Ryokan Hagakurekan

A wooden four-storey inn in Tsuetate Onsen (杖立温泉), with indoor baths only, one for men and one for women, fed straight from the source with nothing recirculated. Tsuetate's water comes up close to boiling, and the inn puts that heat to work in a mushiburo (むし風呂), the low-ceilinged steam bath the town is known for, tucked at the back of the bathing area. The water is high in metasilicic acid, which is what gives it the soft feel on the skin. The bath itself is a bit of a period piece: a keyhole-shaped tub, tile work, a Venus de Milo standing in the water. The writer Hino Ashihei (火野葦平) stayed here and wrote a novel set in Tsuetate in one of the fourth-floor rooms.