Yagyu no Sho

Fifteen sukiya rooms in a bamboo grove, Kyoto-style kaiseki in your room and empty garden baths — superb food and calm, but some rooms are showing their age

Yagyu no Sho grew out of a Tokyo restaurant opened in 1959; the ryokan followed in Shuzenji in 1970 and was rebuilt room by room in sukiya style in 2009. The name comes from the founder's love of kendo rather than from the Yagyu sword lineage, and the inn still has its own kendo hall. There are 15 rooms, each laid out differently: six with an open-air bath (including two detached villas), six with a semi-open-air bath and three with a cypress tub, all of them filled with spring water according to the official site. Japanese guests come back above all for the food — around 13–15 Kyoto-style kaiseki courses served in the room, from sesame tofu with sea urchin to wagyu fillet and huge Izu strawberries — and for the quiet: check-in happens in your room, staff seem to time things so guests rarely meet, and bloggers repeatedly had the garden baths to themselves. Scores are very high (5.00 from 36 reviews on Rakuten, 4.66 on Ikyu, with the baths at 4.86). The caveats are specific: several 2025 reviews mention worn plumbing, old washbasins and a bath not filled on arrival, a 2026 guest found mould in the room bath, some rooms have steps or a very low doorway, every room permits smoking, and portions can be more than you can finish. Two people paid about ¥170,000–194,000 in 2024–2025.