Yamashiroya

Yamashiroya is a small, old-fashioned inn in Maseguchi Onsen, a quiet hot-spring hamlet in the mountains above Itoigawa, Niigata. The bath draws on genuine hot-spring water that feels warm at first and turns curiously cool against the skin the longer you soak. Rooms keep an older style, with fusuma-partitioned Japanese rooms and traditional futon bedding, giving the whole place a nostalgic, rural feel, like staying at a relative's house in the countryside. Children are welcome. Anglerfish hot pot is the winter specialty, and from December through April a wild boar hot pot for a group can be ordered specially.