Seizanso

A lodging house at about 650m beside the Fujikuma river in eastern Tanzawa, on the road (Kanagawa prefectural route 70) that drops from Yabitsu Pass toward Miyagase. Its grounds of roughly 1,000 tsubo are ringed by hills on three sides with a stream running through, and wild birds, hares and deer come and go. It began around 1959 when the founder, looking for good spring water, opened a summer-camp school here; the water, balanced at pH 7, still supplies everything from the drinking taps to the meisui coffee and the bath heated with spring water. Reach it by Kanachu bus toward Yabitsu Pass from Hadano Station on the Odakyu Odawara line, or 30 to 40 minutes by car from national route 246. It works strictly by reservation and never closes, taking anything from a single guest to a group of 150: room-only stays in the new and old wings, pitches for climbers' own tents, drive-in camping and barbecues. The attached Kimagure Kissa café is known for coffee brewed with the spring water, and is a natural stop for walkers heading to Oyama and for cyclists and motorcyclists crossing the pass.