Beniya Mukayu

Beniya Mukayu is a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn where dinner and breakfast are part of the stay) with 16 rooms and suites, set on Yakushiyama hill above the hot spring town of Yamashiro Onsen, in Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture. It suits couples looking for two or three quiet nights after Kanazawa or Kyoto: every room has its own open-air onsen (natural hot spring) bath facing the garden, and the inn takes children from age 7. It is a Relais & Châteaux member and holds one MICHELIN Key.

A house built around its forest garden

Everything turns towards a forest garden planted around a 300-year-old red pine. All 16 rooms face it, and every one has an open-air hot spring bath looking into the trees. In the shared spaces, three libraries (Main Library, Forest Library and Library Zero) are there for reading, and a piece by designer Kenya Hara, Tsukubai Ho-sun, reinterprets the stone basin where visitors rinse their hands at the entrance to a tea garden.

A stay here is measured in hours rather than sights: check-in at 3 pm, a soak before dinner, a long dinner, another bath at night and again on waking, check-out at 11 am. Groups are limited to six people, which keeps the house quiet.

Choosing a room

The room table gives sizes and beds; here is how the categories differ in practice. All have the open-air bath facing the garden and a shower booth.

• Sleeping on futons, Japanese-style: the Japanese Premier Tatami Garden View Room (70 m², 4 rooms) has a tatami room (rice-straw mats covering the floor) where futons (mattresses laid on the floor) are rolled out at night, with a wooden terrace and bamboo veranda. It is the only category without beds.
• A bed, in a Western room: the Western Premier Garden View Room (60 m², 2 rooms) is on the top floor, with a large terrace under a skylight. It is reached by an 18-step stairway, so it is not suited to older guests or anyone with limited mobility.
• Both at once: the Zen Style Junior Suite (70 m², 2 suites on the garden level) combines a tatami room with a separate bedroom; its open-air bath includes a jacuzzi.
• Room for four: the six Zen Style Executive Suites (95 to 100 m²), on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, look down over the garden, with a tatami room, bedroom and walk-in closet.
• The two one-off suites: the Wakamurasaki Suite (120 m²) has a living room with a 3 m lacquered table and faces a mountain cherry tree over 100 years old, so book early for spring blossom; the Byakuroku Terrace Suite (110 m²), at garden level, adds a study between the bath and the terrace, for guests staying several nights who like to read or write outdoors.

The baths

Besides each room's own bath, the inn has two communal baths fed by the Yamashiro Onsen spring, Gensei and Usukō, the latter made of white cypress. They are separated by gender, and each has an indoor bath, an open-air bath and a sauna. The etiquette of shared baths (wash seated before getting in, keep your towel out of the water) is explained in our onsen etiquette guide.

Spa Entei offers treatments using hot spring water and medicinal herbs, from 10 am to 10 pm, by reservation, for guests aged 16 and over.

Dining at Kaiseki Horin

Dinner and breakfast are served at Kaiseki Horin, on a broad terrace above the forest garden. Dinner is kaiseki (a Japanese meal of many small seasonal courses) served omakase, meaning the kitchen decides the menu, adjusted to any dietary needs given in advance. Ingredients come from the region: hairy crab from Hashitate port, abalone, ayu (sweetfish) from the Shōgawa gorge, wagyu beef and Noto salt gelato. Seasonal upgrades are booked ahead, including snow crab sashimi from 7 November to 20 March.

Around the inn

The inn is about 4 km from JR (Japan Railways) Kaga-Onsen Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen (bullet train), 15 minutes from Kanazawa, and 16 km from Komatsu Airport. Down in the town, the Ko-Sōyu public bathhouse recreates an old-style bath tiled with Kutani porcelain. The neighbouring spa town of Yamanaka Onsen has the Kakusenkei gorge, a 1.3 km riverside walk. Kanazawa makes an easy day out: Kenrokuen garden, the Higashi Chaya teahouse district and the Nagamachi samurai quarter. All of this is covered on our Kanazawa and Kaga Onsen page, and the Japanese Alps and Kanazawa in 10 days itinerary passes through the area.

Beniya Mukayu, KAI Kaga or Kinjohro

Our selection has three addresses in this region:

Beniya Mukayu is the most secluded of the three and the only one where every room has an open-air bath; KAI Kaga sits in the heart of the town, opposite Ko-Sōyu, and welcomes families; Kinjohro is a kaiseki house in the city, for those who want to sleep in Kanazawa itself.