Okuhida Onsen Matsunoi

Matsunoi's main bath, Hina-no-yu (鄙の湯), splits into a large bath for men and one for women, each pairing an indoor bath with big windows and an open-air rotenburo that looks onto the garden and the hillside behind. The spring is a simple (tanjun) water, colorless with a faint sulfur scent, and it stays flowing straight from the source rather than heated to a fixed temperature, so the bath runs a little warmer or cooler depending on the day. Two private baths are also available: Nagomi (なごみ), built almost entirely in wood with hinoki accents and a round wooden tub outside, and Yuragi (ゆらぎ), a brick-walled bath with a Taisho-era feel and a ceramic tub that looks different by day and by night. The ryokan itself is a renovated farmhouse said to be over 300 years old, with heavy old timber beams and a lobby that plays Showa-era records. It sits in Shin-Hirayu onsen, one of the hot spring areas that make up Okuhida Onsengo in the Gifu mountains.