Hazu Gassho — Local services in Shinshiro

We decided to break up our drive between Osaka and the Fuji Five Lakes area, and found Hazu Gassho to be conveniently equidistant. We generally prefer character-filled ryokan properties over bland "this can be anywhere" hotels, and Hazu Gassho seemed to fit the bill, at least on paper.||||First, the positives: with only 5 rooms total, it's definitely an exclusive ryokan. Combined with its remote location, you feel like you're in another world that's surrounded by nature and far from civilization. The architecture and property grounds blend in nicely with its environment - The thatched roof of Hazu Gassho's main building is the inspiration behind its name, and reminded us of the houses at the UNESCO site Shirakawa-go. Inside, you'll feel like you've been taken back in time (perhaps a century ago or more?)... the furnishings, decor and structure itself are all charming in an old country home kind of way.||||The food offering is good and appropriate; seasonal local produce along with local beef, duck and river fish gave us an education on the traditional ingredients and dishes that are endemic to the area. Ayu (aka Sweetfish) is a fish that lives in cold, lean waters in the interior of Japan, and was lightly salted and grilled to perfection. Nothing is super unique or mind-blowingly awesome, but we were satisfied with the overall quality of the meals.||||Two of the five rooms at Hazu Gassho feature an open-air bath, and our room (named "Wabisuke") was one of them. We did not use the bath, however (more on that later.) We were pleased to find two separate rooms - the tatami room that also doubles as the bedroom at night (they bring out the futons and lay them out in your room during dinner), and a secondary room (that we used as our main room) that had a large "Kotatsu" table. Kotatsus are common sights in Japanese households - it's essentially a large coffee table that has a built-in heater that's attached to the underside of the table, and is covered with a thick blanket that keeps the heat in (and your feet toasty, even in the dead of winter.) Even better, the floor is cut open below the kotatsu so that you can be seated with your feet straight down (similar to how we're used sitting in a regular table), which is a far more comfortable way to be seated.||||Now, then, onto our gripes. To begin with, we really feel they ought to have Onsen (natural hot springs) baths on premises; it's shocking that they don't, especially given the room rates here. Sure, they can take you to a nearby property via a courtesy shuttle to an Onsen facility, but what's the point in that? In fact, for a small, intimate, high-end (and high-priced) ryokan, I would really expect each room to have its own Onsen. Hazu Gassho does have two on-site public bathing facilities, but neither of them are Onsens. Our in-room open-air bath featured a pretty Hinoki bathtub and we intended to use it, but unfortunately, the water was not warm enough for us (it was 5 Celsius when we were there) - we just didn't feel like wasting our time adding hot water to warm it up. Therefore, we availed ourselves to the communal on-site bath.||||I stated earlier that this is an intimate property with just 5 rooms total. We would really expect peace and serenity, and rarely see the other guests. Unfortunately, two issues prevent Hazu Gassho from being the oasis of tranquility and exclusivity that it promises to be. First of all, dinner is not served in one's own room, but in an open dining area. This is inexcusable for a give-room property that charges so much. And it's not like the rooms are dispersed across a massive property footprint - in fact, all five rooms are in a two-story building and have shared walls, which is a major problem given that the walls have very little sound insulation. We could hear our neighbors talking in the adjacent room, and the guests above us as they walked in their room. Remember that this is Japan, and shoes are not worn indoors - so it's doubly troubling that noise is such an issue. But don't take my word for it... there was a note in our room explaining that the building was "authentic," and therefore had little to no sound-deadening material. Because of this, the note asked guests to keep sounds to a minimum, especially at night.||||Between the lack of Onsen, the requirement to dine in a restaurant-style setting and guests rooms that are attached (rather than detached-style Villas), we just don't feel that Hazu Gassho is a compelling property that's worthy of an extended stay. Even if we were to stay overnight in the vicinity in the future, we will likely explore more options before returning to...

This hotel, as said before, has only 5 rooms. We went there during weekdays and we had a wonderful experience, we were the only guests in the ryokan and so everything was simply perfect. Our room was absolutely amazing, comfortable, clean, silent and... perfect! When we arrived at the ryokan we were served a cup of maccha and a sweet prepared with maccha too... delicious and tasty! Then we had great time in "public" onsen... I wrote "public" because, as there were only us as guest, "public" onsen turned to be "private" onsen and we could take a bath together in the same onsen (if more guest would have been there onsen would have been separated by gender). They have a shuttle service to reach other onsen nearby, we tried it and it was a great, but the experience we had in Hazu Gassho was absolutely unforgettable! We choose a full course dinner and everything was tasteful and totally well presented... I've never seen such a care in both the preparation of the food and its presentation on the table (table japanese style). At night the peace and silence are everywhere, the wood all around is simply fantastic both at night and in the early morning.||The hotel is quite expensive, but it worth all the money, you can taste the real japanese hospitality, everyone is extremly kind and gentle, I don't know if they can speak english because I went there with a japanese girl, so she talked with the extremly cute and kind waitress while I was eating and enjoying my stay :)||If you don't mind spending a bit more yens than necessary it's a good choice to spend a night here: for one night at the ryokan with full use of onsen, full course dinner and japanese breakfast (they serve a very very very good freshly made tofu in the morning, absolutely awesome!) we spent 54300 yen, but the experience we...

If I could only stay at one Ryoken the rest of my life...it would be here. I cannot explain the level of kindness, architecture, food and nature here. Yes they do not have 12 outside baths ( maybe 2 or 3 ) but it feels so personal. so much a part of nature ... there is just something special here . There is also a small river with steps/ ladder ( bring good water shoes) that you can swim in. It is deep enough to jump in from the ledges and swim all afternoon. This river empties out onto the much larger one near the train in Yuyaonsen where there is a park and many BBQs and kids and people if you want to go there... but this place is just magic. A hidden gem. I hope to go back again soon and walk in the morning and see the train, the rice fields and then have the amazing breakfast provided. I stayed here about 12 years ago and then also in the Summer of 2024 with my...