Hotel nihon no ashitaba

All of the bathing here is kashikiri, meaning each bath is booked for one group at a time rather than shared with other guests. The grounds hold a large open-air bath looking toward Mt. Yufu, a smaller pool tucked into a bamboo grove, and around six more themed private baths scattered through the property, so there is a different one to try each time. The water itself is clear and gentle on the skin, with barely any mineral smell to it. Many of the thirteen detached guest cottages also have their own indoor or half-open-air tub. The inn is built almost entirely from relocated old buildings. The dining hall is a roughly 150-year-old house moved here from Niigata, one cottage is a thatched zelkova farmhouse about 200 years old, and another began as a chestnut-wood storehouse now listed as a cultural property. Set back from central Yufuin on its own grounds, it feels like a small hamlet apart from town, with morning mist often gathering below Mt. Yufu.