Roppokan

Roppokan sits on the Chikugo River at Harazuru Onsen, with rooms and baths looking out over the water and the Mino mountains beyond. The fourth floor has two open-air baths, one with a garden view and one lined in granite, and the first floor has an indoor bamboo-charcoal bath and a cypress bath; the water is plain, sulfur-tinted and gentle on the skin. Men's and women's sides swap daily so guests can try every bath over a stay, and the top-floor rooms have their own semi-open-air bath. Guests describe it as a long-running inn on the river, with flowers set out through the building and a dining room serving kaiseki-style meals.