Doai Onsen Ryokan

Doai Onsen Ryokan is a single isolated inn at the far end of Tsukechi Gorge in Kashimo, Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture. It sits deep inside Ura-Kiso Prefectural Natural Park, with no other households anywhere nearby. The spring is said to have been found in the Meiji era, and from 1937 to 1959 the Tsukechi Forest Railway ran a Doai station close by, tying the site to the region's forestry history. The wooden building dates from 1924 and still has no electricity: once the sun goes down, oil lamps are the only light. There is no television, no refrigerator, and no mobile phone reception.

The water is a sodium chloride-bicarbonate cold mineral spring (hypotonic, weakly alkaline). The source measures 10.6°C with a pH of 8.1. Because it emerges well below bathing temperature, the water is heated over a wood fire. The officially listed indications are cuts, peripheral circulatory disorders, sensitivity to cold, depressive states, and dry skin.

There are two bathhouses, one for men and one for women, each with two tubs. The tubs are built of fragrant koyamaki cypress and heated from below in the goemon-buro style, with one tub kept lukewarm and the other hotter. Bathing hours are 7:00 to 20:30. Day-trip bathing requires a reservation and costs 500 yen for adults and 300 yen for children. The inn has seven rooms and sleeps 16, with rates from 16,650 yen per person including two meals. The regular season runs from 1 April to 30 November; from 1 December to 31 March the forest road is closed and the inn is shut for winter.