27th April 2010
A high-end ryokan is theatre. Not the kind with heavy curtains and painted backdrops but tiny stages of tatami, paper lamps and pocket gardens. The woman in kimono who greets you is an actress; you will meet the rest of the cast when they serve you dinner in your room or drive you to the station when you leave.
You will have a better view than even someone sitting in the most expensive seats in the theatre. And you can touch the props - lacquerware, pottery painted or rough, the sprig of flowers on your dinner tray.
Total theatre. When it all comes together, you wonder why anyone visiting Japan would want to stay in a hotel.
Then you look at the prices and - oh, well.
So it's a hobby I can indulge in only about once a year. This year, it's Ugenta, an inn that accepts no more than two parties a night. The ryokan can be reached by taking a train from Demachiyanagi station to the mountain village of Kibune (left) - about 30 minutes - and then a bus. If you give the Ugenta staff enough notice, they'll pick you up at the station.
But enough talking. On with the pictures!
Dinner theatre:
Zensai (appetiser). Can you see the sakura design on the paper?
Suimono course: soft-shelled turtle soup. You pour it out into the lid, adding a little ginger seasoning from the white pot, and drink. Chicken-soup comforting if you don't add the ginger, and a fire edge if you do. My favourite of the whole meal - and so good I almost got over the guilt of eating turtle.
(Forgot to take photos of the sashimi course. The sake must have been kicking in around about here.)
Yakimono: grilled Kyoto beef. The beans are issunmame.
Conger eel sushi. Not otah.
Young bamboo and shirauo (白魚) - the white, fish-like shadow.
Eat your tentacles; they're good for you. Hotaru ika, if you're interested. Also akagai, nanohana and a kind of daikon called moriguchi. This is the sunomono course, which sounds more appetising than "vinegared things".
Rice with young bamboo and a sprig of kinome.
When you hit the carbs course in kaiseki, the curtain's about to come down. I'm usually down for the count by this part of the meal because little dishes over a long stretch of time take up a surprising amount of space inside.
But the woman serving us offered to get the kitchen staff to turn the rice we didn't eat into onigiri so we could have it later if we got hungry. She returned with the riceballs wrapped and accompanied by pickles and a dish of chirimen (fish even tinier than ikan bilis) flavoured with sansho peppercorn.
This...this is service.
Dessert. It looks simple - strawberries, oranges and jelly - but, for some reason, it worked so well I ate the mint in shock.
But what about the rest of the ryokan i.e. the bits you can't eat? You can get a good idea of the room layouts from the inn's website though they aren't rooms so much as small maisonettes (maisonettette?). (If you're viewing this at work, be advised that the top page of the Ugenta site comes with a soundtrack.)
You can breathe out here. Space inside and the mountains at your window. Leave the balcony door ajar and you'll hear the stream beside the inn.
And the wood!
Furniture by George Nakashima. Beer glasses live inside this cabinet. We should all be so lucky.
Look at the right knob!
And the left!
The pictures of the other cabinet knobs are too blurry to be posted. It's never a good idea to take pictures when your hands are shaking.
If you like space, wood and mountain valleys, Ugenta may be the ryokan for you. The food may not have been the most exciting kaiseki I've encountered but it was solidly executed with a few excellent touches. Like the guilt-removing turtle soup.
And when I woke up in the middle of the night - I had the upstairs room, with the computer and calligraphy set - this was outside my window.
I put the camera on the table in front of the window then took the shot. My hands were shaking again.
