Thank you! This is an incredible post, aligned perfectly with what we love about Ryokan/Onsen. I've used this to plan our November trip--have stays booked at Wanosanto, looking at Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan or Shogetsu, + Sanso Amanasato.

We stayed at Sankara back in 2016 & would second your opinion + undeveloped tidal onsen on Yakushima are magical (plus easy to rent a car on Yakushima since there is no traffic--the staff at the rental car agency would wave at us every time we drove by during our stay). In Kagoshima, we stayed at Wasure no sato GAJOEN. It may have declined in the past 9 years, but was amazing when we went.