On both our previous two trips we did a 5 or 6 day self-guided walk from Walk Japan, staying in rather nice ryokans (old-style Japanese guesthouses) or hotels. The meals were kaiseki-style with many small plates of delicious food.
This visit we couldn't find a Walk Japan trip that suited us, so we planned our own. We wanted to experience ryokans again, so we are staying two nights in a ryokan at each end of the trip. A ryokan stay normally includes both breakfast and dinner. The cost of the ones we have chosen is less than one third of what you'd pay daily on the managed trips. Considering we get to stay in genuine historic buildings, get superb breakfasts, unbelievable dinners, have large rooms, comfy futons, and onsen baths for under $250 per person per night, we feel it is great value.
I'm going to try and describe what a day in a ryokan entails. For the foodies, I'm going to detail our meals too.
The buildings are timber-built, with lots of cedar woodwork, shoji screens, woven cane, tatami mats and wooden floorboards. They may be one or more stories, and there are often a series of linked buildings of different ages and slightly different styles. Spaces are relatively small, and often tricky to find your way through!
Our room this time is actually a number of linked spaces separated by shoji screens. First is a small lobby with an area of timber floor, then a couple of tatami mats and some cupboards for clothes and the futons. Slippers are left at the timber lobby. Then comes the main room.
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| Our main room |
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| Onsen bag, belt, yukata and haori, toe socks |
The main room here is 7 tatami mats in size (rooms here are measured in tatami mats not m2) always with a little alcove off to one side with a flower arrangement and a painting, both of which change with the season. In the middle of the room is a low table with legless chairs. Beyond the main room is a little porch with a timber floor, and doors to a wee courtyard. Off the porch are the toilet and basin. It's not flash - everything is well-worn and showing its age a bit. We don't have a shower, as the complex has two onsens, one public, and one private for ryokan guests only.
This morning we were up around 7, knowing the staff were coming to put away our futons at 7:30. We got dressed in our walking clothes, including socks, as bare feet on tatami mats is a terrible faux pas.
Dead on the agreed 7:30 there was a knock at the door and two young staff soon had the room transformed from sleep mode to living mode. The futons live in a cupboard during the day and are brought out and put away daily. In the daytime we have the low table in the centre of our 7-tatami-mat main room. This table is where breakfast and dinner are served.
There was another knock on the door a bit before 8am. The two breakfast trays were brought in and the breakfast was laid out on the table for us.
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| Setting up breakfast |
None of the staff have much English, many have none, so communication is done via a little handheld translator they all carry. The main items in the meal were explained to us.
From top left going clockwise we had fresh fruit, rice, pickled vegetables, roast eggplant, silky tofu (dipped in soy and eaten with dried seaweed, ginger, spring onions and more seaweed as a garnish), a slice of grilled smoked fish with fresh kombu seaweed and some unknown white food, more pickled vegetables at bottom left, and finally a delicious miso soup with tiny clams. Not shown is a soft poached egg in a smoky soup. The latter was particularly delicious and perfectly cooked. The meal was finished with hot green tea.
All this is eaten with chopsticks, but for soups you lift the bowl and drink it directly. Picking up bowls to bring them closer to your mouth is fine. You always finish with the rice, flavouring it with some of the pickles if you like. Rice is considered very special and you shouldn't leave any. There's more rice in a big bowl in case you'd like extra. We dial 9 on the phone and the meal is cleared away shortly after.
We had a bus to catch for our walk today, so into the house slippers once we were off the tatami mats, and out to the entrance, where the staff had already retrieved our outdoor shoes for us to change into at the threshold. Outdoor shoes are never worn inside, nor are inside slippers worn on the tatami mats in the rooms. We are forever changing in and out of slippers; even the toilets have their own extra set of slippers.
As we headed off, there were four staff lined up at the door to wish us a good day with little bows. There's no hint of obsequiousness about this, just courtesy. We used to feel the bowing was a bit demeaning, but have come to realise that it is just courtesy and politeness. It is always done with good humour; the Japanese we meet are invariably good-humoured.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle as we headed down the driveway. We'd taken the key with us and it seems they only have one key per room and they needed it to service the room!
Back in the afternoon at about 3:30 we were greeted by several staff and our shoes were hidden away until tomorrow. In our room was a complete set of new robes, socks, etc despite us having hung yesterday's in the wardrobe. Cleanliness is most important here!
Having packed our packs for onwards sending to our next stay, since we are walking to the next location, we took them out to the lobby. A staff member had filled in the forms and arranged the transport takkyubin service for us without fuss, so the final signature and payment was soon done.
This ryokan has a very lovely set of gardens, so we headed outdoors (change to outdoor slippers) and enjoyed the walk around. As we came back in, the transport company arrived to collect our bags. They picked them up about 4:30 pm, and they will be in Hagi tomorrow between 2 and 4pm. It's a great service that makes doing longer walks possible. The cost is around $25 per bag.
Back inside (change slippers again) and to our room to change into the fresh yukata robe, haori jacket and toe socks.
Into slippers again and off to the in-house onsen upstairs. Strip down, clothes into a basket or locker, and into the bathing room naked. You sit on a tiny plastic stool and use a bowl to sluice water over yourself before doing a full wash and rinse before you go near the hot pools themselves. The Japanese take this so seriously. They may take as long as 10 minutes scrubbing themselves all over with the little hand towel provided before they soak in the hot pools, then do it all over gain afterwards.
Back to our room in time for dinner at 6pm. This arrived on time with several trays to start with, and then a succession of visits with a new dish or dishes. She explained what the food was, using her electronic translator, all very cheerfully.
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| From top left: beef with fish eggs and chopped chives, fish eggs with broad beans and avocado, 3 types of sashimi with wasabi and trimmings |
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| Clear soup with a quail egg, grilled fish with ginger shoot and lotus root |
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| Tempura minced lotus root |
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| Steamed fish with shiitake mushrooms and pickles |
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| Karaage fish and green pepper with a lemon slice |
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| Green melon, rice, pickles, green tea and miso soup with clams |
Again at the end of the meal a quick call to 9 triggered the cleanup, followed by a couple of young men who packed away the table and chairbacks (we sit at floor level but with some low backrests) and set up the futons.
