Shirabu Onsen Yutaki Lodging Nishiya

There's no rotenburo here, just one indoor bath built almost entirely of hiba wood around a black granite tub cut from the mountain about 300 years ago, in the mid-Edo period, and still in its original shape. There's no shower or tap either: you scoop water straight from the tub with a wooden bucket, the traditional way. The spring itself has a faint sulfur smell and comes rushing down over the stone in a small hot-water waterfall, yutaki (湯滝), which gives the inn its name and is the whole point of a soak here. Overnight guests can also use a small lockable family bath upstairs when it's free. Nishiya is a thatched-roof ryokan in Shirabu Onsen and a member of the Association for the Protection of Japan's Hidden Hot Springs (Nihon Hitou wo Mamoru Kai, 日本秘湯を守る会), with a history said to reach back to the Kamakura period.