Yamanaka Onsen Kayotei

Set in Higashimachi in Yamanaka Onsen, a hot-spring town strung along the Daishoji River gorge in Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Kayotei places just ten guest rooms within roughly 33,000 square meters of natural woodland. Its predecessor was a 54-room hotel that could sleep 200 guests, but owner Masanori Kamiiguchi closed it after the 1973 oil shock and spent five years reinventing it, reopening in 1978 as a ten-room inn. The house has never advertised, yet repeat guests account for about 70 percent of its bookings, and an American guidebook once named it among Japan's finest ryokan. Standing on high ground away from the main tourist route through the hot-spring town, the inn is filled with nothing but the sound of the stream and the presence of the forest.

The water comes from Yamanaka Onsen's centrally managed blend of sources and is a calcium-sodium sulfate spring. The source emerges at roughly 48 to 50 degrees Celsius with a pH of about 8.5, making it mildly alkaline, and it is clear, odorless and notably soft on the skin. It is said to help cuts, poor peripheral circulation, sensitivity to cold and dry skin, as well as chronic muscle and joint pain and general fatigue. The indoor and open-air baths attached to guest rooms run on free-flowing spring water around the clock, while the gender-separated main baths combine free flow with circulation, without added water, using disinfection and heating only in winter.

Facilities include gender-separated main baths with indoor and open-air tubs, a private bath available free of charge by reservation, and guest rooms fitted with either an open-air bath or a hot-spring indoor bath. Capacity is 25 guests, check-in is at 13:00 and check-out at 12:00, and rates start at 62,700 yen per person with two meals, plus a 150 yen bathing tax. Parking is free and valet service is included. Day-trip bathing is not offered, so the water is reserved for overnight guests.