Thousand-person bath Kanaya Ryokan

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.

Came here with the wife on a whim while staying down in Shimoda for the weekend. What an incredible bath. The mixed bath is quite an experience for the first time. It has a separate female and then a mixed male and female area that is just extraordinary. The old old Hinoki wood deep bath is long and beautiful. The mixed nature of the bath makes you feel like you have stepped back into the Edo period. Has a cute outdoor bath you can walk to (fully exposed so be warned).

- a bit difficult to find unless got the tel for typing GPS (we didnt hv it so quite a hectic and luckily a kind Japanese staff of another onsen resort show the way)|- the whole main building, including the bathroom, is made by wood|- very magnificent and sizable bath even that of ladies|- as the whole bath made by wood, the touchy feeling is so comfortable and unique when compare with the more modern onsens|- unlikely modern onsen, it doesnt provide bathing lotion, shampoo etc thus may have to bring your own|- the hairdryer has to pay|- the outdoor pool is much mich smaller, but more modern and cozy. Like it as well.|- well worth to pay a visit

To brave female travellers -- The inn has a big traditional junior wood bath for males to which females can go in. (don't forget to take the key to come back into female bath!) Females can enjoy this big "swimming pool" bath. No swimming wear! And swimming is not recommended . Men in the bath are gentlemen in general. They try not to stare at females. You can observe their complex emotion. You can cover your front part with your towel, only take it off at the moment to jump into the bath tab. In the bath, hold the towel on your head, and enjoy the spa and chat with males in the bath, naked!

Great Onsen with a huge and nice old fashion Japanese style bath. Women are allowed to enter into the men's bath, not the opposite. Has an indoor and an outdoor part and you could even swim! People with tattoo weren't tell off which is a good thing. When I went everyone was Japanese apart of me. Recommended.

Sen-Ninburo (A thousand men bath) is an old hot spring that offers a gender-mixed indoor bath and also a ladies-only bath. The main bath really resembles a swimming pool and, because it was built many decades ago, it's deeper than any other hot spring that follows the current standards. Definitely it's a rare place.