Shuzenji Onsen Arai Ryokan

Arai Ryokan stands in the heart of Shuzenji hot spring town along the Shuzenji River in Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and has welcomed guests since its founding in 1872 (Meiji 5). Close to Shuzenji Temple and the riverside Tokko-no-Yu spring, the inn is celebrated as a cultural-property lodging: 15 of its wooden buildings were registered as National Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 1998. The novelist Ryunosuke Akutagawa stayed here, and playwright Kido Okamoto wrote his masterpiece Shuzenji Monogatari within its rooms, while painters such as Yasuda Yukihiko gathered at the inn.

The water is an alkaline simple spring with a pH of 8.5, colorless and gentle on the skin. Importantly, the official bath guide states that all baths use a circulation-and-filtration system; genuine free-flowing source water is limited to certain tubs, and because the source is very hot, the water is diluted seasonally. This is not a 100 percent free-flowing-source inn.

Its signature bath is the all-cypress indoor Tenpyo Daiyokudo, designed by the painter Yasuda Yukihiko and completed in 1934 (Showa 9). The inn also offers an open-air bath and private baths. Day-trip bathing costs 2,500 yen (plus tax) for adults from 11:30 to 14:00, and overnight stays are available. The nearest station is Shuzenji on the Izuhakone Railway.