Ryokan Kunisaki

Ryokan Kunisaki (旅館 國崎, Ryokan Kunisaki) sits in Obama Onsen on the Unzen coast, a member of Nihon Hito-yu wo Mamoru Kai (日本秘湯を守る会, Japan's Hidden Hot Springs preservation group). The water is faintly salty and runs kakenagashi (かけ流し, free-flowing without recirculation), and guests describe it as smooth and silky on the skin. Three private baths, an open-air rotenburo, a hinoki wood bath, and a stone bath, are free for overnight guests on a first-come basis, alongside the shared indoor baths. Some rooms come with their own in-room onsen, and a separate detached annex has its own indoor and outdoor baths. The inn has an old, unhurried character; the corridors creak, there is a small koi pond in the courtyard, and meals draw on the catch from nearby Tachibana Bay.