Minshuku Yamatoya

A family-run minshuku at Totsukawa Onsen, on the shore of the Futatsuno dam lake deep in the Nara mountains. The bath is the reason to stop: a newer indoor bathhouse, separate for men and women, with tubs built entirely from hinoki cypress and the reservoir in view through the window. The water is a sodium bicarbonate spring, 100 percent undiluted and straight from the source, with enough salt in it that the warmth stays with you well after you get out. The spring here is said to have been found by charcoal burners back in the Genroku years. The Kohechi (小辺路) route of the Kumano Kodo passes close by, so a good number of guests turn up on foot with a pack.