuten guests put dinner and breakfast at the bottom of their marks (4.0 and 4.07 out of 5), and while several of them call the meals tasty, the buffet dinner is where the crowd is least impressed, and breakfast comes out only a little better than dinner.
- Bath: Special Suite #501 has an open-air onsen bath on its own deck, and friends of KI-NRT who stayed there loved it. Several other rooms also have an open-air bath facing Mt. Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi, and Rakuten guests give the bath 4.54 out of 5, several of them singling out those in-room baths with the mountain in front of them.
- Service: Nobody in the thread has written about the service here. Rakuten guests consistently describe courteous, considerate staff, and the crowd puts service at 4.43 out of 5.
- Room: Several rooms have their own open-air bath looking over the lake to Mt. Fuji, and KI-NRT's advice is to stretch for one of the Tokubetsu-shitsu (Special) rooms if you can, and still save a pretty penny over Fufu. He has not stayed himself and puts the property below Fufu and the top Hakone ryokans in overall quality. Rakuten guests put the rooms at 4.57 and single out the rooms with a lake-view open-air bath.
- Place: Ubuya sits right on Lake Kawaguchi with an unobstructed, picture-perfect view of Mt. Fuji across the water, the best Fuji view of any ryokan in Kawaguchiko, and KI-NRT confirms that the picture on the website really is how the mountain looks on a clear day. Rakuten guests put the location at 4.79, their highest mark, with repeated praise for the lake-view welcome lounge.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h (0 transfers) · Kyoto 4h15 (1 transfer)

## Ujo Soan — Yuhigaura Onsen, Kyotango, Kyoto (Kansai)
unscored · Ikyu 4.8/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/ujo-soan
Ujo Soan is a six-room hideaway at Yuhigaura on Kyoto's Tango coast, with detached rooms that each have a private open-air onsen bath, winter snow-crab on the table and the sunset beach below. Ikyu guests rate it 4.79 across a modest 36 reviews and call the hospitality worth the premium, though softer notes flag a possible chef change and bath water that is trucked in and circulated instead of piped straight from the source. Nobody in the thread has stayed, so you book on the concept and the crowd's warmth.
- Food: Dinner is built around the Tango coast's winter snow-crab and is served in private dining rooms, which KI-NRT notes as an advantage over Sumihei's semi-private ones. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.75, though the more critical reviews find the meals below the price and mention a chef change.
- Bath: Every room has its own open-air onsen bath, the larger Soke house adds a mist sauna, and there are free-use private baths plus a large communal bath, which KI-NRT notes Sumihei lacks. The water is not piped from the spring. It is trucked in, circulated, heated and sterilized, as at Sumihei. Ikyu guests put the bath at 4.78, in line with their other marks.
- Service: Service is what Ikyu guests praise most, at 4.83, and the warmest reviews single out the room attendants, who notice what a particular guest needs and act on it without being asked, and several reviewers are regulars who come back for exactly that. The critical reviews, a minority, fault lapses in basic follow-through between staff and the manner of newer hires, below what the price promises.
- Room: The six rooms are five detached villa-style units plus the larger Soke house, each with its own open-air onsen bath, and check-in is 2 PM with check-out at 11 AM, an hour longer at each end than Sumihei, as KI-NRT notes. Guests under 13 are not accepted. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.72, the softest of their marks.
- Place: Ujo Soan stands at Yuhigaura Onsen on the Sea of Japan coast of Kyoto's Tango peninsula, the same peninsula as Taiza Onsen Sumihei, and the view is the long sunset beach the resort is known for. The detached rooms are wrapped in bamboo and greenery, and the lounge in the annex building looks out over the coast. January brings heavy snow.
- Transit: Kyoto 2h30 (0 transfers) · Tokyo 5h (1 transfer)

## Wasure no Sato Gajoen — Kirishima, Kagoshima (Kyushu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5 · Traditional ryokan
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/wasure-no-sato-gajoen
Gajoen is the Myoken Onsen ryokan credited with first putting hot-spring flow-through private open-air baths into guest rooms, opening in 1970 in a Kagoshima gorge where hot springs steam from the rocks. The thread knows it almost entirely by reputation, since the one member who stayed, about nine years ago, found it amazing but cautions it may have changed since. Ikyu guests give it 4.67 across 31 reviews, praising the local cooking and the warm staff, though the weakest reviews flag steep stairs.
- Food: The cooking is local. Repeat visitors on Ikyu praise dishes built on local vegetables and local seasoning, beautiful to look at and gentle on the body, and small onigiri are handed over for the train home. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.71, though the two weakest reviews both fault the breakfast.
- Bath: Gajoen is credited as the first ryokan to put hot-spring flow-through open-air baths into its guest rooms, and it opened in 1970 in Myoken Onsen, where hot springs gush from the riverside rock. The room baths are source-fed, and there are private baths too, including the Takeyu and a cool carbonated 'ramune' bath, though the weakest Ikyu reviews flag steep, narrow stairs on the way to them. Ikyu guests put the baths at 4.68.
- Service: Warm staff are what repeat visitors single out, and the warmest reviews come from guests on their second or third stay who say they want to come back every year; departing guests get a small bouquet to take home. Ikyu guests give service their highest mark, 4.84, well ahead of the rooms and facilities. The two weakest reviews both warn that the many steps and steep, narrow stairs make it hard going for anyone with weak knees.
- Room: The guest buildings have thatched roofs and earthen walls that merge with the greenery, and the Kaze room has a fully open, sudare-screened terrace that fills the room with the green outside. Rooms are split between the older-style buildings and the newer Sora building, and they have an open-air bath and a daybed. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.55, their lowest mark.
- Place: The ryokan sits on the Amori River in Myoken Onsen, Kagoshima, in a gorge where hot springs gush from hollow orange rock, and KI-NRT has seen it from the footbath at Myoken Ishiharaso directly across the river; he suggests pairing the two, and says Sakurajima is worth visiting on a clear day. Repeat visitors on Ikyu give the sound of the river and the surrounding nature as reasons they keep coming back.
- Transit: Fukuoka 2h45 (1 transfer) · Kagoshima 0h55 (0 transfers) · Nagasaki 4h30 (3 transfers)

## Yagyu no Sho — Shuzenji, Izu, Shizuoka (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.7/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/yagyu-no-sho
A 15-room sukiya-zukuri classic in Shuzenji, a few lanes from Asaba, grown from a 1959 Kyoto-kaiseki ryotei. Every room has its own free-flowing onsen, open-air in six of them, which is the strongest in-room bathing in Shuzenji. Thread glimpses are warm (one member, back for a second stay, still calls it an excellent pick), and Ikyu guests give it 4.72 over 34 reviews but split sharply: the regulars rank it with the best in Japan, while others found the service rigid for the price.
- Food: Dinner is a Kyoto-style kaiseki served in your room (the house grew out of a 1959 Kyoto ryotei), and KI-NRT calls the cuisine sublime; at Ufufu down the road, by contrast, meals are counter dining. Head chef Kanda's menu follows the seasons, and a salon serves brandy and grappa after dinner. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.85, repeat guests say the kaiseki is what brings them back, and praise for the kitchen runs through otherwise divided reviews.
- Bath: Every one of the 15 rooms has its own free-flowing onsen, and in four rooms and the two detached villas the bath is open-air; KI-NRT names in-room onsen in every room as one of the things it shares with Ufufu down the road. Ikyu guests put the bath at 4.91, the highest mark they give the inn.
- Service: EK017, back for a second stay in 2025, had an attendant who was very warm, friendly and helpful and took care of everything, and the Ikyu regulars call the service first-class. Ikyu guests put service at 4.68, but two 2025 reviews go the other way and find it rigid and just ordinary for a top-class price.
- Room: The 15 rooms are sukiya-style, and KI-NRT calls it a very traditional ryokan, for better or for worse. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.53, one of their lower marks for the inn, though the regulars admire the traditional craftsmanship of the rooms. EK017's room Meigetsu had a dining table and real chairs instead of floor cushions.
- Place: Yagyu no Sho stands in the Shuzenji onsen village a few lanes from Asaba, wrapped in the bamboo garden it is named for. It is quiet, with little contact with other guests. EK017 enjoyed the gift shop, full of local paper crafts (the area is well known for its paper), and the inn features in an English coffee-table book of renowned ryokans that KI-NRT praises.
- Transit: Tokyo 1h45 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 2h40 (0 transfers)

## Zagyosoh (ABBA Resorts Izu) — Izukōgen, Itō, Shizuoka (Chubu)
unscored · Ikyu 4.5/5
https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/zagyosoh-abba-resorts-izu
A 50-year Ryokan Collection resort in Izukōgen forest whose three kitchens (kaiseki, a French restaurant and a teppanyaki counter) let you vary dinner without leaving the grounds, which directly answers kaiseki fatigue. Ikyu guests give it 4.55 overall and praise the villas, the six bath types and the French cooking, but service is the recurring weak point, with disorganized arrivals and check-ins. Book a villa over a main-building room, and expect some friction.
- Food: There are three kitchens, kaiseki, a French restaurant and a teppanyaki counter, so you can eat differently each night without leaving the grounds. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.7 and praise the French menu most, with the washoku close behind. Room drinks are all-inclusive and the Häagen-Dazs is free.
- Bath: The water comes from the Ukiyama spring source and there are six kinds of bath, from in-room onsen in the villas (the dog-friendly villa has a spacious open-air bath beside a reflecting pool) to two garden open-air baths and rental baths. The inn lists two large baths, each with a sauna, but the main bath is gone for now, and the garden rotenburo Aoi has no roof.
- Service: Service is the weak point in the Ikyu reviews, at 4.33 against 4.77 for the rooms. The recurring complaints are disorganized arrivals and check-ins, staff who wait to be asked, and a level of care that the unhappy guests measure against the bill and find wanting.
- Room: The modern villas are the rooms to book, and Ikyu guests give them the highest marks of anything here. The dog-friendly villa has its own spacious open-air bath and a reflecting pool lit at night. The main-building rooms are Shōwa-era and dated beside the villas. The top maisonette pool villa has a pool that takes hours to heat.
- Place: The inn sits on 6,000 tsubo of national-park forest at Izukōgen, a large wooded resort compound. On a clear morning a short walk from the grounds gives views out to Izu Ōshima and Toshima.
- Transit: Tokyo 2h20 (0 transfers) · Kyoto 3h45 (1 transfer)