Ryokan Tanigawa

Ryokan Tanigawa draws its own hot-spring water from several source springs of different temperatures, kept flowing straight into the baths rather than recirculated. The indoor bath is built of cypress with a high ceiling; the outdoor bath is set in rough-hewn rock, and the men's and women's baths swap each evening. A foot bath runs along a garden veranda and doubles as a walking bath over a pebbled stream. Some guest rooms have their own open-air bath, fed by the same water. The inn traces back to a predecessor called Kawakuboya (川久保屋), where novelist Dazai Osamu (太宰治) stayed for about a month in 1936 on the advice of Kawabata Yasunari, writing Soseiki (創世記) during his stay. His story Ubasute (姥捨) is set partly around the inn's elderly innkeeper couple and the wider Minakami hot spring area.