Beniya Mukayu

Beniya Mukayu sits on the hillside of Yakushiyama in Yamashiro Onsen, Kaga, in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture. The setting has a long connection with healing: it was once home to Yakuoin Temple, where monks used hot spring baths and medicinal herbs to care for people.

This luxury onsen ryokan has 16 spacious guest rooms, each facing the forest garden and with its own private open-air hot spring bath. Interiors are calm and pared back with traditional materials such as tatami matting, Japanese paper, bamboo and diatomaceous earth, a natural breathable wall material.

Inside the ryokan, you can spend time in three libraries, or visit Spa Entei for treatments inspired by Yakushiyama’s hot spring water and medicinal herbs. Dinner is served at Kaiseki Horin, a fine dining restaurant with a spacious terrace overlooking the forest garden. The eight-course kaiseki dinner follows Japan’s omakase tradition, using seasonal local ingredients gathered across Kaga’s mountains, rivers, lakes and the Sea of Japan.

We especially recommend the tea ceremony with the owners, Mr and Mrs Nakamichi, as it offers a personal welcome through homemade tea and conversation. Workshop-style experiences include chashaku making, where you craft a bamboo tea scoop, and preparing nerikiri wagashi sweets, traditionally made with sweetened bean paste and yam potato.

You can also visit Kutani porcelain artists, seeing the techniques behind this distinctive local craft up close. Outdoors, heading out with a mountain master to Ozuchi village is a great opportunity to see old Japanese clay houses. Combine your stay with nearby Kanazawa, known for Kenroku-en Garden, samurai districts and geisha culture.