Shinhotaka Onsen Yarimikan

Yarimikan is a single old-farmhouse-style building on the Kamata River in Shin-hotaka Onsen, with Yarigatake and the North Alps behind it. The baths are spread along the riverbank rather than gathered in one wing: a mixed-bathing open-air bath, Yarimi no Yu (槍見の湯), looks straight at Yarigatake and is named for that view, with bathing garments provided during mixed hours and a women-only slot from 7 to 9 in the morning; an older mixed bath, Manten no Yu (まんてんの湯), is the oldest tub on the property; the indoor bath sits behind wide windows with the same mountain view on a clear day; and four more open-air baths, one of them named for the forest around it, are free to use for a private soak. Two detached cottage rooms, built in the tsuchigura (土蔵造り) storehouse style, add their own rock-built outdoor baths, though children of elementary-school age or younger can't use them. The spring itself is clear and mild, fed by the inn's own source plus a shared one, and it's kept flowing fresh rather than recirculated. The inn doesn't try to be polished, and its own site says as much: the outdoor baths are rustic rather than modern, and that gap from city comfort is the point. It's a member of Nihon Hitou o Mamoru Kai (日本秘湯を守る会), the association for Japan's secluded hot-spring inns, plus two similar spring-preservation groups. The kitchen is certified for Hida beef and uses local Koshihikari rice, and guests keep mentioning the morning mochi-pounding session.