Irodori Yukashiki Hana to Hana

A big riverside onsen inn with irori-hearth dinners, three bath houses on its own pH 9.3 spring and free drinks since December 2025 — good value, but ageing buildings, insects and a slimmer dinner draw 2026 complaints

Hana to Hana is one of the larger inns in Yunishigawa, the valley where Heike warriors are said to have hidden after their defeat: 56 rooms across three buildings — the seven-storey Spring wing with a lift, the three-storey Autumn wing by the river and the small two-storey wooden Winter wing — joined by corridors to a lobby dressed with armour and hanging hina ornaments. The draws are a 'Heike okariba-yaki' dinner around sunken irori hearths, ten baths fed by the inn's own alkaline spring (pH 9.3, about 60°C), and, since December 2025, an all-inclusive set-up with free drinks, soft-serve and snacks in an open lounge plus drinks at dinner. Most recent evidence comes from booking-site reviews rather than blogs: guests rate it 4.07 across 1,758 reviews on Rakuten Travel (baths 4.30, facilities 3.90) and 4.2 across 2,559 on Jalan, where baths score 4.5. A blogger who stayed in February 2024 loved the snow-view hinoki open-air bath and the deer tataki, and 2026 reviewers praise the riverside baths, the slippery-smooth water, the friendly, flexible staff and the free beer after bathing. The complaints are just as consistent: old buildings with a musty smell, weak or noisy air conditioners, insects (one October 2026 guest removed more than 30 stink bugs from a seventh-floor room), patchy Wi-Fi, and — from repeat guests in 2026 — a dinner with fewer dishes, a 'teppanyaki' upgrade served on a tabletop burner, and little explanation of how to grill. Rates run from about ¥16,500 to over ¥30,000 per person with two meals.