Kanaya Ryokan Thousand Person Bath

This place felt truly magical. At over 160 years old, it carries a timeless charm that is hard to put into words. From inside the hot spring, we could hear the soothing sound of flowing water, a natural soundtrack that set the perfect tone for relaxation. The atmosphere was unforgettable easily one of the most memorable experiences I have had in Japan. The staff were incredibly kind and helpful, which made our stay even more special. We stayed for two nights, and the peacefulness was remarkable especially around 10 p.m. and again in the early morning around 9 a.m., when it felt like I had the entire place to myself. At night, soaking in the outdoor hot spring while gazing up at the stars was absolutely breathtaking. The sky was so clear and full of light an experience I will never forget. After a long soak in the hot spring, if you get too warm, you can cool down in the cold bath. It was deeply refreshing, leaving me both relaxed and energized. The rooms were beautifully maintained, full of charm, and I slept wonderfully, accompanied by the gentle chirping of insects at night. I highly recommend staying overnight if you can.

We came to this thousand person bath Kanaya as day bath when camping at Oike campground and pay ¥1000 each. The bath houses are really beautiful and very large with open windows , high ceilings, . Enjoyed the old atmosphere day with high quality springs water. Lively in the mix bath with many people, people have conversations and greet each other more than just regularly hot springs as we visited. After bath our skin are shined and beauty than before. We love the bath house and wish to be back if available.

Had an afternoon out at the next town along the railway line, before catching the train back here to stay overnight. We had been going to eat in the next town, in case the hotel wasn't doing food, but the description on the website made the food sound such a feature that we decided we'd like to do it. Unsurprisingly on a midweek night in January, they weren't doing food, but that was fine, we wandered along to 7-11 and got a wonderful picnic of pot noodles and all sorts of interesting things. |We stayed in a Japanese room in the main building and it was fantastic, so great to stay in somewhere so historic! The room was unchanged from 100 years ago, apart from the addition of wifi, heating, air con! The bedding was really warm and comfy. When we got there, the main bath area seemed quite busy, so we went to use one of the private baths (you take a token from Reception and hang it on the door to indicate occupied, remember to return it to Reception afterwards). |You take your outdoor shoes off at Reception and swap to indoor slippers, which you take off at the entrance to your room and just walk in socks on the tatami mats. There are separate outdoor-slippers which you use to walk to the block with the private baths in, take them off in the porch area outside that block. |The man on Reception was lovely and helpful in explaining all this!|The private bath was great - a set of three pools at different temperatures.|We then decided to have a little nap and go to the thousand-person bath after 9pm when the day-visitors had left. We slept for longer than expected, and woke up at 1am, so went to the big bath then (it's open all night for residents). Unsurprisingly, we had it to ourselves at that hour! The getting through from the ladies' changing rooms to the mens/joint bath was a lot easier than expected - there is an area of knee-deep water, with a door and a row of hooks with keys on wristbands. I took a key, unlocked the door and went through. I left my key with my towel on the side of the bath, but I guess you're supposed to keep them on your wrist. The water temperature was lovely, and the bath was beautiful, a really great experience. You can also go out to a little outside area, which is slightly cooler (in January, at least, maybe not in mid-summer). |It was an amazing place to stay, and well worth visiting.

One of the nicest places with an authentic atmosphere with wooden ceiling, an enormous large indoor pool with a smaller pool outside - All for a very affordable price! It cannot be more Japan than this!

The Onsen was clean and beautiful. We really enjoy this peacefully moment 🕊️

There are no shampoo and conditioner, only soap bar for body. Hair dryer is not free too. There are only 2 shower stations with shower hose, the rest are just taps only. This cost 1500, too over price. If you want to clean yourself thoroughly, this is not the place to go. Only good for soaking. Tattoos are allowed which is awesome.

Why come to the Kanaya Ryokan? For the bath. This is one of the largest wooden baths in Japan, perhaps second only to the Sukayu bath in Aomori prefecture. Although advertised as a senninburo (thousand person bath) it would probably be crowded with 400 to 500 people in it at once. It is an indoor wooden mixed bathing facility with a deep long wooden bath, a low ceiling (perhaps three meters above the water), and a steamy atmosphere. There is a separate women-only bath with a door to come into the large bath and there were several couples in the bath when I was there. There is no separate men-only bath. There is a small fenced-in stone outdoor bath, but it is unnoteworthy and appears of recent origin. The best time to bathe, in my opinion, is in the early morning when the sun is coming up and shining in the windows from just over the mountain. The sunshine illuminates the water vapour from the bath and gives an ethereal feeling to the bath. The vapours make it easy to hide in the tub as one can only see vague shapes of other people. The bath is perhaps 35 meters long. ||||The inn has a beautiful garden and the main building is wooden. The inside is fun to explore as it is in the old traditionsl Japanese style and has several halls leading off to various parts of the inn. Next door is a cement building also part of the inn. The ground floor is a dance studio (ballet style) and the second floor has a few large western-style rooms with beds. I stayed in one of these and it was nice and clean. ||||The nearest train station is Rendaiji, a ten-minute walk from the Kanaya. There is an infrequent bus that stops right by the Kanaya. ||Visited 16 November 2018.

Based on limited but good reviews, and as it is indicated in some travel guides as an old, charming and authentic place, we decided to stay in Kanaya Ryokan and we thought it would be a nice alternative to Shimoda hotels. ||||We were very disappointed :||||- this place is more a big onsen than a ryokan. All day long, dozens and dozens of people are continuously coming and rushing from outside into the Kanaya Ryokan not as Ryokan guests but just to go to the onsen. This continuous flow of people takes the charm out. So the big interest is supposed to be the onsen: it is actually old, in wood and large. But the problem is that it is not well maintained, it is old and deteriorated, and not perfectly clean. For the large number of visitors ( probably sometimes 40 people inside or more), there is a narrow range of taps and only one (1!) old plastic shower tube in a corner and when you wash you might splash water into the onsen. This is not a good onsen and I can compare to many ryokans and onsens where I have been before. As a guest, we went also to the private onsen, no special interest and unfortunately, it was not clean, open tooth paste, soap , etc.. from previous visitors still around,||- you should know that none of the rooms have real bathrooms, some have no toilets or sink at all, some with a sink. You might think this is because of the onsen, but the onsen as indicated above does not provide a good facility. The room we had, had a small toilet and sink but these were not clean, toilets were dirty,||- food is average at best,||- the hotel brochure images give a much better impression of what it is in reality. The common parts of the ryokan are a total mess and full of outside visitors as mentioned earlier,||- and it is very expensive for what it is.||||I don't recommend this place but if you want to go there at least you are now informed.