Matsumoto Jujo, an onsen hotel built around a 1686 inn in Matsumoto

Matsumoto Jujo1 puts two quite different hotels side by side in Asama Onsen, a hot spring area of Matsumoto. It begins with Koyanagi2, an inn founded in 1686, which joined a project to revive the district in 2018 and reopened as Matsumoto Jujo in 2022. The old building is now Matsumoto Honbako, and a new Koyanagi hotel stands beside it. Run by the Jiyujin brand and a member of Design Hotels, the whole place has 38 rooms.

Suppose Design Office and Schemata handled the architecture, with interiors by Non-grid Inc. At Honbako, traces of the old inn meet exposed concrete, dark timber and large windows facing the town and the Northern Alps, while bookshelves run right through the building, with titles to read or buy. Koyanagi is softer and made with families in mind: natural wood, diatomaceous-earth walls, folk art and, in some rooms, furniture by Finn Juhl. Every room has its own open-air bath fed by natural springs, and accessible rooms include wheelchair-friendly bathrooms and bathing equipment.

Restaurant 3673 cooks over wood using Shinshu ingredients, Alps Table serves Northern Italian dishes, and Okyaki & Coffee pours hand-dripped coffee while doubling as reception. A bakery, lifestyle shop and hard-cider brewery complete the site. One for anyone who wants a hot bath, a mountain view and a good book in the same stay.

Our summary of a story from We Heart, published 8 October 2026. Read the original