Shiobara Moto Yu Onsen Ebisuya

A well-worn ryokan at the Shiobara Motoyui spring source, with mixed baths fed by two separate springs: the ancient "Kajiwara no Yu" (梶原の湯), said to have 1200 years of history and prized for stomach ailments, and the intermittent geyser "Kobo no Yu" (弘法の湯), which pulses in unpredictably at higher temperature. The water is a sulfur-sodium bicarbonate chloride spring and turns the towels black. The building shows its age, but the gas heating and the kotatsu in winter keep things cozy, the kind of place onsen enthusiasts seek out specifically.