Overview
Kokoro no Oyado Jizaiso gives you a quiet hot spring stay among the trees of Nasu Yumoto in Tochigi Prefecture. With only 15 rooms, the ryokan feels personal and easy to settle into. Each room takes its name from a mountain plant, connecting your stay to the landscape and changing seasons of the Nasu Highlands.
The rooms and main shared spaces completed a major renewal in December 2024. You now find Japanese interiors shaped by tatami, warm wood, wide windows, comfortable seating, and views of the surrounding forest. The small size keeps everything close, allowing you to move easily between your room, meals, lounge, and baths.
You come here to soak in natural hot spring water, enjoy food from Nasu and Tochigi, and spend long hours away from a busy schedule. Check-in begins at 1:00 PM and check-out is at 11:00 AM, giving you up to 22 hours to enjoy the ryokan, including an afternoon bath soon after arrival and a slower morning before departure.
Accommodation
You can choose from traditional Japanese rooms, larger corner rooms, Japanese rooms with twin beds or mattresses, garden open-air bath rooms, and spacious rooms with Shigaraki ceramic baths. Large windows look toward the trees, bringing the light, colours, and movement of the forest into your room.
The six standard Japanese rooms, named Rindou, Kazaguruma, Kakitsubata, Ebine, Mizubasho, and Odorikosou, offer between eight and ten tatami mats. These rooms suit you when you want a classic ryokan layout with futons, low seating, and a peaceful forest view.
The larger corner rooms, Iwakagami and Shiraneaoi, give you 12.5 tatami mats and a shower room. They offer more floor space for family time or a group stay, while still keeping the traditional Japanese atmosphere. Kyokanoko is an eight-tatami Japanese room with two Simmons beds, while Shimotsuke offers an 11-tatami layout with twin mattresses. These choices work well when you enjoy tatami but prefer sleeping on a bed.
For private source-flowing bathing, choose one of the garden open-air bath rooms. Hagi gives you a generous 16-tatami layout, while Kiri offers a more compact eight-tatami space. Both include an open-air hot spring bath and shower room. Aoi combines an eight-tatami Japanese room with two Simmons beds, a private garden bath, and a shower room. You can step into the water whenever you like while listening to birds and the movement of leaves outside.
Komakusa and Gozentachibana each offer 16 tatami mats and a private Shigaraki-yaki ceramic open-air bath. Their flatter layouts make movement around the room easier, and each includes a heated healing-stone couch that gives you an experience similar to resting on warm bedrock. You can lie back after bathing and let the gentle heat continue your relaxation.
Room equipment includes a sofa, refrigerator, 50-inch television, safe, electric kettle, and hair dryer. Rooms with private open-air baths also include Sekkisei lotion, moisturiser, and cleansing products. Your standard amenities include face and bath towels, shampoo, conditioner, body soap, hand soap, toothbrushes, cotton products, shower cap, hairbrush, tea, sweets, and light snacks.
Dining
Dinner brings you a seasonal Japanese kaiseki meal shaped by the ingredients of Nasu and Tochigi. The kitchen uses local beef, highland vegetables, mushrooms, dairy products, mountain plants, and river fish such as ayu, yamame, and iwana. Spring may bring freshly gathered plants served as tempura, while summer may feature salt-grilled ayu.
Your main course depends on the plan you choose. The standard dinner features Nasu Nogahara beef cooked on a hot ceramic plate alongside a seasonal creative kaiseki menu. You can also choose a gentler hot spring shabu-shabu course with Nasu Nogahara beef, a higher-grade course built around Tochigi Wagyu, or a generous menu combining beef steak with Nasu eel.
Dinner runs from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM. You usually dine in Kinran or Ginran, the Japanese dining rooms inside the ryokan. Depending on your room and plan, you may enjoy dinner inside your room instead. In-room dining can also be requested in advance for an added fee when your selected room and plan allow it.
Breakfast is served from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM as a Japanese set meal. You can begin the day with local Nasu Goyou eggs, highland vegetables, rice, side dishes, and miso soup made with Jizaiso’s original three-year-aged miso. After eating, you can continue your morning with the ryokan’s original blended coffee in Lounge Sora.
Onsen and Wellness
Jizaiso uses Jizo no Yu, natural hot spring water that is also supplied to the Nasu Imperial Villa. The spring is a clear, colourless simple thermal spring classified as neutral, hypotonic, and high-temperature. It has a very faint sulphur scent and a gentle feel that makes it comfortable for longer bathing.
The open-air baths use source-flowing water, while the large indoor baths partly use circulation and chlorine treatment. Traditional bathing indications include relief from muscle and joint discomfort, stiff shoulders, bruises, sprains, sensitivity to cold, tiredness, and recovery after illness. Enjoy these as traditional onsen benefits rather than medical treatment.
You can soak in the shared indoor and open-air baths from 1:00 PM to midnight and again from 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM. The bathing areas switch at midnight, giving you the chance to experience both sides during an overnight stay. The outdoor area includes a jacuzzi, a hinoki half-body bath, and a mist sauna, allowing you to change the way you relax throughout your bathing time.
A reservable semi-open-air bath gives you a more private option. You can book a 30-minute session at reception after checking in, with reservations available from 1:30 PM to 10:00 PM. The bath includes an accessible toilet, a shower chair, and baby soap, making it easier to use when you need additional support or travel with a young child.
Selected rooms include their own open-air hot spring baths, so you can bathe without leaving your accommodation. The garden bath rooms use source-flowing water, while the Shigaraki rooms let you soak in deep ceramic tubs surrounded by the sounds and seasonal air of Nasu.
After bathing, you can use the complimentary massage chairs in the relaxation area or try a small amount of hot spring water at the drinking station. The spring became available for drinking in 2025 and contains metasilicic acid, although you should follow the instructions beside the fountain and drink only the recommended amount.
Guests with Tattoos
If you have tattoos, please use the reservable semi-open-air bath or choose a room with its own open-air hot spring bath rather than the shared large baths. You can reserve the private bath after check-in for a 30-minute session, while an in-room bath lets you enjoy the spring water whenever you like.
Facilities
Lounge Sora gives you a comfortable place to pause after bathing. From 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM, you can enjoy drinks such as seasonal smoothies, yuzu drinks, Shichifukucha tea, sake tastings, light snacks, and coffee made with GODIVA beans. Service times and selections can change, but the lounge remains an inviting place for conversation or a quiet drink.
The shop opens from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM and carries Nasu sweets, local sake, pickles made with regional ingredients, and Jizaiso’s original three-year-aged miso. The craft corner lets you create small seasonal pieces using natural materials, with activities suited to both adults and children.
You also have access to the natural hot spring drinking station, a relaxation corner, free drinks, ice pops, vending machines, complimentary massage chairs, and dining rooms Kinran and Ginran. Wheelchairs, additional beds, yukata, and children’s items can be borrowed without charge, subject to availability. Free parking is available for up to 30 cars.
Activities
You can make the ryokan itself the main part of your stay. Arrive from 1:00 PM, change into your yukata, enjoy an afternoon soak, relax in Lounge Sora, create something in the craft corner, and return to the bath after dinner. Families may also find seasonal programmes such as summer beetle searches or stargazing, depending on the dates and weather.
The Nasu Highlands give you plenty to explore between baths and meals. You can ride the Nasu Ropeway toward the upper slopes of Mount Chausu, enjoy seasonal mountain plants, or take in wide views across the surrounding landscape. Spring and early summer bring fresh leaves and wild plants, autumn covers the mountains in colour, and winter transforms the area with snow.
Local bus routes also connect the area with Nasu Ropeway, the higher mountain hot springs, Nasu Highland attractions, and Roadside Station Nasu Kogen Yuai no Mori. This makes it possible to combine your ryokan stay with mountain scenery, local food, crafts, and family attractions.
Additional Features
Kokoro no Oyado Jizaiso is located at 206-98 Yumoto, Nasu, Nasu District, Tochigi Prefecture. You can reach it in about 15 minutes by car from Nasu Interchange. From Nasu-Shiobara Station, the bus journey to the Shin-Nasu stop takes around 40 minutes, while the journey from Kuroiso Station takes around 25 minutes.
The ryokan does not run a complimentary station shuttle. A paid transfer from Nasu-Shiobara or Kuroiso Station can be arranged in advance, and a discounted local bus ticket is available with prior reservation. Pick-up from the nearby Shin-Nasu bus stop can also be arranged when you share your arrival time beforehand.
Day-use bathing and selected bath-and-meal packages are also available during separate hours, allowing you to enjoy Jizo no Yu even when you do not stay overnight.
Kokoro no Oyado Jizaiso suits you when you want a small Nasu ryokan with early check-in, seasonal Japanese dining, private bath choices, and natural hot spring water surrounded by trees. You can arrive early, bathe often, eat slowly, and let the forest and warm water set the pace of your stay.
