4.7/5Outstanding20 Reviews
1.3km from Itayashika Clinics
First opened in 1830, it's truly one of the oldest historic inn in the Ureshino area. It's right in the centre of the Ureshino, near the famous footbath and the onsen high street. On foot it's only 5 minutes from the Bus Centre. Spent one night with my teens in this family run ryokan. We intended to visit Mifuneyama Rakuen and pay pilgrimage to the famous evening autumn foliage before check-in, so we decided to seek directions from the ryokan to avoid getting lost in the dark, as well as to enquire from them the possibility of late dinner at eight o' clock. Regrettably, there was no response either through their website or the agoda, both in Japanese and English. Thanks to the kind efforts of Ms Ueda of the Saga Prefectural Tourism Federation, we finally got in touch with the Ryokan owners and took a taxi from Mifuneyama Rakuen to there at 3000 yen. We had probably the last round of dinner at eight when everyone else left the dining hall. Contrary to what other Ryokans offered in dinner, there was no written menu and pre-meal drink - which I believe the meal was prepared in a rush. The serving lady was nice and kept on smiling. The food in my opinion was so-so, especially the shabu shabu. For the breakfast we had the popular onsen yudofu. The highlight of the stay was the twin room with in-room onsen - Fuyo, newly built in 2017. Overlooking the Ureshino river, the room has very nice view of this small town, even in winter. I believe the Ryokan owner has good taste of music as the Hi-Fi system and selection of CDs in the room reflected this. There was a bar or common room at the ground floor with good selection of jazz music CDs too. We had one-hour of private onsen in one of the spas at ground floor. The spa water was different from that inside the room - I believe this came from the famous Ureshino sodium bicarbonate spring which was rich in sodium, making the skin feeling silky and smooth like wrapped in cream. After spa they served iced black tea at the entrance which was really refreshing. The lady manager spoke good English and provided us with a walking map of Ureshino and also bus schedule back to Takeo Onsen. The ryokan with it's strategic location, serves as a good base to explore Ureshino. The price is reasonable given the quality of the room. Recommended for all travellers.