Furuyu Onsen Ryokan Yamatoya

Ryokan Yamatoya is a long-established inn founded in 1902 (Meiji 35) in Furuyu Onsen, a mountain hot spring village along the upper Kase River in Fuji-machi, Saga City, Saga Prefecture. Legend holds that Furuyu Onsen was discovered some 2,200 years ago by Xu Fu, the envoy sent by China's First Emperor in search of an elixir of immortality. Designated a National Health Resort Hot Spring, the village drew painters and poets such as Aoki Shigeru and Saito Mokichi, who stayed here for extended cures. Yamatoya is now run by the fourth generation of the family and was renovated in 2009. With just eleven rooms (ten Japanese-style rooms plus one detached suite), it keeps the intimate feel of a small mountain ryokan.

The water is an alkaline simple spring (hypotonic, alkaline). Furuyu's water registers pH 9.5, among the highest alkalinity in Japan, and although colorless, odorless and tasteless it has a distinctly silky, slippery touch that earned it the nickname beauty water. The source emerges at around 38 degrees Celsius, a lukewarm nuruyu that allows unusually long soaks. The gender-separated indoor baths are kept near 39 degrees and use a circulating system with heating in winter, while the private six-shaku sake barrel bath is served as free-flowing onsen straight from the source. The water is said to help chronic rheumatism, neuralgia, joint disorders and general fatigue.

Besides the indoor baths for men and women, the inn offers a private bath built from a six-shaku (about 180 cm) sake barrel once used by a brewery in Karatsu, Saga (1,000 yen per 50 minutes), and a private semi-open-air bath called Soyomeki no Yu that opened in November 2024 (2,000 yen per 50 minutes, last reception 21:00). The special room Saga no Ma has its own four-shaku sake barrel bath fed with free-flowing spring water around the clock, plus a terrace open-air tub filled with plain hot water. On the first, second and third Thursdays and Fridays of each month, roses float in the barrel bath. Day-use bathing is listed at 700 yen from 11:00 to 16:00 by the Furuyu-Kumanokawa Onsen tourism association, though the inn's own site no longer advertises it, so calling ahead is advised. Parking is free for fifteen cars, and overnight stays with two meals start at 10,950 yen on weekdays.