Count Down to Spring !!

Hi! How are you everyone!?
It becomes warm in Kyoto these days. We are all excited about welcoming beautiful spring season.

There are lots of events in Spring. One of the main events "Higashiyama Hanatoro" has started on 13th March.


Lots more are coming soon!!
Check this → http://kaiwai.city.kyoto.jp/raku/modules/english/index.php

●Hanatoro(13th March- 22nd March)

As many as 2400 lanterns and ikebana flower arrangements give fantastic colour to a walkway from Shoren-in in the north through Maruyama Park and Yasaka-Jinja to kiyomizu-dera in the south.

Many things start in Spring. Flowers start bloom, schools start ( In Japan, generally )..etc, so we believe that Spring is the time to start new thisngs !!

What are we going to start in this Spring ??????????

We have decided to start breakfast service !!

Details will be showed in our website near future.... look forward to it(^^)

Winter event

“Winter Event”

In comparison with summer and fall, we feel a little lonely in the winter because there are fewer guests. It’s true that it gets really cold in Kyoto, and coming to a ryokan is a hard when it’s cold outside, but we have lots of events this winter, so if you have a chance, we hope that you would come!

So, let me explain about what we have planned!

On Sunday of this week (1-17), what else can I say; it’s the Sanju-sangendo long range archery. In Japan there is a tradition of archery, is called “Qu-do” in Japanese. The event shows what one

shoots the arrow head towards a target in the 120-meter long. During the event, it is free admission to the temple all the day, moreover, many foreigner tourists from all over the world visit to see Japanese female becoming 20 years old this year with wearing a Japanese traditional skirt, “Hakama”, giving the traditional archery performance.

In early February, there is another special event, is called “Setsubun”. The purpose of Setsubun is to wipe out an ogre around house and what people usually do is to throw a bunch of beans toward the ogre.

The event would be held the all over in Japan on the same day. I still remember that my brother and sister threw the beans toward my dad wearing a cloth looking like the ogre in the childhood. Those events leave in my great and happy memory. Setsubun is held in Japan on the 3^rd Feb every year. I hope you will enjoy every moment and share a cheerful experience with us.

Even though there are various popular events around here in winter season, I believe snow landscape is still the best of all winter events. All of the buildings around here would be completely blanketed by snow as if by magic it were a fantastic scenery. Its snowy shrine feels like my true happiness and fortune deeply in my heart.

Even if a cherry blossom would be a great seasonal scenery, the snowy landscape in Kyoto should be an unforgettable memory in your life after all. I hope you get a chance to come to see the best snowy landscape in Kyoto and please visit our place as well if you never seen before in your life.

“Seeing is believing”

New Year’s Eve in Japan Blog

The end of the year in Japan is a mysterious time.

After we celebrate Christmas Eve on the 24th of December, everyone cleans their houses (O-souji), workplaces and buildings, while being thankful we clean.

The 31st of Decemeber we call Oomisoka. This is where we go to temples and ring the big bells. This is a custom called, “Joya no Kane” (Ringing of the New Year’s Bells). The bells are very large, and are struck with a large wooden hammer.

The bells ring 108 times; they say that is the same amount of times as the sins of man, and if he listens to them all he will be cleansed of his sins, however every temple from about 9 PM to about 2 AM continues to ring their bells, so really no one can tell how many times they ring them. (Haha.)

In the new year, we visit shrines for “hatsumoude” which is the first visit to a shrine in the new year.

During that time, we write our goals that we wish to achieve in ink on paper.

This is called “Kakizome” or new year’s resolution.

This is something interesting I think,

Christmas -> Christianity

Joya no Kane -> Buddhism

Hatsumoude -> Shinto

So in the end of the year to the beginning of the New Year, we experience a lot of different religion’s customs.

The scenery of the streets changes from Christmas to the new year.

I’m sure those guests who were able to enjoy the New Year’s Eve in Japan experienced a lot of culture.

There are lots of events left in winter as well!

While looking forward to when the snow paints the temples and shrines white, let’s really enjoy winter in Kyoto together!

A Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

From everyone at our ryokan we wish you a happy new year!

So, as we passed Christmas and the end of the New Year approached, our ryokan was extremely busy.

We had many people from many different countries come to visit us, so I was really excited to spend the New Year’s Eve with everyone, but every day I had a lot of cleaning and laundry to do.

It’s too bad, I wanted to talk more to our guests, but communicating was hard to do.

Actually, I was really looking forward to spending Christmas, New Year’s and the New Year mochi making party together. Let me explain a little about making mochi. In Japan, at the end of the year we make mochi together. Mochi is rice that has been pounded into a sticky paste. We usually eat it on New Year’s Day. This year unfortunately, I didn’t have any time to do those things.

However, reflecting on this year, next year for 100% sure I will work towards satisfying my goals!

I hope that everyone continues to come to our ryokan!

Sushi Night !! 11th November

Happy New Year!

We held a sushi night on the 11th of November, so here's a little info about what we did at the party.

In essence, this was a "guests and staff make traditional hand rolled sushi (makizushi) and eat it!" kind of party.

We let each group make their makizushi as they would like, and then we had taste testing to to deterimine who made the best. Of course, that is to say, especially since everyone came from many countries around the world, each makizushi had its own distinct personalities!

The above plate of sushi was voted best in show. The name given to it is, "Mapleleaf." Its really pretty, isn't it?

This is a picture of everyone making their really loooong sushi together. Is it a huge success??!

We wish to express our thanks to everyone who participated in our sushi rolling contest and party! We hope that you had as much fun as we did and we were glad we made happy memories with you.

We would like to have more events in the future, so everyone please look forward to it!

Private open-air Japanese style bath available !!!

We all look forward to this day !!

We start to open private Japanese style open air bath today !!!

Does this sound nice, doesn't it ?!

We, Japanese people have spent a lot of time on taking bath since we are child.

Hot bath makes you feel relaxed and eases your tiredness.

We love it !!!

Why don't you try our brand new bath after exploring Kyoto all day long !

We have already got one guest tonight, on the very first day.

Look forward to seeing you ...

Couple Welcome !! Enjoy your private relaxing time ! Haha..

Somen Night !!

*SOMEN NAGASHI*

We had a Somen Nagashi Night on the 29th of August when Kyoto was still muggy, we had fun together eating chilled noodles.

The way we had the noodles might be a little bit looking weird in the left pic??

We were trying to catch "Somen" (Japanese cold thin noodles) which was flowing in water through bamboo !! Have you ever tried such a unique dinner?

Our friends carpenters got the bamboo shoots from a nearby forest and made them like a long rail tying and fixing each other. We invited local Japanese neighbours and children as well as guests staying with us, then we really had many people with us enjoying together at that night.

So, can you imagine how it was?

somen noodles were coming through the bamboo rail, this is not so hard to catch even if you are not so used to chopsticks. Then some fruits such as grapes, kiwis and mini tomatoes were also coming down. you must be really skillful to pick them up with chopsticks! or you will never be able to eat them, or else, friends standing upstream might catch it right before you!

right photo shows some dipping sauce and toppings such as gingers, nori, chopped spring onion and so on. yummy yummy :P

It was quite enjoyable and if you ever have a chance to join us next time, you shouldn't miss it!

Yumi and Manami