Hashinoya Annex Ransui

Ransui occupies a Meiji-period villa in Arima, built by a merchant from Kaga enriched by the kitamaebune coastal shipping trade, and later taken over and remodelled by the inn. It is small: nine rooms, eight of them Japanese-style, each with bath and toilet, in a garden beside the Takigawa river. There is no lift, and the inn suggests ground-floor rooms for anyone unsure on stairs.

The bathhouse is a separate building in the garden above the river, its tubs cut from hinoki cypress and maki. Its open-air bath carries kinsen, Arima’s iron-and-salt water, which the inn’s listings record as heated and recirculated rather than free-flowing; the two indoor communal baths are listed as not hot spring at all. Bathing runs 15:00–23:00 and 06:00–10:00, the men’s and women’s sides swapping at 06:00. No guest room has an open-air bath. Staying guests can instead reserve the bath at Hashinoya Honkan, the separate main inn: undiluted free-flowing kinsen from the Tenjin source, unavailable when that source is under maintenance.

Dinner and breakfast are both brought to the room, dish by dish: kaiseki built on seasonal fish and shellfish, with Sanda or Kobe beef on some plans.

Arima-Onsen station is about a 13-minute walk; the inn will collect guests who telephone once they reach Arima, subject to conditions. Check-out is 11:00; check-in is given as 14:00 or 15:00 by plan, and arrivals after 19:00 are asked to call ahead. Children are restricted and the listings disagree on how, so settle it before booking.