Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan - The Oldest Hotel In The World

When Fujiwara no Mahito is said to have found hot water forcing its way through the rocks of a mountain riverbed in the year 705, the Vikings hadn't yet reached North America and England wasn't yet a unified kingdom. Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, the inn built around that spring, has been open ever since.

Guinness World Records certified it in 2011 as the world's oldest hotel, and the water that first drew samurai and warlords down from the surrounding peaks has flowed without interruption from then until now.

That doesn't mean the building you'd check into today is 1,300 years old. Like most ryokan of its age, Keiunkan has been rebuilt and refined many times over the centuries, most recently in 1997 – so the facilities on site are, in fact, only a few decades old. What's continuous is the site, the source, and, until 2017, the family that ran the place.

Where The Akaishi Mountains Meet The Hayakawa River

The ryokan sits in Hayakawa, a small town in Yamanashi Prefecture's Minamikoma District, at the foot of the Akaishi range – the southern arm of the Japanese Alps. It overlooks the Yukawa ravine, near where it meets the Hayakawa River, and the nearest train stations are Minobu and Shimobe Onsen, both on the JR Minobu Line.

Fifty-Two Generations And Thirteen Centuries Of Hot Water

According to local history, Fujiwara no Mahito – the son of an aide to Emperor Tenji – was hunting in the mountains when he came across hot water forcing its way out of the riverbed rock. He cut a path down to it and built a bathing pool, and the inn that grew up around the spot took its name from the Keiun era in which it was founded.

Over the centuries the ryokan drew townsfolk, monks, and warlords from the surrounding provinces. Takeda Shingen and Tokugawa Ieyasu are both said to have used it as a hideaway spring during Japan's unification, and the current reigning Emperor Naruhito is also counted among its more recent visitors.

For most of that history, Keiunkan stayed in the same hands: 52 generations of one family, counting adopted heirs, ran the inn until 2017. When no relative was willing to take over, the general manager, Kenjiro Kawano, became the first unrelated president in its history, and ownership passed to a newly formed holding company. The old one was dissolved and later went through formal liquidation.

Keiunkan's Guinness title came relatively late – the inn only applied for recognition in 2011, taking the record from Hoshi Ryokan, founded just 13 years later, in 718, in Ishikawa Prefecture, which still ranks as the world's second-oldest hotel.

The 2005 renovation that gave Keiunkan its current hot spring capacity wasn't without controversy either: a neighboring ryokan, Horaikan, accused Keiunkan of draining its spring by drilling nearby, though the Kofu District Court dismissed the claim in 2012, ruling there was no scientific basis for it.

Old Timber And Traditional Design

Built largely from dark timber, Keiunkan leans into traditional Japanese craft rather than resort polish. Staff wear nibu-shiki, a two-piece kimono, and the public spaces mix tatami flooring with classic Japanese furnishings.

Corridors and rooms frame views of the Kai mountains, often compared to shan shui ink paintings, and of the Hayakawa and Yukawa ravines below. One structure, built in the sukiya-zukuri style historically associated with tea houses, includes a moon-viewing platform.

Tatami Mats And River Views

Keiunkan has 35 rooms. Book one of the suites and you get a private, free-flowing open-air bath; simpler tatami rooms come furnished with futons rather than beds. Many are built around a roughly 20 square meter (215 square foot) area made up of twelve tatami mats.

Since a 2005 renovation, every room's bathroom has drawn directly on the property's own spring water. One suite's bath is built entirely from hinoki cypress.

Most rooms overlook one of the two ravines, with the surrounding mountains visible through the windows.

Six Baths, Fed By The Local Spring Water

You'll find six baths here in total, four open-air and two indoor, drawing on natural spring water tied to the Fossa Magna, the geological rift that splits Japan roughly down the middle.

The water is classified as a sodium, calcium nitrate, and chloride spring, weakly alkaline, and the ryokan describes it as traditionally good for muscle pain, digestive complaints, and skin – folklore more than clinical fact, but a long-held one.

The property's drilled source produces around 1,630 liters (430 gallons) of naturally emerging water a minute, which the ryokan says is among the best rates in Japan.

There's a terrace overlooking the Yukawa ravine for afterward.

A Small Garden Built Around Running Water

The grounds include a Japanese garden with running water and tended plants, meant for a slow, relaxing walk.

A wooden footbridge crosses the ravine above the property to a wooded slope on the other side – enclosed in a metal frame but still open to the air, so it's not for anyone uneasy with heights. Steps also lead down to the ravine floor, though the path narrows and can get overgrown further along.

Mountains, Temples, And Snow Monkeys Nearby

If you want to see Mount Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it's about two and a half hours away by car – though the ryokan is upfront that the mountain can't actually be seen from the property. Zenko-ji Temple, home to what's considered the largest Buddhist worship hall of the mid-Edo period in eastern Japan and designated a national treasure, is roughly three and a half hours away.

Jigokudani Monkey Park, where Japanese macaques bathe in hot springs through winter, is about three hours and fifty minutes by car. Closer by, Minami Alps National Park and Mount Kushigata offer their own mountain scenery, Hayakawa town has centuries-old temples and shrines of its own, and the Nirasaki Omura Museum of Art is within reach for anyone wanting a look at the region's art history.