Hirayukan — Hotel in Takayama

At dinner, I was thinking about what would be a good time to enter the open air bath. Normally, on a weekend, when it’s the most crowded, I wait until after midnight. That’s of course if the open air bath is available for 24 hours, in which case it was for this hotel, so with that in mind I was able to take my time and enjoy the delicious spread that was in front of me. First, there was the Hide Beef sashimi in picture one, which had a very interesting texture to it; smooth, beefy and wonderfully fatty. In the second picture in the green bowl is the raw nose flesh of a salmon which is regarded as rare and full of collagen. As for taste, well, to each his/her own. It was a bit crunchy and tasty. The third picture we have a classic winter dish neatly garnished with seasonal delights like salmon, lotus root, and a young potatoe in the shape of a mushroom. The entire course menu which consisted of six dishes was delicious as was the jizake which is called "Tenriyo," and is a seasonal sake that came highly recommended. Awesome taste!

Soon after midnight fell upon us I slowly slid out of bed, grabbed my camera bag and sake and headed down to the bath. Walking down the hallway as quickly as possible trying to avoid being noticed and old man was leaving the changing room. We nodded our heads in a gesture of respect toward each other and then quickly he scurried off to his room. Now was my chance. I was alone in the dressing room, not a robe or a slipper in sight. I quickly got undressed, arranged my tri-pod and camera and dashed to the outdoor bath. I think the temperature that night was 7 below zero. I was dancing around naked trying to fidget around with the camera’s settings; slow shutter, timing, DOF, and so on. Finally, found the best setting and took the shop. By the time my whole body was shivering then I quickly jumped into the water...

We were travelling between Matsumoto and Takayama and decided to spend a night at Hirayu Onsen. The town is dead quiet in the midst of winter when we arrived, and still dead quiet when we left the next day. ||||The ryokan is a little old, but everything was in good condition, as expected of a Japanese ryokan. The rooms were very spacious and lovely - there is a small wooden gate before the actual door to the room and a mini zen garden in the room. The room came with attached bath and toilet, and was very spacious with two separate sections - one for the futons (sleeping) and one with the Japanese table and cushion (for tea). ||||Service was excellent, the receptionist can speak excellent English. We had dinner and breakfast there - both meals were excellent Japanese courses, and we were left very full and satisfied. ||||Hotspring was a little smaller and older than expected. There were only 2 indoors baths and it was a little dim and foggy inside. The outdoors baths on the 2F were small as well, but the big one on the 1F was excellent. Not much of a view from either though. ||||Overall, the facilities are old but in good condition. The only strange thing was that there were hardly any other guests in the place (perhaps because it was mid-week) and it felt like we were the only ones. We didn't even see the staff in the lobby! Walking through the corridors from the rooms to the hotspring can be a little creepy too.. ||||There isn't much in the area except for a few souvenir shops and a soba shop down the road. The next best place to get food and snacks is probably at the bus station which is about 10 mins walk away. There doesn't seem to be much to do...

We were travelling between Matsumoto and Takayama and decided to spend a night at Hirayu Onsen. The town is dead quiet in the midst of winter when we arrived, and still dead quiet when we left the next day. ||||The ryokan is a little old, but everything was in good condition, as expected of a Japanese ryokan. The rooms were very spacious and lovely - there is a small wooden gate before the actual door to the room and a mini zen garden in the room. The room came with attached bath and toilet, and was very spacious with two separate sections - one for the futons (sleeping) and one with the Japanese table and cushion (for tea). ||||Service was excellent, the receptionist can speak excellent English. We had dinner and breakfast there - both meals were excellent Japanese courses, and we were left very full and satisfied. ||||Hotspring was a little smaller and older than expected. There were only 2 indoors baths and it was a little dim and foggy inside. The outdoors baths on the 2F were small as well, but the big one on the 1F was excellent. Not much of a view from either though. ||||Overall, the facilities are old but in good condition. The only strange thing was that there were hardly any other guests in the place (perhaps because it was mid-week) and it felt like we were the only ones. We didn't even see the staff in the lobby! Walking through the corridors from the rooms to the hotspring can be a little creepy too.. ||||There isn't much in the area except for a few souvenir shops and a soba shop down the road. The next best place to get food and snacks is probably at the bus station which is about 10 mins walk away. There doesn't seem to be much to do...