Hotel Kamogawaso

Hotel Kamogawaso is a Showa-era ryokan in Takehara, Hiroshima, on Yusaka Onsen. Its own well feeds a large indoor bath with a cauldron-style goemon-buro tub and a dry sauna, plus a Shigaraki-ware ceramic tub outside; the indoor and outdoor baths swap between the men's and women's sides, so a stay usually means trying both. A small reservation-only private bath is also available for families. The spring itself is a cold, colorless, clear mineral water that locals have long believed has healing properties, nicknamed the Enmei-no-yu (延命の湯), the “life-extending bath”; water from the inn's own underground source is also served as a drink in the post-bath lounge. The ryokan sits inside a large traditional Japanese garden that wraps around the building and is lit up after dark. Local lore ties the spring to travelers passing through in earlier centuries, from the Heian-era courtier Sugawara no Michizane resting here on his way into exile, to Edo-period daimyo processions stopping to recover before continuing on.