itan: 4. Onsen heaven

Kinosaki Onsen Ryokan Tsubakino

A stylish minimalist ryokan in the process of modernization with a blue-black dark facade and steps to contrast the wood, shoji (sliding wood & paper room dividers) and tatami flooring.

The staff Japanese and an Indian couple were so hospitable helping us with our yukuta (simpler than kimonos meant as onsen attire) with Obi (belt/sash) and over-yukata in dark blue and and lined brown woven striped short jacket over the top. When doning the yukata it’s vital to wrap right side first then left before the belt as the other way round is for embalming!

I even tottered around in geta in my yukata - such a tourist!

We had a lovely woman who served and talked us through the mouthwatering Yukata-filling 11-course Kaiskeki (tasting menu). The first night featured crab four ways from boiled with the most umami-ly addictive vinegar, punctuated by pufferfish karage, snow crab hotpot finished off with steamed egg custard with crabmeat.

Quite an introduction for my wife whose origins are a country that’s landlocked.

We were so lucky having 25°C sunshine for our 2+hr hike up and down Daishi-San (Mount) on the day the Ropeway (funicular).

The onsen-baked egg and Kinosaki gelato shack at the foot of the mountain was closed on a Thursday but that meant the top was virtually tourist free and fortunately bear-free.

To satiate our sweet tooth after the grilled fish, onsen egg pickles rice breakfast & hike we joined the queue for the local egg-bread speciality, baked to Japanese precision, sharing a traditional custard textures egg bun and a chocolate variant - both delicious!

Although the mugwort ice cream was not in stock at family mart I did take a Kinosaki Matcha gelato back to the hotel to have with some freshly brewed green tea before sinking into a sweet induced siesta shogun-ess style!