Tawaraya Ryokan

Taka (鷹) and Fuji (富士), the two largest rooms

Taka, on the second floor, is the largest at 79.6㎡ for one to four guests; on the web booking site it cost ¥341,550 for two on a Saturday in October 2026. Fuji sits directly beneath it, named for the Mount Fuji painting on its shoin cupboard doors: two connected tatami rooms with an inner veranda over a maple garden, a wide anteroom, a small study corner and a roomier bath, according to stays written up in January and March 2026. Fuji isn't among the ten rooms sold online, so ask by phone.

Garden rooms with a sunken-kotatsu nook — e.g. Shōrai (松籟, new wing, ground floor) or Kasumi (霞, second floor)

A guest in Shōrai in December 2025 spent most of the stay in the horigotatsu nook beyond the main room, writing year-end cards and eating breakfast facing the garden. A repeat guest in Kasumi, an L-shaped room overlooking the courtyard, found in October 2024 that its window counter had become a sunken-kotatsu space. Mid-sized rooms on the web site — Kujaku (58㎡), Katsura (59㎡) and Sui (58.7㎡) — ran ¥240,350–265,650 for two on the same October Saturday. The inn renovates about one room a year, so details change.

The smallest rooms — Akane (茜, 36.7㎡), Chikusen (竹泉, 37.1㎡), Kaede (楓, 39.7㎡) and Kotobuki (寿, 39.9㎡)

The entry price (¥177,100–189,750 for two on the October 2026 Saturday sampled) buys about half the space of the larger rooms, for one or two guests only. Bloggers keep saying the best part of Tawaraya is staying in — so if you plan to spend long hours in the room, the extra space is worth paying for.

Gyōsui-an (暁翠庵), if you want futons

It's a bed room with two single-size beds (90–130cm wide, according to the official booking site) rather than futons. The deep, knee-high futons that bloggers rave about come with the futon rooms, so pick one of those if the futons are what you want.

Anywhere in the old house, if you're unsteady on your feet

The wooden stairs are polished to a slippery shine — a repeat guest admits to having fallen down them once — and woven ceilings creak as cold air meets a warm room (December 2024). Japan's JTB lists a wheelchair-accessible lift and toilet; ask the inn about a ground-floor room.