Payments made by partners impact the order of prices displayed. Room types may vary.
The listings of booking offers for each property take into account the compensation paid to us by our partners. Prices shown may be for varying room types. Prices displayed are the lowest available, corresponding to the least expensive room type available, as provided from our partners as of the time of the user’s search.
Rekishi no Yado Kanaguya is an excellent choice for travellers visiting Yamanouchi-machi, offering a charming environment alongside many helpful amenities designed to enhance your stay.
While staying at Rekishi no Yado Kanaguya, visitors can check out Shibuyu Shrine (0.1 mi) and Otozan Onsenji Temple (0.2 mi), some of Yamanouchi-machi's top attractions.
Guest rooms offer air conditioning.
As an added convenience, there is free parking available to guests.
While visiting Yamanouchi-machi, you may want to try some ramen at one of the nearby restaurants, such as Enza Cafe or Nakayoshi Shokudo.
If you’re looking for something to do, Sekai Heiwa Kannon (0.5 mi) is a nice way to spend some time, and it is within walking distance of Rekishi no Yado Kanaguya.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
I’m shocked by any reviews of this architectural treasure where it’s not being given it’s fair marks. No, it’s not a 5 star hotel, but it is 5 stars in a unique very Japanese experience teeming with history!! The rooms are simple but elegant and super clean. The provided dinner and breakfast are excellent and again — another experience in tradition of this culture. Don’t skip the history tour of the Ryokan. It’s very informative and gives you insight to all the unique floors, windows and lighting. It’s very easy to get lost inside this place!! It’s like a fun house wrapped in a tree house laid out like a maze and it takes a few (ok — a LOT) of trips around the horn to find your way anywhere. I felt a personal victory when I finally found my way back to my room!
So let’s talk about the hot springs, cuz that’s probably why you’re here right? HOT is an understatement. The water in these baths is about 120ºF. That is really hot and if you are like me and find a hot tub at 104º a little too warm, good luck with these! After 10+ minutes, I managed to get halfway in, but I couldn’t take it very long. The interior baths of the Ryokan were beautiful, but we preferred the outside rooftop one just because the cold night air helped with the overall tolerability of that hot water.
Venturing out about the town at night in your robe and wooden shoes is also part of the adventure. It’s so cute when the village is lit up. You get a public bath map and a master key from the Inn that lets you access any of those public baths as you walk around. After seeing the cool baths of the inn, the pubic ones were just OK. There’s a foot soak spot however that we loved. It has a cold water faucet you can turn on while in there to make the water temp just perfect for you!!!
I just loved our stop here. It’s a 1 night/2 max stay if you’re on a travel itinerary around Japan.
Read more
Date of stay: March 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
What an incredible experience! This was our first time staying in a ryokan and we were blown away by the building, the service, the town and the food. After reading some of these reviews I was worried two nights would be too many but it absolutely was not, I wish we booked three. We didn’t visit the onsens in the village because the ones in the ryokan were so cool and very relaxing but if I had another day I would have tried that and explored the villages a bit more. If you are going to see the snow monkeys make sure you go in the morning. The hotel will call a taxi for you and the awesome cafe near the entrance will call one for your way back. Check the weather too, we regretted not grabbing an umbrella for the 1.4km walk into the snow monkey park. You also don’t need to pack too much because you practically live in the traditional dress they give you (except when going to the snow monkey park) and they provide tooth brushes and tooth paste. This place is old and not for people who want pristine, spotless accomodation but if you like a bit of character and adventure this place will win your heart. Oh! Also the food was magnificent! We ate it all but were very full. English is a little limited in the dining space so look up a couple of useful phrases and have fun with it. Dinner on the second night was the best meal we’ve had in Japan so far.
Read more
Date of stay: November 2024Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is the best thing we did in Japan. The room was traditional and comfortable with a beautiful view of the town, the town and ryokan’s dozen baths were curative, beautiful, and unique. Take it slow, explore the town, enjoy the incredible food. They were able to accommodate my friend’s gluten intolerance easily and without disruption. The area offers incredible hiking, so taking a day trip is easy.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
Room Tip:The ryokan’s baths are closed from 10-3 for cleaning. The town’s baths that are only accessible...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
These reviews are machine translated from their original language. Show machine translations?
This inn is a landmark of Shibu Onsen. It is designated as a nationally registered tangible cultural property, and there are many things to see inside the building. If you stay at the inn, the young owner will give you a tour of the building from 5:30 pm, which is very enjoyable. This inn has its own hot spring source, and you can bathe in two atmospheric large baths, an open-air bath, and five private baths. You can also tour the outdoor baths of Shibu Onsen, so you can enjoy the hot springs to your heart's content.
Read more
Date of stay: August 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is a very small town and although we’ve seen many foreigners visiting this town and this hotel on Youtube (one of the reasons we decided to stay here), it is very foreigner ‘unfriendly’ to say the least. It seemed hotel staff only spoke Japanese, so if you don’t speak it, it will be very difficult to enjoy the amenities. Staff were nice, but not very flexible (strictly by the rules, we supposed) thus not as accommodating as other ryokans we’ve stayed in. Dinner was very nicely presented and tasty…so many dishes that we couldn’t finish all (& we are big eaters) …felt bad leaving food untouched :(. The 9 Onsen tour was on my Bucket List and we got that done in less than an hour not by choice but because the water was soooooooo hot that we couldn’t even stick our feet in…almost scorched the bottom of my feet from. Very disappointing :(.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Highlight of our Japan trip. Such a special ryoken and loveliest staff. The onsens were fabulous, the rooms were traditional and very clean, food was delicious and varied. We felt very cared for and I couldn’t recommend this experience enough.
Read more
Date of stay: January 2024Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Architecturally significant for its construction methods (no nails) and various construction materials. I'm glad we stayed here, experiencing a "cultural treasure". With that said, we would not return. We have stayed in many hot spring ryokans and we came away feeling this gem had started to fade from neglect. In the public baths inside the hotel, paint was cracked, mold was visible, and the odd spider was sharing the room. In our guest room, one wall was extremely pock marked. As we walked about, we began to feel either the owners lacked funds or passion to keep this old building in top shape. Other slight critiques: it took an extremely long time for hot water to flow from the guest room taps once they were opened. Our waitress was a nice older women who seemed to be having trouble keeping up with the pace of serving and another waitress frequently stepped away from her tables to help us. On the plus side, the guest room was of good size, the traditional Japanese food was memorable for quantity served, quality was okay/good. We had Wi-Fi in our room. There were 3 private hot spring baths available to guests inside the hotel, which is somewhat unique. They provided a yukata that actually fit me (6'/215 lbs). A complimentary hotel shuttle bus took us to the train station after we checked out. The hotel sits in a charming little mountainside village, with narrow winding streets and alleys that are lit by lamps at night. The monkey park, about a 45 - 60 minute walk up the mountain, is the main attraction and allows you to observe and walk among wild monkeys. This hotel is the second biggest attraction in the area. While both are interesting, neither is anywhere close to a blockbuster attraction. If you're really into architecture, come and stay at this hotel. In my opinion the real draw here is the quaint traditional village, the mountain setting, and the hot spring baths to relax in. I recommend staying at another more highly rated ryokan in the Shibu Onsen village if you want to experience the village, or go a little further up the mountain to the Kanbayashi Onsen which is near the beginning of a very nice walking trail to the monkey park. This area is smaller and more remote, but has some really nice hotels and ryokans. A final thought when visiting traditional Japanese inns, explore and allow yourself to get lost a couple times. The layouts of these old hotels are not usually symmetrical or intuitive, like moving through a ship, get lost and find the way out. Familiarity comes quicker than you think and you'll have fun looking around.
Read more
Date of stay: May 2015
Rooms
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:We were in Room 106 on the second floor. It was a traditional tatami mat room of good size for 2...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is a large, older onsen not as well maintained as others? It's still superb - and baths on every level (7 total) - plus one on the roof is fun.
I do not prefer group dining for my dinner kaiseki- but- the food is excellent. Location is great. It's fun to walk to the different bath houses scattered around town.
If i were to go back, I'd chose Shibu Onsen across the street. I believe it is much nicer.
Read more
Date of stay: April 2016
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Japan Rail was offering a package with rail to the region, rail to the small station, and 2 nights for 50,000Y per person (for wife and I). 30,000Y per person if one night. After much discussion, our Japanese trusted friend and a couple bystanders convinced us that this place is the most famous etc that they would like to stay. We bought 2 nights.
Taxi from town station easy enough. Staff does not speak English. We only saw Japanese in the hotel, at meals etc. We survived, more authentic I suppose.
The dinner was 18 dishes. Eighteen! It's Japanese mountain villager food so healthy. We ate and ate, and then crawled to a hot bath pool and slept.
The pools are all good. We spent hours in them. Walk around in double layer Komono which makes sense going to each pool. The halls are freaking freezing - it was early February and snowing, -8C outside. The rooms are heated but the hotel is not. The Komonos are actually warm and I guess it's not easy to warm such an old style, large Rokin.
Wish it had WIFI in the rooms but most people would say they are here to detox and tune out.
There's a perfect review describing the interior below so I won't repeat. It's large, historical and the staff very friendly. Example of friendly, my nose sniffing, the grandmother looking hostess for our table quickly organized box of kleenex. Next meal she had it waiting for me.
We were quite happy with our choice.
Read more
Date of stay: February 2015Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kanaguya is a Ryokan that goes back 250 years, which is famous amongst the Japanese (construction completed in 1936). It’s officially recognized as a ‘Cultural Asset’ and is a labyrinth-like museum and luxury accommodation. Not many westerners know of this place, as you won’t find it on most travel websites, but I assure you it is worth the effort to make a booking (Asian travel sites, or directly on their website).
This is by far the best accommodation in the area, offering various unique, incredibly spacious and engrossingly historic rooms. Wander the many halls and passageways laden with artwork and antiques, and pop you head in at various common areas along the way – that alone is both fascinating and entertaining.
One of the main attractions of Kanaguya is the 8 different Onsen (hot baths) located within the facility, as well as access to the dozen or so Onsen found throughout the village (only available to those staying overnight). The town is quaint, full of Temples, Shrines and funs stops like the Shooting Gallery, Sake Museum/Bar and Craft Brewery/Restaurant, just to name a few attractions. The showstopper however is the nearby Jigokudani Monkey Park, the only place in the world to see the snow monkeys. Shibu Onsen is the closest village to the park. Most tourists take day-trips from elsewhere, by doing so these oblivious hoards are missing out.
The meals are included ta Kanaguya and they’re nothing short of amazing (this renders the overall price fairly reasonable, when all is said and done). Served in the traditional-style dining hall, they are Kaiseki-style and over the top. The many dishes are beautiful, delicious and served in generous proportions far too voluminous for any appetite – reams of Wagyu beef, Abalone, Shrimp, other local delicacies abound. We foodies had to wave the white flag more than once, because we just couldn’t eat another bite. Another part of the charm was wearing Yukata’s (provided in your room) to all meals – breakfast and dinner. This seemed strange at first, but we warmed to the idea once we recognized that it added an additional element of enjoyment, immersing us completely into the cultural experience.
The service was just as impressive, with an incredibly responsive and friendly staff that spoke more English than we initially expected. They even provide a regular shuttle to the main train station in the neighbouring town, which made our departure far more convenient.
The only word of caution I would extend is that Ryokans are for the more adventurous soul. If you get frazzled when your accommodations aren’t Sheraton-like, this might not be the place for you. Japanese futons aren’t that far off from camping (sleeping on a quilted mat, directly on the floor). Most chairs have no legs and the tables are low. There’s no shower in the rooms and the bath is shaped like a walk-in tub – without the door. If you like trying something a little different for a few days, you’ll love Kanaguya; but if you can’t be without your home comforts and are unsteady on your feet, you’ll feel quite differently. As for us (in our mid-50s) – we thank our lucky stars that we had such an intriguing and authentic experience during our Japanese trip!
Read more
Date of stay: February 2018
Rooms
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:There are no elevators, so if stairs bother you, ask for a room on a lower level and/or close to...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
"We were in Room 106 on the second floor. It was a traditional tatami mat room of good size for 2 people. One nice feature, there was an additional small room off the main room where luggage could be stored or laid out. There was a mini-bar/refrigerator and we had free Wi-Fi in-room. The room looked out onto a village street below. It takes a very long time for hot water to flow from the taps. We had a quiet night there. If you want more details about the rooms, it will help to have someone who speaks Japanese contact them with your questions."
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
Is This Your Tripadvisor Listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
