Hatago Oda Onsen

Hatago Oda Onsen draws its own hot-spring water from the riverbed of the Oda River, right beside the inn. The water is nearly colorless and odorless, and known locally for feeling especially soft and gentle on the skin. Bathing happens in two communal baths that the innkeeper tiled by hand: Hiten-no-yu (飛天の湯), in white porcelain with indigo patterns, and Ryusen-no-yu (龍泉の湯), in pale celadon tiles fired in Arita. A separate reservable bath, Toyotama-no-yu (豊玉の湯), was added in 2021 for the inn's 100th anniversary; it's barrier-free and has its own small foot bath in the changing room. The ryokan is a small, family-run inn of just six rooms in an all-wood building above the river in Izumo, Shimane, running since the 1920s. Guests go barefoot on the wood floors, and the place has the unhurried, homey feel of visiting family in the countryside.