Honke Bankyu Bankyu Ryokan - 本家伴久萬久旅館
A travel in the past in a historical ryokan of Yunishigawa, where the descendant of the Taira, fleeing from Kyoto after losing the war, found refuge.
Web -
www.bankyu.co.jp (in Japanese & English)
Address - 〒321-2601 栃木県日光市湯西川温泉749
Phone - 0288-98-0011
Google map with location
Access
by train : Take to Tobu line from Asakusa to Kinugawa Onsen, and then transfer to the Tobu Bus for Yunishigawa. Nikko is quite close, and you can combine a visit of both places taking advantage of the Tobu Pass (4 days, 5'740 yens).
by train : A car would allow you to visit other places in the area, including Nikko and/or Okukinu; be aware that the last kilometers of the road to Yunishigawa are very narrow (a new road is being built right now).
Staying at least once in this ryokan is something you should really experience, if you have the time do to so... and can afford it. Indeed, a night there will cost around 20'000 yens per person, including dinner and breakfast. Still, it is reasonably priced, considering that you will stay in a ryokan first built in 1666, will have one of the most gorgeous dinner you can imagine, and soak in a very nice (mixed) onsen just meters above a mountain river.
The Taira (平), also referred to as the Heike (平家), were one of the four important clans - together with the Fujiwara, the Tachibana and the Minamoto - dominating Japan during the Heian period (794-1185). When the Taira lost the Genpei War against the Minamoto (also called the Genji), they were forced to flee from the capital Kyoto (1183), and later found refuge in the mountains of Tochigi-ken. Yunishigawa Onsen was discovered in 1573, and the hot springs used by the Heike clan as a hideaway. The present owner of the Honke Bankyu Bankyu Ryokan claims to be a direct descendant of the Taira family, and the 25th generation owning the place.
As soon as they enter in the ryokan, guests, who are welcome by the sound of a gong, are brought back in the past, an impression underlined by the large irori found in the lobby. The rooms are charming, many of them with an elaborated interior design. They are not very large, but this is not a problem: after changing to their yukata, guests usually directly head to the onsen. Note that some rooms even have an outside private bath, but they get so expensive that they are not worth mentioning here...
There are segregated inside baths, one outside bath for men, one for women and, between those two, a konyoku (mixed bath). Those three baths are just next to another, above the river and facing the dining hall on the other shore.
Those baths are some of the best we have visited in Japan, and you probably will be spending a lot of time in them. Note that no day visitors are accepted, which means that guests won't be disturbed.
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The highlight of any stay in Honke Bankyu ryokan is without doubt the dinner. To reach the banquet hall, guests have to cross a lantern-lit rope bridge located a couple of meters from the rotenburo. Should it be snowing, they can use red lacquered umbrellas to protect themselves with style...
The large old building where the dinner is served used to be the living quarters of the Taira descendants. Each family or group sits in around its own large sunken heart (irori), lying where tables would usually be. Fish on sticks (kushi) are already being cooked next to the flame. Each guest, sitting on a zabuton, has a small table on his side, where dishes will be brought all the evening.
And the dinner is a real feast, in the tradition of kaiseki food! Although hundreds of years of seclusion let to the development of a specific local way of cooking. We were served raw deer, wild boar, pheasant and river fish, as well as vegetables (sansai) growing in the surrounding mountains. A selection of sake (nihon-shu) is available, and will perfectly fit with the food: takezake, poured in a bamboo tube, is warmed in the irori; or for an even more convivial drink, go for the nigorizake, a non-filtered nihon-shu with a milky appearance, served in a large plate and shared between the guests...
At the end of the dinner, the owner of the ryokan, dressed in a medieval-style costume, comes to greet customers – a perfect way to finish this food trip in the past!
If you stay in Yunishigawa in winter, you will be enjoying your night bath: on the opposite shore, in front of the rotenburo, an artificially-made frozen water fall is lightened with several colored projectors...
Personal pictures and pictures taken from the official web site of the ryokan
Links
pref.tochigi.jp : information in English about Tochigi-ken
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