Hakone
Gora Hanaougi
強羅温泉 強羅花扇
Katsushika Hokusai, “Kajikazawa in Kai Province (Kōshū Kajikazawa), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)” — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0
Gora Hanaougi is a twenty-room inn in Gora, finished by Hida Takayama craftsmen: a thousand-lattice chandelier at the entrance, an irori hearth of long-buried zelkova in the lobby, tatami-laid corridors walked barefoot.
Every room has an open-air bath fed from the inn's own source, adjustable by hand with hot or cold water. The communal bath has separate men's and women's sides, each with an indoor tub and two open-air ones — rock and granite for men, rock and Shigaraki ware for women — open 15:00-24:00 and 05:00-10:00. The water is reddish, from the source of Sounkaku, a ryokan that once stood on Sounzan. The inn calls it a jusosen, a bicarbonate spring it says is unusual in Hakone; the posted analysis is calcium-sodium-magnesium sulphate-bicarbonate, weakly alkaline, 49.3°C. Its own listings disagree over how much of the large bath runs free-flowing. No bath can be reserved for private use.
Dinner is kaiseki — written 会席 on one page, 懐石 on another, 京会席 on the booking listings — a monthly menu of Hakone vegetables, Odawara fish and Hida beef, in a private dining room. Every room page states meals are not served in the room.
Check-in is 15:00-18:00, check-out 11:00, not extendable. Sounzan, the cable car terminus, is a short walk: across the station car park to the inn's own inclined elevator. From Gora Station a free car collects guests who telephone. Tattoos are permitted in the communal bath. Children may stay, though the inn's pages disagree over which rooms take them.
Why we chose it
Twenty rooms, every one with its own open-air bath drawn from the inn's own source and adjustable by hand — that is the reason to come, and the communal bath adds four more. The full spring analysis is published rather than gestured at, and the FAQ answers the tattoo question outright. We also value how clear the inn is about what it does not do: no in-room dining, no bath for private hire, no late checkout.
What it has
- Room with private hot spring bath
- Kaiseki dinner
- Tattoo-friendly
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Prices are indicative and change with dates and availability.
Sources
- Official site (Japanese)
- Official site: hot spring and large bath (Japanese)
- Official site: rooms (Japanese)
- Official site: cuisine (Japanese)
- Official site: FAQ (Japanese)
- Official site: access (Japanese)
- Ikyu.com listing (Japanese)
- Rakuten Travel listing (Japanese)
- Jalan net listing (Japanese)
- Hakone Tourist Association listing (Japanese)