Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Tsuruga

Tsuruga hotels

Hokkaido's lakes and forests shape hot-spring hotels, from sociable inns to quiet besso suites.

Tsuruga brings intimate retreats and more sociable hot-spring hotels together in Hokkaido, with lakes and forests shaping the atmosphere of the stay. The collection ranges from the smaller besso houses of Ao no Za, Hinanoza, and Moku no Sho to larger onsen hotels, giving guests several ways to enjoy the region’s water and seasons.

10 Tsuruga hotels in 1 country on the Luxury Hotels Atlas, each placed on the six LHA Tiers.

• Owned by Tsuruga Holdings
• Worldwide: 16 operating ryokan and hotels across Hokkaido as of September 2026; restaurants, bakeries, and galleries on the wider facilities list are excluded. Official Tsuruga Group portfolio
• On the atlas: 2 High Luxury, 2 Core Luxury, 5 Accessible Luxury, 1 Near Luxury

History

The story starts with a grandfather's wish and a small inn in Kushiro. 大西正一 wanted the family at Lake Akan. 大西正昭 and 茂子 went, founded Akan Grand Hotel in March 1955, and opened the hotel in 1956. The early decades were bus tours. By the mid-1960s so many groups arrived that people said Akan was Ginza. Volume filled the rooms and thinned the stay.

Timeline

• 1955 — Akan Grand Hotel Co. is founded in March. 大西正昭 and 茂子 come from a small Kushiro inn, answering grandfather 大西正一.
• 1956 — The hotel opens on Lake Akan.
• 1965 — The bus-tour boom. Guests say Akan was Ginza.
• 1981 — Masayuki Ohnishi joins, home from a Tokyo bank.
• 1987 — A major travel company stops sending groups.
• 1989 — 大西正昭 dies. Masayuki becomes president. The house turns toward individual guests.
• 1995 — Fortieth anniversary. Main building and annex are complete, with a garden open-air bath and a sky bath. The Tsuruga name goes on the door.
• 1998 — JTB excellent-service prize, large-ryokan category.
• 2000 — Hanayuka opens. Masayuki calls inn-making the making of a work. ISO 9001, a first for Hokkaido.
• 2001 — The founding hotel is renamed Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga.
• 2002 — Guest scores reach 91, and the JTB most-excellent prize for fiscal 2001 follows. Lake Saroma Tsuruga Resort opens, rehiring local staff from a resort that was leaving.
• 2003 — Masayuki is named Hokkaido's first Kanko Charisma.
• 2004 — Hinanoza opens on Lake Akan, the first 座.
• 2005 — Fiftieth anniversary. Pan de Pan opens on the shore. Shiretoko is inscribed as World Heritage the same year.
• 2006 — Rera no Yakata: 40 rooms at Yuku no Sato redone around Ainu design.
• 2007 — Hokuten no Oka opens on Lake Abashiri, themed on Okhotsk culture.
• 2008 — Lake Kussharo Tsuruga Auberge SoRa opens, with a 30-seat French restaurant.
• 2009 — Mizu no Uta opens at Lake Shikotsu, the first central-Hokkaido house. The Zero Carbon Project starts. Masayuki receives the first Tourism Agency Commissioner's Award, one of thirteen, and is the only private member of the new Ainu policy council.
• 2010 — MORI no UTA opens in Jozankei.
• 2011 — Turano lodge opens at Lake Akan. The Michelin Green Guide Japon gives three stars to Lake Akan, Lake Mashu, and Shiretoko National Park.
• 2012 — The group chronicle records a Michelin mark of 5 for Hinanoza. Akan Tsuruga Wings opens.
• 2013 — Moku no Sho opens at Niseko Konbu Onsen.
• 2014 — Tsuruga Buffet Dining opens at Sapporo's Akarenga Terrace. A kamuinomi is held at the group's fire monument.
• 2015 — Sixtieth anniversary.
• 2016 — Tsuruga Holdings is established in March. EPUY opens at Onuma.
• 2019 — Ao no Za opens in May at Lake Shikotsu. The group calls it the highest house.
• 2022 — A marimo footbath, Ure Karip, and the Akan art gallery open in the onsen street.
• 2023 — Hikari no uta opens at Lake Toya. Akan Terrace opens. Hilltop Village Izuba opens beside Hokuten no Oka.
• 2024 — Wings is integrated into Yuku no Sato. THE FOREST AKAN pre-opens on 25 December, the Hanayuka building under a new name.
• 2025 — THE FOREST AKAN grand-opens on 1 January. Seventieth anniversary.
• 2026 — Kohaku no Sho opens on 10 August at Lake Shikotsu Onsen.

The houses to know

1. Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Besso Ao no Za, Chitose, Japan — Twenty-five lake-view suite villas on the caldera, opened in May 2019, the house the group calls its highest.
2. Akan Tsuruga Besso Hinanoza, Kushiro, Japan — Twenty-five suites on Lake Akan, each with its own open-air hot spring, opened in 2004.
3. Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Resort Spa Mizu no Uta, Chitose, Japan — The sociable wellness hotel on Lake Shikotsu, opened in 2009, about forty minutes from New Chitose.
4. Niseko Konbu Onsen Tsuruga Besso Moku No Sho, Niseko, Japan — A 25-room timber villa on its own Konbu Onsen ground, opened in 2013, under Yotei.
5. Lake Toya Tsuruga Resort Hikari no uta, Sobetsu, Japan — Song of Light: a 2023 lakeside resort in a 56,000-square-metre garden on the Toya caldera.
6. Hakodate Onuma Tsuruga Resort EPUY, Nanae, Japan — A country resort beside Onuma Park, opened in 2016, with southern Hokkaido cooking and a flower garden.
7. Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga, Kushiro, Japan — The crane house: the 1956 origin, given this name in 2001, with communal baths on Lake Akan.
8. Jozankei Tsuruga Resort Spa MORI no UTA, Sapporo, Japan — A warm forest lodge in Jozankei Onsen, opened in 2010, about fifty minutes from central Sapporo.
9. Hokuten no Oka Abashiriko Tsuruga Resort, Abashiri, Japan — The far-north house on Lake Abashiri, opened in 2007 for the Okhotsk ice.
10. THE FOREST AKAN TSURUGA RESORT, Kushiro, Japan — The sociable forest hotel on Lake Akan, relaunched on 1 January 2025 from the old Hanayuka.

Newest openings

• Kohaku no Sho — Chitose, Japan — opened 10 August 2026 — Tsuruga’s third house at Lake Shikotsu Onsen follows Mizu no Uta and Ao no Za. All 24 rooms have an onsen bath, and the hotel includes a lounge, bar, restaurant, and shop. New Chitose Airport is about forty minutes away by car.
• THE FOREST AKAN TSURUGA RESORT, Kushiro, Japan, grand-opened 1 January 2025 (pre-open 25 December 2024). The Hanayuka building of 2000, relaunched under this name. Lobby and restaurant renewed. The group notice keeps the free-flowing large baths and BAR DE PAN, and says room types were left as they were. The new line is a casual, at-home base in the forest.

Opening next

• No further Tsuruga openings with a confirmed year were identified beyond Kohaku no Sho, which opened on 10 August 2026.

Every Tsuruga hotel on the atlas

Japan

• Akan Tsuruga Besso Hinanoza — Kushiro · High Luxury
• Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Besso Ao no Za — Chitose · High Luxury
• Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Resort Spa Mizu no Uta — Chitose · Core Luxury
• Niseko Konbu Onsen Tsuruga Besso Moku No Sho — Niseko · Core Luxury
• Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga — Kushiro · Accessible Luxury
• Hakodate Onuma Tsuruga Resort EPUY — Nanae · Accessible Luxury
• Hokuten no Oka Abashiriko Tsuruga Resort — Abashiri · Accessible Luxury
• Jozankei Tsuruga Resort Spa MORI no UTA — Sapporo · Accessible Luxury
• Lake Toya Tsuruga Resort Hikari no uta — Sobetsu · Accessible Luxury
• THE FOREST AKAN TSURUGA RESORT — Kushiro · Near Luxury

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