Yamashiro Onsen Hatori
山代温泉 葉渡莉
Area photo — not the ryokan itself · Sōyu public bath, Yamashiro Onsen · 掬茶 / CC BY-SA 4.0
A mid-priced, 67-room town-centre inn with free all-night drinks, weekend taiko drumming, real single rooms for solo travellers and a gentle ginger-and-koji kaiseki — but the 'open-air bath' suites use tap water, not onsen, and the building shows its age
Hatori stands halfway along Yamashiro Onsen's main street, a five-minute walk from the Sōyu and the restored Meiji-era Kosōyu public baths. Run by Yorozuya Kankō, which also owns the sister inn Rurikō down the road (free bathing there for Hatori guests), it is a 67-room house built around a theme of 'the warmth of wood, the gentleness of leaves': fresh flowers and ink paintings everywhere, tatami rooms (some with beds), a free self-service lounge with drinks and snacks from 15:00 through the night, free table tennis, karaoke and a Kaga ikkō-ikki taiko show on Friday to Sunday nights. Japanese guests rate it 4.37 across 1,000 reviews on one major site, with dinner the top score at 4.55, and 4.21 across 33 on another. Bloggers who stayed in 2023 and 2025 praised the hinoki bath, the private-room kaiseki and the eight single rooms — one 2025 blogger chose it after once failing to find any Kaga inn that would take a solo guest. Know before you book: the spring is Yamashiro's alkaline simple water piped from the town supply and not free-flowing, and the six suites' outdoor tubs are filled from the tap — the inn's own room page says they are not onsen. The complaints from 2025–2026 are consistent: worn or dirty suite tubs, an ageing building with thin walls, mould in air conditioners, the odd insect, hot shared baths, and front-desk and dinner explanations that were rushed or hard to follow. A standard room with the basic kaiseki costs about ¥50,800–53,200 for two; winter crab adds ¥4,400–33,000 per person.
Room Selection Guide
What the guests who stayed here actually recommendRecommended
Hagi (萩) wing standard Japanese rooms — Type B for value, or a high floor
The inn's own blog points cost-conscious guests to Hagi Type B, a plain 'classic ryokan' room of about 12.5 tatami. Several 2025–2026 reviewers in this category were upgraded to larger rooms, and an April 2025 regular praised a seventh-floor Hagi room for its view; a June 2025 guest found the standard room spacious and clean, with a massage chair, though the walls were thin. Rooms with a bed area (wa-yō) exist in the Hagi, Fuji (藤) and Kaede wings.
Single wa-yō rooms (8 rooms), for solo travellers
Six tatami with a bed, plus a window-side sofa — exactly as pictured, according to a March 2026 solo guest, who was still shown to the room on a breakfast-only plan. A blogger who stayed in 2023 found the single 'small with a low ceiling, but fine for one' and paid ¥15,441 all in. Others in 2025–2026 note a TV facing away from the bed and a poorly cleaned air conditioner.
Request To Avoid
Kaede (楓) wing suites with an 'open-air bath' (6 rooms, incl. accessible room 473)
The inn's room page states the outdoor tubs are not onsen — you fill them yourself from the tap — and a September 2026 guest was disappointed to find this out on arrival. A July 2026 guest in room 473 found the tub greenish, scratched and full of leaves and insects, unlike the photos; in December 2025 the handrail wobbled and the wooden screen would not open; an October 2025 guest felt it was 'an ordinary room with a bath attached' for the price. Views from town-centre rooms are limited.
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Dining Deep Dive
Breakfast Consensus
4.2/5A buffet (7:00–9:00, closing 9:30) of local vegetable dishes, Ishikawa fish, oden and Western items, with the house 'field sashimi' — organic vegetables with house ginger miso and Noto salt — and pancakes with anko; widely liked, though the serving area is small and crowded at peak times, and a set Japanese breakfast is served instead on some days
Check in close to 15:00 if you want the 19:00 dinner slot — a guest arriving at 15:30 in June 2025 could only get 18:00, and extra dishes stopped being taken at 19:00 for a late family in December 2025. Book a Friday, Saturday or Sunday to catch the free taiko show (20:40–20:55). Bath towels are kept at the shared baths, not in the room. Parking is free (50 spaces).
Dinner Insights
4.3/5Kaiseki at 18:00 or 19:00 in private rooms with sunken kotatsu seating or table seats at Saryō Ugetsu, built on ginger and koji under chef Yoshiyuki Mure. Guests praise beautiful, seasonal dishes — a whole salt-grilled barracuda in March 2025, citrus and shio-koji in summer 2026 — and in November 2023 a blogger called the snow crab and grilled sea bream outstanding (about ¥80,000 for two with crab). Critics found it 'nothing special' (June 2025), too much food (October 2025), not enough food (August 2026), pricey drinks, and a child's meal handled badly (December 2025).
Onsen & Wellness Realities
Yamashiro Onsen's alkaline simple spring, piped from the town's shared supply; a major booking site lists it as not free-flowing. The six suites' outdoor tubs are filled with ordinary hot water, not onsen.
Two baths, each with a men's and a women's side: hinoki Kumanbō (open 24 hours, with a hinoki outdoor tub and a sauna, but no cold plunge) and stone Oyakushi with a jacuzzi (5:00–1:00). Two reservable private baths, one hinoki and one stone, cost ¥3,300 for 50 minutes (7:00–22:00). Guests like the 24-hour access and towels at the baths, but find the water hot, the outdoor tub small with no view, the outdoor tub floor slippery (April 2025), and in March 2026 other guests were filming in the outdoor bath. Part of the baths closed in April 2026 because of a fuel-oil supply problem. Sister inn Rurikō's baths are free.
No policy found on the official site or Japanese booking sites — contact the inn. The private baths are an option.
Local Warnings & Nuances
- 01
Check-in 15:00, check-out 10:00 — fixed, and earlier than some would like. Room-only guests can check in until 22:00.
- 02
The 'open-air bath' suites use tap water, not onsen — if a spring-fed bath in the room matters, look elsewhere in Yamashiro.
- 03
It's a large house that takes groups of up to 250, with karaoke, a bar and the taiko show; reviewers found it calm when no groups were staying.
- 04
All rooms are non-smoking, with a single smoking area that one November 2025 guest found dirty.
- 05
Children are welcome: there's a kids' space, the baths have baby beds and children's chairs, and children's meals can be ordered in advance — confirm details, as one December 2025 order went wrong.
Before your stay
Souvenirs from Kaga Onsen and practical help for your trip.
Kaga Onsen souvenirs on Rakuten
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Sources
The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on
Featured in our guides
Side-by-side comparisons that include this ryokan.
Photo credits
- Hōshi — the entrance and garden pines, Awazu Onsen · 663highland / CC BY-SA 4.0
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Read the ConsensusPhoto credits: Sōyu public bath, Yamashiro Onsen · 掬茶 / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Hōshi — the entrance and garden pines, Awazu Onsen · 663highland / CC BY-SA 4.0
Yamashiro Onsen Hatori
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