Qualla: Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan https://qualla.com/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:40 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan https://qualla.com/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan: Introduction https://qualla.com/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan/ Photo credit Boltor, CC BY-SA 4.0. Fifty-two generations of innkeepers. Thirteen centuries of hot water rising from the same springs. When Fujiwara no Mahito founded a hot spring inn at the foot of the Akaishi Mountains in 705 AD, the Nara period had not yet begun, the Viking Age was two lifetimes away, and Charlemagne's grandparents had not been born. Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan has been receiving guests ever since, making it, according to Guinness World Records, the oldest hotel in the world.

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-wp/xn66-nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan: Born in the Keiun Era https://qualla.com/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan/ Photo credit Boltor, CC BY-SA 4.0. The inn takes its name from the Keiun era (704-708) during which it was established. Its founder, Fujiwara no Mahito, was the son of an aide to Emperor Tenji, the 38th Emperor of Japan. Mahito discovered the Hakuho Springs bubbling up at the base of the Southern Alps and built a ...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-wp/xn66-nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-born-in-the-keiun-era.mp3 0:06 2 full Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan: Warlords in the Water https://qualla.com/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan/ Photo credit Boltor, CC BY-SA 4.0. The guest register at Keiunkan reads like a who's who of Japanese history. Takeda Shingen, the fearsome Tiger of Kai who dominated the region during the Sengoku period, bathed in these springs. So did Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who would unify Japan and establish the shogunate that...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-wp/xn66-nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-warlords-in-the-water.mp3 0:06 3 full Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan: The Weight of Continuity https://qualla.com/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan/ Photo credit Boltor, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Japanese have a word for businesses like this: shinise, meaning a long-established enterprise worthy of respect. Keiunkan is perhaps the ultimate shinise, having operated continuously since the early eighth century. For most of that span, ownership passed through the founding...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-wp/xn66-nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-the-weight-of-continuity.mp3 0:06 4 full Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan: Springs Older Than Memory https://qualla.com/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan/ Photo credit Boltor, CC BY-SA 4.0. The modern inn facilities are only a few decades old, a fact that Guinness acknowledged when conferring its record. What makes Keiunkan the oldest hotel in the world is not the building but the unbroken act of hospitality at this site. The Hakuho Springs have never stopped flowin...

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]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/6/6/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-wp/xn66-nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan-springs-older-than-memory.mp3 0:06 5 full