Kappo no Yado Imai

Imai sits in Tsukioka Onsen, an area known for bijin no yu (美人の湯), sulfur water said to leave skin especially smooth and guard against dryness. The indoor bath has floor-to-ceiling windows that run down to the tub and a warm drift of sulfur scent in the air, and a rock-built outdoor bath opens straight off it so you can feel the season outside. There's also a private outdoor bath with its own separate entrance, useful if you'd rather soak alone. Guests often say the water runs mild rather than scalding, so it's easy to sit in for a long while and still come out thoroughly warmed. The ryokan traces back to 1915, when founder Imai Keisaku built Tsukioka-kan (月岡館), the area's first inn with an onsen bath inside the building. A small Inari shrine on the grounds, first raised on a nearby hill to pray for the spring's fortunes, was later moved to its current spot so more visitors could reach it, and it still gets a yearly ofuda (お札) sent from Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) in Kyoto. Today it's a small, kaiseki-focused ryokan set around a Japanese garden that shifts with the seasons.