Kiimiso

A 24-room inn on a rise above Kimitoge (紀見峠), the pass where Osaka gives way to Wakayama, four uphill minutes from the station. The bath is a single large indoor one per sex on the ground floor: alkaline water at pH 9.1, clear, slippery enough that you notice, with nothing added to it and the wooded slopes filling the window. It started life as a public lodge (kokumin-shukusha, 国民宿舎) and now trades on a Sanada connection, since the warlords Masayuki and Yukimura sat out their exile at nearby Kudoyama (九度山), and the shop is stocked accordingly. The Diamond Trail runs close by, so the changing room keeps lockers big enough for a hiking pack.