Day 8 – Morning in Izumiso in Ito and Returning to Tokyo

We awoke at Izumiso in Ito to find a light rain was falling.  We were both anxious to experience their onsen and quickly put on our Yukatas and headed downstairs. 

I entered the men’s side and was pleasantly surprised at the size of the hot spring facility and the different options that were available to me.  The changing area provided baskets for me to place my Yukata in and I headed into the main area.  The atmosphere was great, there was a large washing area against the wall to my right where I quickly washed prior to entering one of the two choices of hot springs.  I first chose to go to their outdoor hot spring and was happy to see that I had the entire bath to myself.  The outdoor hot spring is quite large and made up of a great mixture of stone and concrete with an abundance of Japanese foliage that provides the feeling of being right next to a mountain.  It was a very relaxing experience, with the only drawback being the light rain.  However, the rain was not much of an issue as Izumiso also provides an indoor hot spring, which after 30 minutes of enjoying the outdoor facility, I ventured indoors.  Most of the Ryokans that we have stayed in had indoor and outdoor facilities, but they can compete with the sheer size of each of the hot springs at Izumiso.  The indoor hot spring was larger than the others I had experienced, and was also created out of stone giving it an authentic rustic feel.  It provided a wonderful and peaceful experience and a great break from the rain.  The final element in this onsen was a small sauna that could be enjoyed, although I chose not use this particular one, I had used similar ones in the past and it is quite enjoyable to mix your hot spring experience with a hot sauna.

After washing and putting my Yukata back on, it was time for breakfast.  We ate in the same dining hall in which we had enjoyed our Kaiseki dinner in the night before.  It was a Japanese style breakfast that consisted of fish, rice, a few dishes with Japanese vegetables, a light crab soup, and fresh fruit.  It was quite delicious and very welcomed after the hot spring.  Service from the staff was once again excellent.

 

We returned to our room and packed our bags as we would be returning to Tokyo today.  We went downstairs to the lobby level and gave our bags to the staff to place on the free shuttle bus that would be taking us to the train station.  With some time to kill, we found some comfortable chairs and I enjoyed looking over the Japanese garden through the window while drinking a complimentary cup of coffee while my wife checked her email through the free Wifi available on the lobby level.  One of the assistant managers came by to thank us for staying with them and let us know that are shuttle bus was ready.

We arrived at Ito station and boarded a local train that took us to Odawara where we would then board the Shinkansen to Tokyo.

Day 7 – Morning in Wanosato/Takayama & Izumiso in Ito

We woke up well rested from our sleep on the futons, and decided to go to the communal onsen for a relaxing hot spring.  We put on our Yukatas and made the short journey outside through the winter landscape and into the main building.  The hot spring area was amazing.  The bath is designed to make you feel as if you are truly taking a hot spring bath right in the mountains as the stone work is fashioned into a pseudo-cave like appearance.  There are large windows that look out on to the forested area with the creek running providing spectacular scenery as you bathe.  I literally could have spent hours soaking in the warm waters.  The bath itself is deep enough in areas to completely submerge your body, and provides strategically placed stones for you to sit on within the water to provide a temporary relief should you get too hot.

We had brought our clothes with us as we decided to use the large vanity area to get ready for our day rather than running back to our villa since we would be enjoying our breakfast in the main building as well.  Breakfast was served in a different room than the one where we had dinner,  This room was very spacious, and once again provide large picture windows to the natural beauty outside.  My wife had a traditional Japanese breakfast while I had a more western style breakfast.  The special part of the breakfast for me was the fact that a staff member had woken up early in the morning and travelled into Takayama to a bakery that is famous for its bread.  This bakery has a line in front of its doors well before it opens and they had called ahead to secure bread for especially for me.  After breakfast, we said our goodbyes to the main staff and our driver took us into Takayama for a little more sightseeing and shopping before we went to the train station.  I really enjoyed my time at Wanosato as it was a unique experience of traditional Japanese living and tradition that I had not experienced previously.  I would recommend staying there, as long as you are prepared for the rustic and non-modern charms that it has to offer.

 

Our first stop in Takayama was at their Historical Government House.  This complex dates back to the days of the shogun, and was the main administrative building for the area from approximately 1692 to 1868.  It was here that that the government functions for the area were carried out.  The site is quite large and imposing with its outer walls and many buildings creating a maze for you to tour through.  The first few rooms are mainly empty with small signs letting you know what once occurred in each room, but the tour gets more and more interesting the deeper you venture into the facility.  The rooms include administrative offices, court rooms, living chambers, kitchens, jails equipped with torture devices from the period, as well as a large warehouse where rice was stored as it was collected as the form of tax during the time.  This facility is drenched in history and gives a fascinating look at how Governments carried out their functions during this period.  There are wonderful displays of a wide range of artifacts and it is definitely a must see for anyone with a curiosity of Japanese history.

 

 

Our second stop was to the shops and streets of the famous Takayama Morning Market.  We spent about an hour touring through various stores and shops as well as perusing the various street vendors that were set up along the side of the street.  Of course, there were many items that had been crafted from the beautiful wood in Hida such as toys, kitchenware, sculptures, home items and furniture.  Also in abundance were food items that are famous in this region with many Hida beef products and Sake from the local breweries.  It was great way to spend our time waiting for the time to pass before our train.

Our driver from Wanosato had patiently driven us to our destinations and once done with our shopping he dropped us off at the Takayama train station.  We would now be boarding the Hida Wide View train to Nagoya.  From Nagoya we travelled on the Shinkansen to Odawara.  From Odawara we boarded the Odakyu Line and made our way to Ito.

 

At Ito Station, we were met by a driver from Izumiso who loaded our bags into the van for the short drive to the Ryokan.  The entrance to Izumiso is spectacular as there is a long stairway that leads you into a beautifully lit front entrance.  Upon entering we were politely met by the staff that ushered us to an empty table in the main seating area away from the front desk.  This seating area is elevated above a beautiful Japanese Garden and visitors can enjoy the view while enjoying drinks and talking with one another or using the free wifi available on the main floor.  We were checked in by a wonderful employee who spoke fantastic English and was very helpful in giving us information of the Ryokan.  She then escorted us to our large room.

Our room was a corner suite providing us with large windows with great views of Ito.  There was a main room in which there was a short table with two chairs, a closet for our clothes as well as our supplied Yukatas.  They also provided a safe in which we could lock our valuables.  This room also had a small television and a tea service station with everything required to make tea.  Off of this room was a smaller area separated from the main room by Japanese sliding screens (Shoji screens) with another short table a chairs and a large windows with sliding glass doors providing access to a rooftop garden/balcony.  The suite also had a second large room in which our luggage placed after been brought up by the staff of the Ryokan.  There was no furniture in this room, but it did have access to the other section of our rooftop balcony where our private open-air hot spring bath was located.  The final rooms in the suite included our vanity area, to which the toilet room was located to the left and our main washing are with shower and cedar bath tub located to the right.  All the main areas of the room were connected by a small hallway located just off the main foyer giving the room a nice flow.

After checking out our room, we were given a tour of the entire Ryokan by one of the managers.  He showed us a few different styles of rooms that their guest can enjoy.  In all, Izumiso has 34 rooms in which 7 or 8 of them have their own private open-air hot spring baths.  The rooms vary in sizes, but they all are very spacious.  Some even have two levels with very large living quarters. In the common areas of the Ryokan one can enjoy their free ping pong table, tour the displays on the ancient artifacts that were discovered when the Ryokan was being built, enjoy free coffee or tea in the main seating are of the lobby or shop in their large gift shop.  There is also a small area that provides brochures in multiple languages for the different attractions in the area.

Downstairs from the main lobby area is the outside entrance that leads to the Japanese Garden that you saw from the main lobby.  Immediately to you right is a fantastic and tranquil foot bath area with a small little pool of hot spring water in which to submerge your feet.  Walking past the foot bath you walk towards an outdoor pool that is filled with water from the hot spring.  It is a pool in every sense of the word as you can enjoy swimming in the water wearing your bathing suit and there are even pool toys supplied for your amusement.  To the right of the poll the Japanese Garden spread across the grounds with beautifully landscaped features.  To the left of the pool are the entrances to the separate onsens for men and women.  We were tired and hungry from our trip, so we decided to check out the onsens in the morning and returned to our room to prepare for dinner.

We changed into our Yukatas and made our way down to the dining room, located on the same floor as the entrance to the onsen and garden.  The section of the dining room that we were seated initially had a bit typical restaurant feel but this quickly disappeared as we were led to a semi-private booth beside a large window overlooking the garden.  Our hostess for the evening introduced herself to us in near perfect English and went over the menu for our Kaiseki dinner; she provided us with bot a Japanese and English menu.  Our dinner would consist of 9 dishes and a dessert. 

The entire meal was delicious and the level of service provided to us by our hostess was quite excellent.  She was very patient in answering all of our questions and never made us feel rushed in enjoying our meal.

We returned to our room to discover that our futons had been laid out for us in the main living room.  With our long day of sightseeing and travel followed by an excellent dinner, we were both more than ready to get some sleep.  The futons were quite comfortable and it was not long before both of us were fast asleep.

Day 6 – Part 2 - Traveling to Takayama and Wanosato

As we were leaving Kagaonsen, we felt a little sad as we did not have enough time to visit Shirakawa-go.  This village is a popular destination and is best known for its historic representation of a simple Japanese village with a style of house with slanted roofs to protect them for the weight of the large annual snow falls as this is one of the snowiest regions of Japan with a yearly snowfall amount of 1,055 cm.  It is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Thunderbird Train

We took the Thunderbird train from Kagaonsen to Toyama where we had a brief wait for the train we would be taking to Takayama.  While in the station I explored some of the shops and found a German bakery where we purchased some pastries for the trip.  The high quality of food that is available everywhere in Japan, even a train station in Toyama, never ceases to amaze me.

 

We boarded the Wide View Hida train for the 1.5 hour journey to Takayama.  It is called “Wide View” for the simple fact that the windows on the train are very large and give you amazing panoramic views as you travel through this wonderful section of Japan.  We were lucky enough to be seated on the left hand side of the train which meant that we were given glorious views of the mountains, rivers and a very large gorge.  As we travelled along, the scenery outside of our window quickly changed into a winter wonderland. 

Although we were not really travelling any further north than Kaga, we were leaving the coastal area of the Sea of Japan and moving farther inland. The amount of snow piled outside grew with each passing minute.

We arrived in Takayama and were immediately met by our driver from Wanosato, the Ryokan that we would be visiting for the night.  The driver kindly took our bags and loaded them into the van.  He then offered us a warm wash cloth to refresh ourselves from the train ride.  Takayama is in the mountainous region of Hida in Japan.  As we drove through Takayama, I could tell that there was a section of the city that had been preserved to the cultural and historic past of Japan.  I learned later that this referred to as “old town”.  We made our way through Takayama and entered a more rural section where Wanosato was located.

 

 

 

Wanosato is a wonderfully rustic Ryokan that is situated on a large 49,500 square meter area of land nestled right next to a beautifully forested area with a creek running along its side.  Wanosato is made up of 4 individual villas with an additional 4 rooms in the main building, resulting in the fact that there are a limited number of guests that can be there at any given time, thus ensuring a quiet relaxing time no matter when you are there. This Ryokan is about 20 minutes from Takayama and therefore offers you a real quiet escape where you can truly get away from it all.  To emphasize this for you, there is absolutely no internet service here and, although that can be shocking in this day and age, I quickly realized that no having the opportunity to check my emails at all for the first time in years was actually a huge relief.

 

The main building is a 160 year old “minka” (house of the people) with the traditional slanted roof.  As I entered this main building I was immediately taken away by the large open-fire pit in the middle of the building.  The roaring fire was amazing and my wife and I placed ourselves on the cushioned mats that surrounded the perimeter of the fire pit.  There did not appear to be any other source of heat in the building, keeping to the traditional spirit of the “minka”. 

 

We were offered hot tea and a treat by the staff and were quickly greeted by the “Okami” (Landlady of the Ryokan”).  She was an absolutely friendly and outgoing woman who I quickly realized would do anything to help us enjoy our stay.  She does not speak any English, but made me feel quite welcomed and I immediately took a liking to her. As we had arrived early in the afternoon, she discussed with my wife a few options for us on how to spend the afternoon.  Being their only guests this day meant that their van and driver were at our disposal.  The decision was made that we would be taken back into Takayama to do some sightseeing and shopping.

Before leaving, we left the main building to go to our private villa.  This villa was amazing and very large.  It was made up of 3 separate rooms.  The first one that you enter is the main room in which a large pillar made from a lacquered tree trunk, immediately draws your attention.  The room was equipped with a TV (the only really modern amenity other than the washroom in the entire Ryokan).  From the main room there is access to a large balcony that overlooks a forested area with a small creek running right past the villa. 

 

 There was also a large water wheel slowly turning that greatly added to the rustic charm of Wanosato. 

 

The second living room in the villa provided a “Kotatsu”, which is a low table with blankets attached to the table top that cover the entire circumference of the table.  Underneath the table is a heater that, coupled with the blanket, creates a warm cocoon for you to enjoy as you sit covered by the blankets.   

 

Off of this room was the access to the washroom area that consisted of the separate room with the toilet with the modern Japanese features, a large vanity area with a gorgeous lacquered counter, and finally the washing area with a large wooden bath tub.  Being winter, and the fact that there is no central heating (or air conditioning in the summer) we were provided to large heaters that sat in the two main rooms and provided enough heat for the villa.

We left Wanosato to travel in their van with our personal driver, to Takayama.  Our first stop was a pavilion located at the “Art & Festa Forest” where the Takayama Matsuti (Festival) Museum is located.  Takayama has two major festivals every year, the Takayama Spring Festival and Takayama Autumn Festival to celebrate the changing of the seasons.  These are regarded as the most beautiful in Japan, and people come from all over the country to participate.  During these festivals, large floats are carried through Takayama to celebrate the season.

There are specific floats for both the spring and autumn festivals.  The museum houses the immense and intricate floats for people to view during the year.  They are just stunning and remarkable in their detail, but the most wondrous aspect are the puppets on the floats that come to life with the aid of master puppeteers that manipulate the network of strings from within the floats themselves and perform for the visitors of the museum.  This museum also holds many other interesting items on display.  Most notably, it houses the worlds’ largest drum. 

From here we travelled to what is referred to as Takayama Old Town.  This area has been brilliantly preserved to provide visitors with an authentic cultural experience of the architecture and streets of this region during the Edo period (1600-1868).  We wondered though the streets amazed at the details of the wood work on the buildings, and stopped periodically into the many stores that line the street. 
 

 

Many of the shops sell wooden products that are hand crafted in the traditions that go back centuries in this part of Japan.  The items on display encompass almost anything you can imagine from small figurines, house/kitchenware, to large pieces of furniture.  This area also has an abundance of Sake Breweries which produce some of the finest sake in Japan and, much to my delight, offer free tasting samples.  Some of these breweries have been in operation for centuries. 

 

We really enjoyed the leisurely stroll down these streets, and as dusk settled and the store s began to close, we returned to Wanosato and made preparations for our Kaiseki dinner.

Dinner was served in the main building on the second floor.  Having no central heating, and the only main source of heat in the building, that I saw, being the fire pit in the lobby meant that the dining room we were in was quite cool.  However, Wanosato is prepared for this and at the table were numerous blankets to help keep us warm.  As soon as the food began to arrive, all thought of the cold were replaced by the delight I took it each course.  Our server was an extremely polite, friendly and warm Japanese girl who spoke a little English and was able to describe each course to me.  I really appreciated he efforts, and later learned that she was teaching herself English at home when she was not working.  We enjoyed 10 separate courses.  The unique feature of this meal, was that we were provided a sherbet sorbet in the middle of the meal to cleanse our pallets.  The highlight of the meal for me was the Hida beef course.  Hida beef is quite famous around the world for its tenderness and the fact that it literally melts in your mouth.  We cooked the beef at our table with a small hot grill.  The cooking of the beef took only a few minute (ideally you want to cook it only for two minutes on each side).  It was amazing.  After our dinner the Okami arrived to serve us very high quality sake that was so smooth it could really become dangerous in its ease to drink.

We made our way down to the main lobby to sit around the fire and talk with the staff.  The Okami continued to serve us sake, but this time she provided it to us from bamboo shoots that had been filled with sake and them placed in the fire pit to warm it up.  This warm sake really hit the spot and was much appreciated as we made the quick walk through the snow back to our villa.

 

While we were enjoying our dinner, other staff members had entered our room to refill our heaters with oil to ensure they would last through the night, and they had moved the Kotatsu in the second room to the side and laid out our futons on the floor.  These futons proved to be quite warm and with the heaters and the warm sake inside of us, sleep came quite easily.

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