Sansuikan

Sansuikan, Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture (pt. 2) 1st onsen. Spacious indoor section with a huge boulder around which the ryokan is built, with water flowing down it. From the same room there's an exit to the rotenburo. In the rotenburo there's a river behind a small fence — you can't see it from the bath itself, but you can easily walk up to the fence and see everything. Judging by photos from the website, there used to be just transparent railings, but unfortunately they've now covered them up. The view is genuinely nice: forest, mountain, river. Wouldn't put it in my personal top 3, but still worthy. 2nd onsen. Indoor section with massage jets. Access to the rotenburo is separate from the 3rd floor — there's no shower in this rotenburo, just a changing room, so you're supposed to go to the indoor bath first, wash up, then go via the 3rd floor to the rotenburo, which is quite inconvenient considering this rotenburo is just behind a partition from the first one. Same mini-fence from the river here. Both rotenburo have momiji trees visible, so in autumn the view is even more beautiful. Rooms, as I mentioned, have a view of the river and forest. For food, if you book through the website, there are three main options: classic kaiseki (we got that, nothing special), hot pot with game (pheasant or boar), or sukiyaki. Staff was pleasant, all locals, they tried speaking English but sighed with relief when I said nihongo wa ii desu. I gave them gingerbread from Germany and a matryoshka from Russia — they were very happy, especially about the latter. They also host finals of one of the shogi championships here, with a whole photo gallery on the first floor. Overall a good place, the only downsides being chlorine and not the most interesting kaiseki. A definite plus for me as a tourist is that it's right on the way from Kyoto to Osaka, and since this time we were hitting more or less classic spots, it was very convenient to get to.

Sansuikan, Takatsuki, Osaka prefecture (pt. 1) Stayed overnight. Found this ryokan several years ago in a Japanese-language list of "ryokan with great views," and have wanted to visit ever since. Higaeri is also available, including with lunch option. Towels provided in all areas. Located quite far from Takatsuki, but there's a shuttle from the station, or you can take public transport + 20 minutes on foot, so the location is convenient. The location is actually one of the main features - nestled in a forested gorge on the bank of a river, which you can see from both the rooms and the rotenburo. Two onsen with M/F rotation, each with an indoor bath and rotenburo. Indoor areas have radon water. Indoor baths around 39 degrees, outdoor around 42 I think, but I didn't photograph the right sign. All areas had noticeable chlorine in the water - I was there with my mom and she was really disappointed by that, though everything else about the ryokan was excellent (her first ryokan and first time in Japan). There's also a paid kashikiri for 5500 per hour, which I didn't visit.