Houshi

A family inn said to date back 1,300 years, with a registered Meiji entrance hall and a moss garden laid out in the manner of Kobori Enshu — the history is real, but the buildings are tired and the big baths are recirculated

Houshi traces its founding to 718, when the monk Taichō is said to have found the spring and had his disciple Garyō build an inn to keep it; the head of the family has taken the name Zengorō ever since, and a 47th-generation Zengorō took over in 2025. Guinness once listed it as the world's oldest hotel (another inn now holds the title). The early-Meiji entrance building and the detached Enmeikaku pavilion are registered tangible cultural properties, and the garden — attributed in origin to Kobori Enshu, with a heart-shaped carp pond and a newer section by Sano Tōemon — is a registered place of scenic beauty. Japanese guests rate it 4.2 across 1,887 reviews on one site and 4.08 across 1,753 on another, and praise the garden, the sense of history, generous Kaga kaiseki with nodoguro and, in winter, crab. Expectations need managing, though. The shared baths use the inn's own spring but are recirculated, heated and chlorinated (only rooms with their own onsen get free-flowing water), and the men's and women's baths never swap, with the women's side much smaller. Recent reviews describe draughty corridors, dated bathrooms, insects, a welcome matcha that is now charged on some plans, and long walks between buildings. Standard plans run about ¥13,000–22,000 per person with two meals; special rooms cost far more.