My wife and I decided to spend a weekend of our most recent trip to Japan at an onsen. After doing a ton of research (this thread included) we decided that Takefue checked the most boxes for us.

Arrival
We flew from Haneda into Kumamoto airport and rented a car to do the drive up ourselves. Very easy and scenic drive from the airport to the ryokan.

On arrival we were greeted by the staff and our nakai san who lead us down to the reception building. We chose yukatas and then made the walk to our room. Our nakai san was great — I handled most of the communication with him and the rest of the staff in Japanese, but he would proactively switch to English if asked questions by my wife who does not speak it.

He did a thorough walkthrough of the features of the room, went over our dinner time and preferences, and confirmed our bookings at the special baths. He would also serve us all of our meals and confirm our schedules in detail each day — a true butler for the duration of our stay.
Room
The room we stayed in was Shien-An. Each room has a different setup, but we were drawn to the backyard with a variety of onsens and the spacious layout with dedicated bedroom area. Overall we loved the room, although there were some small drawbacks.

Pros

• Spacious with plenty of room for two people.
• Shien-An is tucked away on the far end of the property and offers good privacy. Zero foot traffic from other guests near our room. Wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who isn’t too mobile, as it does require walking up / down a fair number of stairs to get to reception, the special baths, etc.
• Newer construction despite the retro aesthetic, so things felt sturdy and modern. All of the conveniences like plentiful electrical outlets, strong plumbing, etc. Heated floors in the living room area and bathrooms.
• The decor was upscale but not generic and felt thoughtful. Every nook and shelf was filled with interesting / useful items. Remote controls were hidden away in wooden boxes. Two fully stocked mini-fridges with all contents included and refilled each day. Warm towel cabinet. Pour over + nespresso coffee options in-room.
• The functional irori was awesome to eat meals at.
• The main rotenburo is phenomenal. Huge and beautifully designed — such a luxury to have as your own private bath! We barely used the ashi-yu and ne-yu to be honest. People staying with larger groups / kids would probably get more use out of them, but we basically defaulted to the main bath every time.

Cons

• The uchi-yu (inside bath) is in a separate unheated structure accessed via an outdoor hallway. On our first night it was cold but manageable to dash to the uchi-yu building, use the shower to wash up, and warm up in the inside bath before moving outdoors. The weather got seriously cold on our second night (in fact it started dumping snow — more on that later) to the point where the uchi-yu was just not usable. That means that we were not able to take a shower on the last night / morning before we departed. Would love it if they could add on a basic modern shower that is fully indoors / heated. Even a small one would make a huge difference.

• The sitting area in the bedroom that looks out on the backyard is lovely, with a sliding wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. On our second night when it was basically blizzarding, we noticed that snow was actually blowing in through the cracks in the sliding doors. It’s an edge case that won’t affect most stays, but it was jarring to see snow piling up on the inside of the room.
  

Special Bath #1
We were able to book a slot for Chikurin No Yu during our initial check in with our nakai san. Despite being positioned as the “lesser” of the two major special baths, IMHO this is the one to book at all costs.

The changing room is fairly small and basic, but everything else about this bath is stunning. The layout is huge and the backdrop of the bamboo forest is surreal — this is as Instagram ready as an onsen is going to get.

There is even a hidden second bath (Oku No Yu) which is a short walk down a pathway. It is a cozy rotenburo flanked by a small waterfall and is impressive in its own right. Our hour here absolutely flew by.
Dinner / Breakfast
We did the standard Kaiseki option for dinner on night one. Overall, it was great. The only misfire was the main beef dish, which arrived cold. Otherwise it was really enjoyable and we were stuffed by the end.

Then I chose the dessert buffet and stuffed myself a bit more. Maybe a lot more. Those with small appetites will probably want to request smaller portions in advance — it’s a lot of food!

Breakfast the next day was excellent. We did the Japanese breakfast on both days. A huge, well-balanced spread of yummy small bites. The mackerel was delicious. Really solid way to start the day.
Day2 Side Quests
I picked out a couple of nearby places to explore and have lunch at. After a quick morning bath we checked in with our nakai san, had them pull up our car, and off we went. Highly recommend both of these places if you are in the area.

• Take no Kuma

This is a cafe that is hidden in a nondescript little neighborhood about a 15 minute drive away from the ryokan. It is basically impossible to find unless you know that it is there. It looks like nothing from the street. You walk down a short stone path and turn the corner and BAM — suddenly you’re staring at an expansive vista of rice fields framed by mountains. It is beautifully lush and green in the summer, but in the winter it has a somber beauty that is equally stunning.

The designer was clearly influenced by traditional tea ceremonies and has adapted its tenets into a minimalist modern aesthetic. The structure is designed to frame the entirety of its surroundings as its backdrop. The menu is basic, but they execute everything with care and it fits the setting well.

We were honestly just looking for a solid cup of coffee (our chemex skills leave much to be desired), but this place is the real deal on every level — the architecture alone makes it worth a visit. The modern take on classic elements reminded me of the Park Hyatt Kyoto. A unique gem in the middle of nowhere.

• Shala

We stopped by Shala for lunch on the way back. It had high reviews on Google / Tabelog and our nakai san further recommended it as the best restaurant in the area. They specialize in soba. We parked in the lot and added our name to the list out front, and they came to get us after a short wait.

The interior is humble and simple — it feels very much like a converted home. There are educational pictures of local birdlife on the walls, and hand-drawn booklets listing local facts that were made by kids from a nearby school. The vibe is very relaxed.

My wife and I both got Tempura Soba — hers hot and mine cold. Both were excellent. The tempura was fresh and light and the soba was pleasantly chewy and fragrant. Really solid and enjoyable spot for a relaxing lunch.
Special Baths #2 and #3
We got back to the ryokan and hung out for a bit. My wife got a massage (they only have one spa staff at the moment, so book ahead) and then we headed to our slots at the remaining two special baths.

• Doukutsu No Yu

This one is the runt of the litter. It is a small rotenburo set inside of a cave and can fit two people, maybe three if you squeeze. There is nothing wrong with the bath itself, but in all honestly, we felt like the main rotenburo in our room was cooler. It’s got some novelty value, but this one is skippable IMHO.

The big issue with this special bath is that the changing area is entirely open air, unlike the other two special baths. This was not ideal on this day as the temps had already dropped to 0 degrees by 5pm and would just get colder (and snowier) until the end of our stay. As such, disrobing and getting into the bath was quite an ordeal. My wife noped out of it instantly and just huddled with warm towels wrapped around her while I did a quick dip.

• Chikujo No Ma

This is the big boy — the special bath that can only be booked by the higher tier rooms. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, but it looks exactly how you see it on social media, for better or worse.

The facilities are clearly the best of the three. It has a spacious indoor dressing room, an attached bathroom, and an audio room / living room that is adjacent to the bath. The bath itself is basically the size of a swimming pool, set against a dramatic backdrop of bamboo that is lit up spectacularly at night.

There is something to be said for lazily lounging in a floaty chair in an onsen the size of a pool, but it just didn’t feel quite as unique as Chikurin No Yu, which had more aesthetic flair IMO. Both are great, but if I’m only booking one, I’m taking Chikurin over Chikujo every single time.
Dinner / Snow
We opted for the shabu shabu option on night two. The small bites were more of a mixed bag on this night — some elements like the mikan sauce on the octopus didn’t quite work, and the apple pie, while good, was perplexing to have amongst the savory appetizers. The tessa (fugu sashimi) was excellent.

You can’t really mess shabu shabu up, but it was also excellent with both beef and pork options. Again, a lot of food. And yes, I did the dessert buffet again because I have no self control. Onsen weekends are judgement free zones.

By the time we finished up dinner, a sustained snowfall had begun. The weather forecast showed minor flurries expected for an hour or so, but this turned into a full blown winter storm. The snow made the scenery even more beautiful and we loved the aesthetics, but it did highlight another limitation of the room.

I already mentioned the challenges of using the uchi-yu in frigid weather, but after sustained snowfall, using any of the rotenburos was a tall order. Some of the other rooms have more of an indoor / outdoor hybrid rotenburo setup and I think those would have been usable, but ours were all fully exposed to the elements.

I did brave one last late night soak in the main bath, but after 10 minutes or so I decided that risking hypothermia wasn’t the move, regardless of how pretty it was outside. It wasn’t a huge deal for us — this was our last night and we had gotten plenty of use out of the baths. However, it’s something to keep in mind if you are visiting deep in winter like we were.
Breakfast / Departure
Our second breakfast was not quite as good as the first one, but I will extend a lot of grace here as some things are just out of their control. I was very aware of the fact that our nakai san was carefully carrying these large trays of food to us through a literal blizzard (all of the outdoor walkways are covered by a roof but fully exposed to the elements). So yeah, the fish is going to get cold. We’ll live.

At this point around a foot of snow had fallen, and given that the high temps would not even reach 0 degrees that day, none of it was going anywhere. After breakfast, our nakai san proactively asked some staff to go check if the tires on our rental car were snow tires. They were not, so at this point the ryokan arranged to have someone drive up tire chains for us from the closest town with an auto shop. Top notch service, that. NB I had to pay cash on delivery for the chains — a good reminder to always have some yen on you, despite the increasingly cashless society.

They installed the tire chains for us, we checked out, and off we went. Now, unfortunately Google Maps decided to send us down some absolutely treacherous back roads for the first half of the drive down the mountain. It was not safe at all, and we had a couple of very close calls — we were very fortunate not to wreck. I don’t place any blame on the ryokan for this, but in hindsight, I should have confirmed our driving route with them before leaving. Once we finally hit one of the main roads, it was plowed and we had no further issues.
General Thoughts
All in all, we loved our stay. The setting was beautiful, the facilities were awesome, the service was excellent, and the food was top notch. If I were to change anything, I would have added one more day to fully soak in the experience. A two night stay really flies by in the blink of an eye!