Shintakayu Onsen Okushirabu Azumaya Ryokan

Azumaya Ryokan is a single, isolated inn standing at 1,126 meters on the flank of Mount Nishi-Azuma in the Azuma mountains, in the southern part of Yonezawa City, Yamagata Prefecture. Set deep beyond Shirabu Onsen near the Tengendai highland in the headwaters of the Mogami River, it is a genuine mountain hideaway. Its source is said to have been discovered by Abe Mataemon during the Bunsei era, and the inn is recorded as having opened in 1902 (Meiji 35). It is a member of both the Japan Secret Hot Springs Preservation Society and the Japan Source Spring Inns Preservation Society, and is known as one of Yamagata's finest hidden hot springs.

The water is a sulfur-bearing calcium sulfate spring (formerly named a gypsum hydrogen-sulfide spring), neutral at pH 7.0, with a source temperature of 55.6 degrees Celsius. About 170 liters per minute well up naturally from the hillside behind the inn and are led through wooden troughs to each bath, so that every tub is 100 percent free-flowing spring water with no reheating, no added water, no recirculation, and no chlorination. The water runs colorless to faintly cloudy white and carries a light scent of sulfur.

Beyond the gender-separated indoor baths built entirely of hinoki cypress, the inn is famous for its five scenic open-air baths, including a view bath, root baths, a waterfall-view bath overlooking the Mogami headwaters, and the private Taiju-buro. From the open-air baths one looks out to Mount Kabuto (1,199 meters). The three-story wooden building holds thirteen rooms, and overnight stays with two meals start at 17,500 yen per person. In winter the open-air baths become snow-viewing baths ringed by two to three meters of snow.