Hiyoshido Massage — Local services in Kyoto

My back is a complete mess since I've been snowboarding in Hokkaido for the last 40 days and my legs and feet were done as well from walking about 50k over the last few days in Tokyo and here so I decided to go for a shiatsu massage. I walked in with no appointment at 6pm and was able to be seen by a male masseuse within ten minutes (I prefer this for deep tissue massage as they can put more pressure on you). I believe he said his name was Yano, but I'm terrible with names, if you are reading this I'm sorry. A couple of things to note:

I usually treat myself to about two massages a year, this was my first shiatsu massage. It's very good, but very different from a traditional massage. Expect to have mussels tense up as they push on one side then release, expect joints to pop, and expect heavy pressure(to the point of leaving bruises if they weren't trained professionals). I enjoyed every minute of it and 90 minutes seemed to fly by.

I'm also a rock climber so I usually ask for a hand and forearm massage and am usually disappointed with normal massages, they spend a few seconds as move on. I didn't even bother to ask this time yet he started on hands and went for what had to be five minutes on each isolating each mussel group and tendon. It was then I knew this guy was good.

He seemed to be able to tell what was hurting/tense/messed up just by touch without me saying. My right foot hurt more than my left (been walking funny on it or something). I didn't mention this but I swear he did a different/longer routine on it than the left. He mentioned how tense I was at the end.

As mentioned before it is located on a small alley that is very quaint. While the place does have English service, there were Japanese clients there when I arrived, so the experience is quite legitimate. So in summary, great service, would go back if I'm in...

Really great massage for a very reasonable price! I'd say compared to a massage in the US (and even some in Japan), it's a much better price, and the quality is also much better. The staff is also professional and nice. Making an appointment over phone was not too difficult at all, despite the language barrier, but it helps if you know a little bit of Japanese. I ended up making the appointment through a conversation of both some Japanese and English and everything was scheduled perfectly.

I have a lot of back problems, and I have gotten many massages in the US over my life (totaling to well over 50, possibly even double that), but I have to say this was better than all of them. I'm not exaggerating either. My reason for saying this is the following: Normally when I get a massage, my face becomes extremely congested from lying down on the massage tables, and my back becomes so incredibly stiff (even with a bolster and extra pillows) that it takes me a few minutes to get up from the table, because of the pain/stiffness (though despite this they all still help somewhat in the long run). But when I got up from this massage, I had absolutely no pain or stiffness at all. I was truly amazed at this.

One day when I come back to Kyoto I will find this...

[Added pics from brochure on the rooms / massage types avail]

Located in the back alley street, don't be fooled by its simple and basic look. We had the 90min Hiyoshi recommended course for couple massage, in a tatami room big enough for a 4 pax massage instead - see pic. Yes, massage is done on the mats, not elevated like usual.

Payment upfront first at the counter, before we were led to 2nd level (with various rooms).

The therapists deployed a rather interesting combination technique for massage, which also involves 'manipulating' your body into postures and positions to aid stretching etc. I was quite amazed at how my therapist can easily move me around, even keeping me suspended (of sorts) at times (i'm 220lb, 1.82m).

At start of massage, the therapist also brought in a large bolster of sorts (find out for yourself the little surprise for this item).

Our massage was of a dry nature (no oil), but we had to strip to our innerwear, and then don their yukata robes. The room had a small section for window openings (but still private setting), although it got abit chilly halfway into our massage (we were there late Nov).

All in, a place we would happily return to, for jet lagged bodies or after walking around...