Ikaho Onsen Moriaki Ryokan

A Meiji-era inn by Ikaho's stone steps where every bath — even the seven in-room tubs — runs free-flowing 'golden' water, with an okami at every dinner table and a breakfast hall full of mountains; but it's a big, busy 74-room house with banquet-hall dinners and view-less cheaper rooms

Moriaki Ryokan opened in 1868 on Ikaho's stone steps and later moved a short walk away to its present hillside site; the name comes from the third-generation owner, Morita Akisaburō. The poet Noguchi Ujō, who wrote the children's songs 'Shabondama' and 'Nanatsu no Ko', made it a regular base and wrote a local song here — the handwritten text is displayed on the way in from the lobby, and Ujō's songs play softly in the halls. Today it's a 74-room, eight-storey house of mostly tatami rooms, three minutes from the steps. The draw is the water: Moriaki is one of nine inns holding rights to Ikaho's brown 'golden' Kogane-no-yu, and every bath — two open-air baths, the large indoor bath, a private bath and seven rooms with their own tubs — runs it free-flowing with no added water, though heated, because the spring cools on its 1 km journey. Japanese guests rate it 4.3 across 4,960 reviews on one major site (baths 4.5, service 4.4) and 4.27 across more than 2,300 on another. Blogs from 2024 to 2026 and recent reviewers praise the okami's greeting at every dinner table, generous kaiseki with Jōshū beef, a buffet breakfast with a sweeping mountain view, surprise birthday cakes and good value. The catches: it's a big, busy house — dinner is mostly in open banquet halls and courses can come fast, the short breakfast window gets crowded, and the open-air and indoor baths sit apart on the same floor, with few showers at the open-air one. Cheaper low-floor rooms may look onto old buildings, walls are thin, and 2026 reviews mention dated bathrooms and a forgotten in-room breakfast. Two-meal stays run about ¥17,000–30,000 per person; rooms with their own onsen bath cost more.