This hostelry is widely acknowledged as the best traditional ryokan in Japan, a claim shared with the Tawaraya directly across the narrow street. Dating from 1818 and now in its sixth generation of innkeepers, this low-key inn has hosted countless international notables, yet the only evidence of grandeur is the occasional limousine sidling up in front. As a sign of the times, it recently installed a computer in a parlor for those who absolutely cannot do without.
Arrivals cross a stone path, wetted down as a sign of welcome, and enter a tranquil world of time-honored Japanese hospitality. Each guest room is assigned a kimono-clad attendant who provides tea on arrival, meals, and room rearrangement at bedtime (setting up the futon) and before breakfast.
Guests dine on meticulously prepared traditional kaiseki fare, served on locally crafted pottery, porcelain and lacquerware, while seated on tatami mats in their rooms. (Two meals are included in the rates.) Drink service includes tea upon arrival, ice water before bedtime and liquor-stocked minibars. A banquet room, which can seat 40, contains a nice rectangular pond and boasts floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides overlooking a Japanese garden.
None of the refined rooms are alike, including seven rooms in a new addition that follow the inn's tradition of employing different architectural details in each room, and showcase natural materials such as clay, wood, paper and reeds. Antique furnishings and gold-painted screens are common to all rooms, and controls for the TVs and drapes are concealed in gourd-shaped lacquered boxes. Futon mattresses atop tatami are used for beds, and traditional Japanese baths clad in tile or marble center on cedar tubs brimming with hot water. Almost all rooms open onto serene, delicately groomed gardens conducive to meditation. The sound of trickling water helps mask traffic racket. One room in the new wing has a platform bed, to make it easier for the elderly and handicapped.
Travelers unschooled in the strictly observed rules of ryokan etiquette will appreciate this inn's unusual tolerance of foreigners' foibles, and guests should make efforts to meet the gracious proprietor, who keeps everything in order. Check your bank balance (rates are per person, and based on two people in a room) and your shoes before entering.
