Hitoyoshi Ryokan

Hitoyoshi Ryokan is a wooden inn on the Kuma River, built in 1934 and now a nationally registered tangible cultural property. There are two indoor baths, uchiburo (内風呂): one has an 80cm-deep tub with a wooden bench to sit on, the other a wider room lined with rock, and the men's and women's sides swap through the day. An outdoor bath, rotenburo (露天風呂), and two private family baths, kazokuburo (家族風呂), are kept for overnight guests only. The spring runs straight from the source rather than being recirculated, and the water has a soft, faintly slippery feel that locals call a "beauty-skin" spring; it's mild enough to drink too, said to be easy on the stomach. Day-use bathing is limited to the two indoor baths, and there's a free foot bath at the entrance. The building keeps its prewar character: original woodwork, retro fittings, a small courtyard garden with a shrine to the spring tucked in one corner, and a quiet lounge next to the baths done up in 1930s style. The Kuma River flooded and badly damaged the ryokan in 2020, but it was restored and reopened, still run as the same family inn built around the same spring.