Tsuta Onsen Ryokan — Hotel in Towada

Tsuta Onsen is a well know historical ryokan that owns its ground source of hot spring (not the same as commonly piped-in source onsen). Its listed on one of the 100 famous ground source onsens in Japan. This property is in the midst of national park and in a secluded location. The JR east Bus makes its stop here to and from Towada Lake/Oirase Gorge. It’s a great choice to stay a night or two; enjoy its ground source onsen and the scenic beauties of surrounding beech forest and seven ponds behind the property. ||The original part of the property structure was built with forest lumbers; established in 1909; with two additions in 1918 and 1952. But the history of Kyuan Onsen(Kyuan-no-yu) can be traced back to the year 1147! I was very impressed with its originality, preservation and upkeep; especially the history ties with development of national park, its own ground source hot spring, 12th century built Kyuan-no-yu and two newer onsens. All three onsens were built with wooden pools including bottoms of the pools and entire frameworks with cedar lumbers. Supplies of hot spring water come directly from the ground of the onsen pools. These pools are available to public for day trippers only during the certain hours. The public area for guests includes several reception/reading rooms, a large guest lounge with stunning views of Japanese garden, sitting area with rocking chairs, free nature spring drinking water and chilled tea. A famous poet and scholar Keigetsu Ōmachi who traveled to this area, discovered its tranquil and nature beauty. He decided to make this place his permanent residence and his final resting place. His burial site, memorial stone markers and a bronze statue are located outside the garden area. History and collections of Keigetsu Ōmachi's poems, calligraphy and literatures are in exhibits inside of the ryokan. Museum is free for guests to visit. ||There are several characters that make this ryokan an exceptional choice of place to stay. I prefer tranquility and scenic nature setting. So, choosing this ryokan for our two nights stay fit in our plans. The entire property is surrounded by the dense forest, with beautiful Japanese gardens, accompanied with fountains, ponds and flowing streams. Behinds the property there are walking trails lead to the wild bird sanctuary and seven ponds surrounded with forest trees. During the autumn foliage changing season the colors of leaves turning red, orange and yellow. The images reflect upon the calm water surface make this area a top attraction for photo shootings. ||For its nature setting Tsuta Onsen Ryokan is certainly an excellent place to retreat, relax and rejuvenate your body and soul. Ryokan offers full board to the guests since there is no other commercial operations in the area. Chef and cooks in house diligently prepare fresh dishes for each hotel guest. Top quality seafood choices including fresh scallops, crab claws and famous Towada Lake’s Kokanee Salmon(Himemasu), locally produced vegetables and regional’s specialties, are printed on a dinner menu described how each selection was prepared. Attending staff are courteous and attention to details. Although not all speak English, we were able to communicate with some who can. The cost of room will go up during the Autumn peak season and rooms are usually booked up way in advance. For what it’s worth visitors are willing to pay high price for the exceptional qualities and services it has to offer. Food quality, staff services, hotel property and surrounding environment are worthy of your stays. So why not pamper yourself for a day or two in this secluded scenic nature setting.||To access to Tsuata Onsen, you can take JR Bus departing from Shin-Aomori/Aomori Bus stop (outside of JR Shin-Aomori/Aomori Station East Exit Stop # 1); bus will stop in front of the property, travel time is about 1 hour 35min. If you come from Lake Towada JR Yasumiya rest house it will take about 56 min. If you have JR East or all Japan pass, it will cover your rides. Or pay as you go. A digital fare chart board is located above the bus front window. When you get on the bus you must pull out a boarding ticket from the machine locates at right side of the front entrance steps, your ticket will bear a stamped number. Your ticket number will show on the fare chart as bus travel. When you get off at your destination the charts will display your fare under the number stamped on your ticket. JR Bus also has luggage holding space for your luggage. Hotel only offers free shuttle to...

Tsuta Onsen is a well know historical ryokan that owns its ground source of hot spring (not the same as commonly piped-in source onsen). Its listed on one of the 100 famous ground source onsens in Japan. This property is in the midst of national park and in a secluded location. The JR east Bus makes its stop here to and from Towada Lake/Oirase Gorge. It’s a great choice to stay a night or two; enjoy its ground source onsen and the scenic beauties of surrounding beech forest and seven ponds behind the property. ||The original part of the property structure was built with forest lumbers; established in 1909; with two additions in 1918 and 1952. But the history of Kyuan Onsen(Kyuan-no-yu) can be traced back to the year 1147! I was very impressed with its originality, preservation and upkeep; especially the history ties with development of national park, its own ground source hot spring, 12th century built Kyuan-no-yu and two newer onsens. All three onsens were built with wooden pools including bottoms of the pools and entire frameworks with cedar lumbers. Supplies of hot spring water come directly from the ground of the onsen pools. These pools are available to public for day trippers only during the certain hours. The public area for guests includes several reception/reading rooms, a large guest lounge with stunning views of Japanese garden, sitting area with rocking chairs, free nature spring drinking water and chilled tea. A famous poet and scholar Keigetsu Ōmachi who traveled to this area, discovered its tranquil and nature beauty. He decided to make this place his permanent residence and his final resting place. His burial site, memorial stone markers and a bronze statue are located outside the garden area. History and collections of Keigetsu Ōmachi's poems, calligraphy and literatures are in exhibits inside of the ryokan. Museum is free for guests to visit. ||There are several characters that make this ryokan an exceptional choice of place to stay. I prefer tranquility and scenic nature setting. So, choosing this ryokan for our two nights stay fit in our plans. The entire property is surrounded by the dense forest, with beautiful Japanese gardens, accompanied with fountains, ponds and flowing streams. Behinds the property there are walking trails lead to the wild bird sanctuary and seven ponds surrounded with forest trees. During the autumn foliage changing season the colors of leaves turning red, orange and yellow. The images reflect upon the calm water surface make this area a top attraction for photo shootings. ||For its nature setting Tsuta Onsen Ryokan is certainly an excellent place to retreat, relax and rejuvenate your body and soul. Ryokan offers full board to the guests since there is no other commercial operations in the area. Chef and cooks in house diligently prepare fresh dishes for each hotel guest. Top quality seafood choices including fresh scallops, crab claws and famous Towada Lake’s Kokanee Salmon(Himemasu), locally produced vegetables and regional’s specialties, are printed on a dinner menu described how each selection was prepared. Attending staff are courteous and attention to details. Although not all speak English, we were able to communicate with some who can. The cost of room will go up during the Autumn peak season and rooms are usually booked up way in advance. For what it’s worth visitors are willing to pay high price for the exceptional qualities and services it has to offer. Food quality, staff services, hotel property and surrounding environment are worthy of your stays. So why not pamper yourself for a day or two in this secluded scenic nature setting.||To access to Tsuata Onsen, you can take JR Bus departing from Shin-Aomori/Aomori Bus stop (outside of JR Shin-Aomori/Aomori Station East Exit Stop # 1); bus will stop in front of the property, travel time is about 1 hour 35min. If you come from Lake Towada JR Yasumiya rest house it will take about 56 min. If you have JR East or all Japan pass, it will cover your rides. Or pay as you go. A digital fare chart board is located above the bus front window. When you get on the bus you must pull out a boarding ticket from the machine locates at right side of the front entrance steps, your ticket will bear a stamped number. Your ticket number will show on the fare chart as bus travel. When you get off at your destination the charts will display your fare under the number stamped on your ticket. JR Bus also has luggage holding space for your luggage. Hotel only offers free shuttle to...

Tsuta Onsen was a Godsend as it happened to have availability on the 2 nights I wanted. I had never been to Aomori Prefecture before and Tsuta Onsen was the best introduction ever. The journey on the complimentary shuttle from Shichinohe-Towada station is magical, especially on the final approach where the ryokan is surrounded by a virgin beech forest. It is set in such beautiful surrounds one only needs to go for short walks around (eg to Tsuta Numa) to relax and enjoy. The staff are amazing and they take care of every detail, from your shoes at the entrance, to providing gumboots. The room was impeccable. My room had a toilet but no shower as this was provided at the women’s bath area. It was no issue to me as I enjoyed the onsen thoroughly. The fact that the ryokan was built directly over the source of the hot springs is amazing in itself. Their meal service is impeccable, they even noticed from my first meal that I am left-handed and had my chopsticks set the correct direction from the second meal onwards. They used locally sourced ingredients and everything was delicious.

The staff multi-task so well, going from running the reception to meal service etc. I had lost my glasses while out at Oirase Gorge, but the staff managed to track it down, and arranged for it to be sent to me in Niigata later, as I was unable to go collect it myself. They really went beyond their call of duty.

There is a JR bus that stops briefly at the onsen, on a schedule, that can bring one to Oirase Gorge but I had to ask around the different buses to ensure I caught the right one & didn’t miss it. The video shown here is of the bath that one can reserve for private use at a fee. Tsuta Onsen was really...