You can fully enjoy comfort beyond description when you stay at a good ryokan, a Japanese inn. This is because the vital spirit of hospitality is embedded in every single detail at a ryokan. Three ryokans—Gajōen (Myōken Hot-Spring, Kagoshima Prefecture), Beniya Mukayu (Yamashiro Hot-Spring, Ishikawa Prefecture), and Tsuru no Yu (Nyūtō Hot-Spring, Akita Prefecture)—are introduced with the realistic feeling that you are actually experiencing their hospitality in real time.
Myoken Hot Spring, Wasure no Sato Gajoen
Myoken Hot Spring is located a 15-minute drive from Kagoshima Airport, on the foot of the Kirishima Mountain Range, which is famous for the legend of Tensonkorin (the descent of the grandson of the sun goddess to earth). The Amori River runs through a vast volcanic ash plateau and carved the valleys to cradle bathing resorts like Myoken. Historical celebrities such as Ryoma Sakamoto and Takamori Saigo visited here to enjoy the outstandingly famous quality and yield of Myoken spring water. In this location Wasure no Sato (Village of Forgetting), Gajoen is equipped with thatched roofs and hearth and actively preserves a quiet traditional lifestyle. What we have here are Guest rooms under the thatched roofs of relocated farmers’ houses, The cock crowing in the morning, Just-picked fresh vegetables and eggs, Rice cooked on a firewood stove and miso soup with tons of ingredients Somehow everything has a smell of nostalgia here. Men and women, young and old, all work together in nourishing nature and being sustained by it one year after another.
Here, a welcome decor and hospitality to visitors reflects the four seasons and a faithfulness to seasonal ingredients. If there is a spiritually traditional Japan, we can be proud of it to the world, such serene landscapes can be seen here. Gajoen might be a homeland people would wish to return to.
4230, Makizonocho Shukukubota, Kirishima-shi, Kagoshima
gajoen.jp
Yamashiro Hot Spring, Beniya Mukayu
Beniya Mukayu is an inn located in the mountains of Yakushiyama, embracing a wild garden filled with red pine, cherry, maple, and camellia.
This in was designed by Sey Takeyama and is almost like a cottage with only 17 rooms. Nevertheless, each of these rooms has an open-air bath connected to the indoor space which is quite literally mukayu, meaning “empty” but with the landscape streaming into the rooms.
The “Spa Entei Sejutsu-in” provides healthy treatments using hot spring water and oriental medical herbs. Every morning a yoga class is held in front of the sacred red pine tree.
The inn’s name “Mukayu”, which means “non-existence” or “in the natural state”, is a word that Zhuangzi was particularly of.
To borrow words from Takeyama, who designed this inn, here is “the time that rests as empty space”.
Yamashiro Onsen 55-1-3, Kaga, Ishikawa
mukayu.com
Nyuto hot spring Tsuru no Yu
Nyuto hot spring is located in the highlands on the way from Lake Tazawa to the foot of Mount Akita Komagatake. The name Nyuto comes from Mount Nyuto, a mountain shaped like a woman’s breasts. Fabulous milky-white water is gushing out in Nyuto. “Tsuru no Yu”is the oldest inn in Nyuto hot spring with 15 generations of history for almost 400 years. An antique thatched-roofed farmhouse welcomes contemporary visitors just as the Lord of Akita Clan was when he visited here in 1638. On the hearth the pot is heated, and Japanese yam in rich Akita flavor are served. Milky-white hot spring bathing takes place out of doors with minimalist buildings, such as a natural-wood gazebo, humble wooden changing facility, and modest fences. In winter, the entire inn is buried under heavy snow. White, turbid, hot water has a delicate translucency which proves to be effective in curing the body. Mysterious and enigmatic. Power and wisdom always belong to Nature, and we humans receive a small portion which is just enough for our survival: You cannot help believing this is true here. Therefore, this is the place for Japanese people to feel their ancestral, spiritual landscape.
50 Kokuyurin Sendatsuizawa Tazawa Aza Senboku-shi Akita
www.tsurunoyu.com