Hijiori Onsen Kimuraya Ryokan

Kimuraya is a small toji ryokan in Hijiori Onsen, a hot-spring town that sits inside a volcanic caldera in Yamagata. The inn has just five rooms and three baths: one larger bath upstairs and two more on the ground floor, and one of the three can be reserved for private use. There's no fixed men's and women's side; the noren curtains over the entrances are swapped to change which bath is for men and which for women, so bathing rotates by gender rather than mixing. The water runs faintly cloudy and leaves a light mineral crust around the tub's edge. The inn is built for toji, staying several nights to soak and rest rather than passing through for one, and the owners suggest three to seven nights on their cure-stay plans. It sits toward the quieter, southern end of the hot-spring town, next to the village bus stop.