Awara Onsen Mimatsu

Onsen open-air bath rooms on the 4F 'Yūyū' and 5F 'Yōyō' floors — Japanese (10 or 12.5 tatami) or Western twin with low 'wa-beds', about 38㎡

The reason most bloggers and reviewers book here: 28 rooms, each with a hinoki or glazed-ceramic tub on its own terrace, filled with the inn's spring water and usable at any hour. Next to the tub there's a shower room rather than an indoor bath. You can't choose the tub type. Bloggers stayed in these rooms in late 2024 and in 2025, and one of them soaked again and again until check-out, finding the temperature just right. 2026 reviewers mention that the temperature adjusts automatically and that the tub is big enough for two. The views are of the garden or rice fields. In August 2026, though, a guest in a fifth-floor open-air twin found solar panels filling half the view and was kept awake through thin walls. A July 2026 party of three found the room cramped, with no chairs. Two rooms can be connected for larger groups.

Annex Biyu (別邸 美悠) — 8 suites with an onsen open-air bath, 63–65㎡

The quietest option, with its own check-in desk and a private lounge (free alcohol and snacks 14:00–22:00 and 7:00–12:00), drinks in the room fridge, and dinner and breakfast served in your room. The four garden-side suites (Matsu, Sakura, Tsubaki, Yukiyanagi) look over the koi garden, with Shigaraki-ware tubs and massage beds. The four courtyard-side suites (Yamabuki, Nanten, Hanamizuki, Jinchōge) have hinoki, stone or rock tubs. Every suite has two toilets and two washbasins. A solo guest on Rakuten Travel loved the red ceramic tub in Matsu. In August 2026, a family travelling with a wheelchair user praised the care, and another guest enjoyed an in-room French course called 'Yuin', launched in spring 2026. On the downside, one July 2026 guest found the suite musty and the tub plagued by insects and bees, a June guest saw a centipede in the corridor, and a September repeat guest waited with ten others at an unstaffed desk before the 14:00 check-in.

Older unrenovated rooms (including the economy 12.5-tatami Japanese rooms) and 9㎡ singles; renovated 'Ziyu' rooms have no onsen tub

On Ikyu the cheapest Japanese rooms are described as 'Shōwa-style' rooms from the inn's early days. In July 2026 a guest found the cheapest room old though clean, and some open-air Japanese rooms haven't been renovated either: in June 2026 a guest in one found a slow-flushing toilet and a TV showing only NHK. The 9㎡ singles have no bath or shower, and a July 2026 solo guest found the washroom straight out of the Shōwa era. The 'Ziyu' rooms are the 2023 junior suite (78㎡) and the 39–44㎡ Japanese-modern rooms opened in 2024, with Simmons beds and a spacious ordinary bathroom. Guests found them clean and stylish, but they have no onsen tub. An August 2026 two-star review found long hairs all over one of these rooms, and a May 2026 guest complained of a TV mounted too high and a cramped toilet.