After a lovely day driving around the Shimagawa dam and strolling through Shima Onsen, we head slightly further down river to find our ryokan… and by slightly, I meant like two minutes drive tops.
We found it readily enough and it is fairly classic riverside/gorge ryokan where the top floors are the reception areas and the guest rooms are built down and down closer to river.

Which is okay… except we’ve seen the massive 90m high dam that is holding back Lake Okushima and its 9.2million cubic litres of water and we’re on a country known for its earthquakes. Hmmm.

The reception was just timber everywhere, lovely and warm and very welcoming and it’s on the 4th floor.

We were welcoming into a lovely lounge space with a long balcony that overlooked the gorge, while we had a welcome tea and some mochi.

I meant to ask someone about these chicken – they seemed so out of place with the elegant artwork and things everywhere else. But totally forgot. What the hell are they here for?

We had booked a Deluxe Japanese Room with Open Air Bath with half board and were told we were in the ‘Hagi’ Room which is on the third floor, one floor down from the reception. Hagi sounds kinda weird and I looked it up, it’s a kind of wild clover, so named for a plant.

Another thoughtful and well designed entrance to our room. The fresh flower arrangement is beautiful.

To the left of our genkan was a traditional Japanese living room, with a chabudai and two chairs.

We found some sweet and savoury snacks as well as an unusual powered hot drink that was neither coffee, nor tea, nor cocoa… it was a mystery.

The view down towards the river from the large picture window in our living room.

To the right of the genkan entrance was a bedroom with another sitting space. This time futon beds on a raised timber dais, and some western couches and coffee table.

This was really quite a large and comfortable space. This living room doubles as a space to sleep more guests and the closet holds four more futon mattress such that six guests could stay here quite easily.

We had hanten coats, yukata and tabi socks provided to wear around the ryokan – these yukata have the logo of the inn on the fabric.

We also had a small kitchenette space with tea and coffee making facilities, a coffee machine, kettle and small fridge.

The large bathroom must be one of the most warmly lit spaces I’ve ever encountered… all timber and tungsten lights.

As we have no come to expect, there were just loads and loads of amenities and another space age hairdryer for the Japanese vloggers.

Directly outside the bathroom was the shower space on the balcony

And a lovely and inviting cypress semi-open air bath on the deck overlooking the river.

Magic. I’m going to miss this afternoon ritual when I get back home again.

After a shower, a soak and a bit of a relax to cool back down (the water temperature here was really quite hot – some onsens have the ability to control the temperature somewhere by giving you some way to add cool stored hot spring water.. this place, not so much), we made our way down to the first floor where the restaurant is located. Sadly, my research had failed me and this ryokan had no lift and only stairs. Oh well, it’s only a couple of nights.

Some local saké with dinner.

Ume wine apéritif. Love the little ducky dish that this chrysanthemum konjac was served in. 🙂

“Eye family hair fruit wine; Purple sweet potato; Fruit fu Tianie; Fried chrysanthemums; Hot pot hand coddled sushi, Summed tailoring and two stakes!” lol… I can see this meal’s translation is going to be a bit of a ride!

Originally this translated as ‘Pollution sushi’… yum! But a polite enquiry revealed it was: Mutotsuki salmon sashimi, Yamafuka venison sashimi, and village avocado.

Big rock fish porcelain grilled with chrysanthemum and jikami radish.

Autumn blessing cook pot: Radish, small potato, carrot, pumpkin with hidden yuan bean.

”Nameless rice” with river fish. Nameless rice??? What’s that?

Ah, an explanation for the “Nameless Rice”… so this really proves the earlier observations that where you source your rice from is really really important! These guys are using rice of no particularly fancy brand, and trying to be cute about it.

’Strong appetiser’ Akashiro goose, Chinese cabbage, and mushroom.

Chicken hotpot: scallions, water vegetables, local chicken, river seaweed, mushrooms, shallow green onion, book pickles. Served with the pot boiled rice with river fish… book pickles?

Dessert: Black tea pudding, and baked apple.

The translation may be strange, but the food was absolutely delicious.

The views of the river from our room were lovely… there’s nothing quite like the sound of running water while you soak in the onsen before bedtime.

I love this place, it’s so beautiful and relaxing… the morning was overcast and a bit moody but still so lovely to soak in the onsen.

Watching the steam rise off the onsen before slipping into the water… this is just magic! I’m never taking another beach holiday ever again.

Mesmerising…

Coming into the lower levels of the ryokan feels like a bit of a rabbit warren – private dining rooms left and right, a full restaurant at the end here, I’ve been down here four times and still feel like I’m lost. Oh, and this is 0800 – there’s no natural light in here, it could be any time of day!

Our little breakfast nook with a kotatsu table… the table looks like it’s been set by a Pakistani houseman – all items arranged around the outside of the space so you know he’s actually been there and done his job.

Grilled char fish.

Boar and mushroom soup – very earthy and rich.

Tofu boiled in dashi, served with a light ponzu.

Fresh yoghurt and raspberries.

The view from the reception down to the river… the roofs below are covering the public onsens.

On the very lower level of the ryokan are some very of the famous Shima riverside onsen baths.

Sadly, no tattoo’d folks are allowed at all, which isn’t surprising – the further you get off the main tourist traps, the more conservative the establishment. Mr K did go down and enjoy the facilities though.

Toshimaya Ryokan has 15 guest rooms and a total of 15 public bathing spaces. The public onsen areas have large changing areas and locker rooms, ample showering spaces and beautiful baths.

The indoor baths are lovely, though I can’t imagine they get a lot of use, except perhaps when it’s snowing out.

For why would you want to bath inside when these are the spaces that await you just outside? This is the primarily reason people come to these gorgeous riverside onsen towns… for the amazing baths with the beautiful views of the gorges. To soak in these baths while listening to the river rushing along below, the birdsong across the river and the gentle trickle of the onsen water.

Just gorgeous! I don’t even mind that the tattooed heathens like me are not allowed to bathe in here. I appreciate the customs and cultures here and wouldn’t ask them to change a thing. When in Rome and all that. It is the main reason why I have tried to book rooms with the private baths, wherever possible. Oh, woe is us! Having to book the fanciest rooms in the hotel because of decisions I made 20 years ago.

I have used some baths like this in the past – but to be honest, I find them awkward and after a very short while, they get kinda boring. Very possibly this is a language barrier issue… I’m usually travelling with my husband, and when you go to the public onsens, you got to gender segregated baths, and then you either end up in a bath on your own for a while, or you end up in a bath with strangers and just kinda avoid looking at each other. It feels more weird than relaxing… I much prefer the private bath in the room, but yeah, you really do end up paying for that privilege.

The saké we chose with dinner was really nice… photo here to taunt me when we can never find it back in Australia.

We sat down to what we came to call the, ‘Many Miso Menu’… there was no printed menu to confusingly try to translate tonight, just a lovely waitress explaining each dish to us.

Persimmon konjac – these are quasi savoury jellies with the texture of mochi. Very chewy.

River fish sashimi ball, chestnut with sesame, tiny mountain yams and soft shell crab… an extremely crunchy soft shell crab.

Mr K is not big on seafood, never has been, but tries everything when we are travelling and has never been given anything in Japan that wasn’t tasty (natto aside!). He was apprehensive about eating his little crab, but he munched it all down. It wasn’t until afterwards that I mentioned that it felt like eating a cockroach.

Sashimi plate – river fish, Yuba (Tofu skin rolls), and kelp Konjac.

Light chicken dumpling broth with mushroom.

Red bean miso soup.

Chinese spiced pork with yam and carrot… quite tasty, could definitely taste a Chinese rather than Japanese flavour profile on the pork.

Nasu dengaku! Yum! Miso eggplant… one of my favourite dishes at home, this is the first time I’ve tried it in Japan. Delicious!

Duck, mushrooms, vegetables and Chinese cabbage in miso…

The aroma was incredible.

The duck was tender and veggies had taken on all the miso flavours. *chef’s kiss*

Kiwi, Yamanashi pear and ice cream with raspberries.

Slept fairly well for a change, but still woke up early… way too early this time at 0430… but it’s never too early to slip into the delightful riverside onsen bath. It is a peaceful time of day to be up, but is it too much to ask to sleep in just once in a while?

I had a strange interaction on the way to breakfast this morning (which I have detailed elsewhere), but just wanted to remember it was here. Anyway, I digress… breakfast was back in our usual dining room, and was its usual deliciousness.

Salomon, yam, miso soup, salted squid, salad, pickles, rice, yoghurt with fruits.. and natto. 🤮

You know, I’m surprised they even bother serving Western visitors, natto – it’s the only vile food item I have ever tried in Japan… fermented soy beans. They’re just stomach turningly awful, with a texture that makes me gag a little just thinking about it. Yeurck. Give me the salted squid guts any day.

My last observation about this hotel is a rather strange one… the whole place feels like a cruise ship. Which might sound like a very strange observation indeed. But hear me out!

The entire building has steel stairways in a country largely known for its no nails timber construction. There are large steel doors in corridors that feel like they’re designed to stop water flowing from one compartment to the next – just like the Titanic! It has hard hats on walls scattered around the public areas, and we even have two hard hats in a closet in our room. There is a visibility obvious alarm system and well signed muster points in every stair well on every level, and one of the first things we were told when we arrived at the hotel and were shown to our room was that the escape ladder for our suite is accessible via our neighbours balcony! 🙁 Yes, that was a moderately disconcerting bit of welcome information.

The whole hotel feels like it is equipped to deal with enormous amounts of water – and I mean, enormous because the building is five stories high, but we are in the bottom of a fairly deep ravine. The dam is 90m tall, and has only been there since the 1980s, but there’s a definite vibe here that says, “We know how what happens here when it has flooded in the past, and we are totally ready for it!”

So, yeah… hopefully the hotel was built prior to the dam, and all these ship-like water containment preparedness design elements were just ‘de rigeur’ back in the day because the ravine flooded semi-regularly… rather than the alternative, which kinda feels, “We built this dam, we better make sure we have half a chance if the dam breaks!”

Overall though, Toshimaya is a beautiful ryokan with a fabulous traditional atmosphere and amazing staff. It is private and peaceful with simply divine onsens.