Experience Authentic Japanese Hospitality

Your yukata is folded left over right, tied with the obi at the waist. Wear it to dinner, to the baths, and along the corridors — it is house dress, not costume.

Rinse and wash seated at the shower stations before entering. The bath water is for soaking only; towels stay outside, hair stays tied.

Shoes are left at the genkan. Slippers carry you through the corridors, and are removed again at the edge of the tatami, where only socks or bare feet belong.

After twenty-two o'clock the house settles. Wooden walls carry sound gently, so voices soften and doors close slowly — a shared courtesy, not a rule.

Grilled fish, rice, miso, pickles and a small egg dish, each in its own vessel. Eat a little of everything, in no particular order.

Receive the bowl with both hands, turn it slightly, drink in three sips. The pause between them is as much part of the ceremony as the tea.

Kaiseki follows the season rather than a menu. Dishes arrive in sequence; the pace is intentional, and lingering is expected.

Your futon is laid while you dine, the alcove flower changes with the week, and the host greets you by name. Nothing is automated — only attended to.

No shoes indoors, no smoking within the buildings, and tattoos are welcome in the private baths. Anything unclear is worth asking before you arrive.

Bow once at the gate, walk to the side of the central path, and cleanse hands and mouth at the water basin before approaching the hall.