Japan Quietly

Hakone

Matsuzakaya Honten

箱根芦之湯　松坂屋本店

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

Matsuzakaya Honten

From $320 (estimate) · Last verified August 2026

Matsuzakaya Honten has kept an inn at Ashinoyu, on the old road over Hakone, since 1662. Several buildings date from the Meiji and Taisho eras: the Kakumeikan, and two detached cottages - Senshintei, part of a villa built on the grounds in 1887 and moved to its present site in 1950, and Gyoukousou, added in 1923 as a sitting room for Prince Kan'in and relocated in 1931. Shunpuso is a relocated Taisho-era Iwasaki villa. There are 21 rooms.

The inn holds its own source, Ashikari-no-yu, which comes up at 58.6°C at pH 8.1 and is classed as a sulphur-bearing calcium-sodium-magnesium sulphate and bicarbonate spring. It is used with no heating, no added water and no recirculation. Ashinoyu was designated a National Health Resort Onsen in 2015, the only such site in Kanagawa.

The men's and women's communal baths, one each, were rebuilt in 2023 and open from check-in until midnight, then 05:00-09:30. Five private open-air baths run in 45-minute slots and cannot be booked before arrival: reservations are taken at the front desk after check-in. House rules state that guests with tattoos may use them. Several rooms have their own hot spring open-air bath, though Kakumeikan rooms have showers only.

Dinner, a shukuba kaiseki drawn from post-town cooking, and breakfast are served in the dining room En, not in guest rooms. Children are accepted. There is no shuttle; buses from Hakone-Yumoto reach Higashi-Ashinoyu in about 25 minutes, a three-minute walk away.

Why we chose it

The draw is the water and the rule attached to it. The inn owns its source and serves it unheated, undiluted and uncirculated. The five private open-air baths cannot be reserved in advance - you book them at the front desk after arriving, as you do your dinner seating. It is also a 1662 inn whose Meiji and Taisho buildings are still rooms you sleep in, and children are accepted.

What it has

  • Reservable private bath
  • Room with private hot spring bath
  • Kaiseki dinner
  • Historic building

We may earn a commission when you book through links on this page.

Prices are indicative and change with dates and availability.

Sources

Everything on this page was checked against Japanese-language sources.