![]() At the top of creaking stairs were three simple guest rooms, each with springy woven mats underfoot, sliding paper-screen doors and futons. There was no answer when I called in the door, so, taking off my shoes, I followed a corridor of lacquered wood to an open hearth, where a blackened iron kettle hung. At the same time here in rural Japan-feudal, hermetic, entirely unique-an era of peace and prosperity was underway in a society as intricate as a mechanical clock, and this remote mountain hostelry was welcoming a daily parade of traveling samurai, scholars, poets and sightseers.Įarly morning on an old stretch of the Kiso Road, part of the 340-mile Nakasendo highway, which connected Edo and Kyoto and has been in use since the 700s. It had first opened its doors in 1789, the year Europe was plunging into the French Revolution, harbinger of decades of chaos in the West. I identified my lodgings, the Maruya Inn, from a lacquered sign. The carved wooden balconies of antique houses leaned protectively above, each one garlanded with chrysanthemums, persimmons and mandarin trees, and adorned with glowing lanterns. Not a soul could be seen in the only laneway. Modern Japan seemed even more distant when I emerged from the woods into the hamlet of Otsumago. This article is a selection from the July/August issue of Smithsonian magazine BuyĪ feudal procession sets out from the Nihonbashi in Edo in this 1833-34 woodblock print from the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road” by Utagawa Hiroshige. Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $12 Beautiful women walking alone were particularly dangerous, it was thought, as they could be white foxes who would lure the unwary into disaster. A Japanese guidebook I was carrying, written in 1810, included dire warnings about supernatural threats: Solitary wayfarers met on remote trails might really be ghosts, or magical animals in human form. Now I had to worry about encounters with carnivorous beasts? It seemed wildly unlikely, but, then again, travelers have for centuries stayed on their toes in this fairytale landscape. And yet, every hundred yards or so, a brass bell was hung with an alarming sign: “Ring Hard Against Bears.” Only a few hours earlier, I had been in Tokyo among futuristic skyscrapers bathed in pulsing neon. Curtains of gentle rain, the tail-end of a typhoon in the South China Sea, were drifting across worn cobblestones that had been laid four centuries ago, swelling the river rushing below and waterfalls that burbled in dense bamboo groves. View on Booking.The forest trail I was hiking into the Kiso Mountains of Japan had the dreamlike beauty of an anime fantasy. The dinner buffet serves about 80 various dishes ranging from Chinese, Japanese and Western meals, while the breakfast buffet provides about 60 variations, mainly Japanese and Western dishes. A buffet is served at one of the on-site restaurants. ![]() Nikko Toshogu Shrine is a 40-minute drive away, and Edo Wonderland Nikko theme park is a 10-minute drive from the property. The hotel is a 13-minute walk from Kinugawa Koen Train Station. A tour to Edo Wonderland can be arranged upon request. Some of the hot spring baths can be reserved for private use for a fee. Karaoke facilities and a gift shop are on site. Asaya Hotel’s front desk is open 24 hours, and massages are available at an additional cost. Featuring a relaxing ambience, each room comes with a flat-screen TV, a telephone and a fridge. A bus stop is located right in front of the property, and shuttle buses are available from Utsunomiya Train Station, an hour away, at an additional fee. Boasting open-air natural spring baths that look out to the surrounding mountains, Asaya provides chic Japanese accommodation that displays flower arrangements throughout.
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