Yamabiko Ryokan

411. Yamabiko Ryokan, Kurokawa Onsen Visited for higaeri, located west of the central area. There are two entrances — one from the outer road and one from the village side across the river. Higaeri is usually available from 8:30 to 21:00, with occasional weekday closures. Included in the Kurokawa tegata. For higaeri, they let you into one outdoor bath (large or small) — they rotate daily between men and women, and the daily Kurokawa higaeri map shows which bath is available for which gender. The ryokan has its own branded towels. For overnight guests, there are 6 additional private baths and 1 indoor public bath. First available bath (rotating by gender). A genuinely large stone rotenburo. View of trees on one side, trees through a fence on the other. Clear, cloudy white-green water, temperature ranging from 40 to 43 (hotter under the roof). There's also a shallow zone at the far end. Second available bath (rotating by gender). A smaller bath, partly stone. View of trees on one side, fence on the other. Clear, slightly cloudy bluish water. Temperature from 40.5 to 41.5 depending on location. A great spot for higaeri when visiting the large rotenburo, and an interesting place to stay overnight to get the full set (staying at this ryokan alone gives you access to potentially 9 baths).

Stayed overnight. On the menu: two separate rotenburo (small and large, switching at midnight), men's and women's indoor baths, and 6 private baths. As someone mentioned here before, the view from the rotenburo isn't great - mostly trees, average by Kurokawa standards. No showers either. For higaeri you can skip. But if staying overnight, the lighting is nice, and combined with the steam from the water it makes the scene much more pleasant. Among the private baths, the interesting ones are a deep rotenburo (150 cm) and a bath with a river view from the window. Water in the private baths is cooler than in the shared ones, but the color and smell are the same everywhere. As a ryokan it's good - the food is delicious and served in private rooms. The room had a river view and was spacious. There's a cool bridge over the river. In short, I recommend it as an accommodation option; for higaeri it's not essential.