Motoyu Azumaya

Motoyu Azumaya is a small ryokan on the Naka River in Bato Onsen, with gender-separated indoor and open-air baths. The men's side pairs a hinoki-wood indoor bath with a rock-built rotenburo facing the river; the women's side has a larger indoor bath and two hinoki tubs outside, open to sunset and starlight. The alkaline spring water feels smooth and slightly silky on the skin, enough that locals have long called it bijin-no-yu (美人の湯), the "beauty bath". It's drawn from a source that has fed the inn from the riverbed for about 150 years. Every room faces the river, with the Nasu and Nikko mountain ranges visible in the distance.