Densho Sennen no Yado Sakan

A 34th-generation family inn that once kept the Date lords' bathhouse, with a thatched riverside bath and a free-flowing-drinks half-buffet — strong on food and history, tired in the older rooms

Sakan's family traces its role as keepers of Akiu's hot spring back to the Heian period and served as bath-keepers to the Date lords; the current owner is the 34th generation, a flame said to have come from Mount Kōya has burned in the inn for 400 years, and G7 meetings were held here in 2016 and 2023. Today it's a 173-room ryokan in three buildings, known in English as Hotel Sakan. Japanese guests rate it 4.42 across 1,898 reviews on one major site and 4.3 across 1,978 on another, with food and baths high and rooms lowest. The star dinner is a half-buffet: starter and sashimi at the table, a choice of meat (beef tongue, steak) and fish mains, a live kitchen for tempura and soba, and free-flowing drinks including local sake; breakfast adds a truffle omelette and sea-bream ramen. The bathing highlight is Kawara-no-yu, a small thatched riverside bath that is the inn's free-flowing tub — the large indoor baths are recirculated and chlorinated — but women can use it only 15:00–23:00. The recurring complaints: dated rooms in the Kagetsu building (stains, a sewage smell, mould and ceiling leak marks in 2026), queues at the buffet stations and breakfast, guests moved to a banquet hall when it's busy, brusque staff, and a car park 100m away. Most 2026 reviewers paid over ¥30,000 per person with two meals.