Satoyama Jujo

Satoyama Jujo (里山十帖) is a 13-room ryokan built inside a renovated 150-year-old kominka (traditional farmhouse) in the mountains of Minamiuonuma, Niigata. Most rooms come with their own private outdoor hot spring bath on the terrace. The shared bath area, called Ama-no-gawa (天の川, Milky Way), has both an indoor hinoki-wood bath and an open-air stone bath that faces the peaks of Makihata-san (巻機山) and the surrounding Joshinetsu border range. The spring water is notably smooth and silky on the skin, and you can often see yu-no-hana (湯の花, mineral flakes) floating in the bath. Bathing is for overnight guests only. The design throughout draws on mid-century Scandinavian furniture and natural Japanese materials, and the kaiseki restaurant Sanaburi (早苗饗) focuses on local and seasonal ingredients from the Uonuma region.