MATSUKAWA ONSEN — HACHIMANTAI, TOHOKU JAPAN
Milky sulfur springs, deep Tohoku snow,
and mountain hospitality since the 1960s.
Deep in the Matsukawa valley of northern Tohoku, Kyounso has welcomed mountaineers and skiers for generations.
Tatami rooms, quiet snowy evenings, food from Iwate's mountains —
and free-flowing hot springs waiting at the end of every line.
For your guests, it is not just a place to sleep: it is Japan's mountain culture, lived in.
Guides from Europe and North America come back with their groups season after season. They come for the JAPOW — deep snow, and far fewer people on the skin track than the big-name resorts. Years of hosting them have taught us what a touring day asks of an inn.
Breakfast is served from 7:30, and we can settle the bill the night before so nobody is waiting at the front desk in the morning. If your plan needs an earlier start, ask us when you book — some mornings we can work something out, some mornings we honestly can't.
Gentagadake starts at the door — skis or splitboard, skins on at the entrance, no drive at all. Three more ski touring zones are a short drive away, so weather rarely cancels a day; it just changes the destination.
Gear goes to the indoor storage space; you go straight to the water. Legs recover in the free-flowing open-air sulfur springs while the snow keeps falling — open all night for staying guests.
Seasonal dishes built on local ingredients, served ryokan-style. Plan tomorrow's line over a glass of local sake.
The springs are 100% free-flowing hydrogen-sulfide water, straight from the source — open all night for staying guests. Rooms are tatami with futon bedding; dinner is a seasonal spread of Iwate ingredients. Most groups stay two or three nights — enough that your guests remember the onsen as clearly as the powder.
Explore the springs, rooms and cuisine
Group bookings, room splits and schedule questions are easier to sort out over email than through a booking engine. Tell us what you need and we'll tell you straight what we can and can't do.
Indoor space for skis, splitboards and boots. Your group's gear stays together overnight — not crowded into the tatami rooms.
Some of the groups that stay with us have been coming for years. We would rather build that kind of relationship than fill the rooms once.
| Hours | 8:30 AM – 7:00 PM (last entry 6:00 PM) |
| Adults | ¥700 |
| Children (5–12) | ¥350 |
Staying elsewhere in the area? Bring your guests for a day-use soak — and let's talk about the next mountain over the milky water.
Check opening days and closures
Start Planning Your Next Season
Planning tours in the Hachimantai area? Send us your dates and group size, along with anything you need — an early start, how the rooms are split, space for gear. Enquiries for future seasons are welcome too. We reply personally.
Email Us[email protected]Or just send us a DM on Instagram
Traveling on your own, without a guide? Book a regular stay online.
Phone: +81 (0)195-78-2256 (Japanese) · Matsukawa Onsen, Hachimantai, Iwate, Japan