Kaga, Japan

Araya Totoan

Price per night from$638.92

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (JPY101,500.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Araya Totoan Photos

Style

Soak it all in

Setting

Yamashiro Onsen hotspot

Explore

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The Japanese have mastered making an art of pretty much everything, and this aesthetic overachievement is evident in Araya Totoan, a 400-year-old ryokan in the Kaga region. Its mountain greenery is precisely pruned, its three bathhouses bear nods to local legends in their decor, and its historic villas once housed noted calligrapher and ceramicist Rosanjin. Delicate dining moves with the micro-seasons and minimalist styling and the local arts scene meet harmoniously — the whole picture is captivating.

Smith Extra

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One glass each of seasonal sake curated by the ryokan’s owner

Facilities

Photos Araya Totoan facilities

Need to know

Rooms

17, including 11 suites.

Check–Out

11am. Earliest check-in, 2pm; latest check-in time, 7pm. If arriving after 7pm, please contact the hotel to let them know.

More details

Rates include a Japanese-style breakfast with local vegetables, tofu, dishes such as tuna with grated yam, pickles and other seasonal eats. And on arrival, guests are welcomed with local sweets and matcha tea.

Also

Due to the hotel's mountainous terrain and historic layout, Araya Totoan isn't best suited for guests with mobility issues.

At the hotel

Trio of hot-spring bathhouses, tea room, gallery, mountain garden, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, kettle, tea set, fridge with free soft drinks, yukatas, toothbrushes and an air-purifier.

Our favourite rooms

Each room has a large-enough-to-lie-down-in, cypress-wood onsen — topped up with natural spring water and privy to garden views — so that soothing submersion is guaranteed. Or you might find a stay in the hotel’s historic rooms even more buoying — Ochin No Ma is the oldest at the hotel (it was famed Japanese artist Rosanjin’s favourite), brightened by cherry-red walls and lacquered columns; it’s fitted with side-by-side tubs, too, for those ‘I got you, bathe’ moments. Or, the wooden Hanare Arisugawa villa was built without using nails in the late 1800s and later relocated here. Hidden amid centenarian trees, away from the hotel, it feels delightfully hermit-ty.

Spa

Partake in one of Japan’s most revered traditions: soaking in natural hot springs. The geothermal source here (which uniquely lies just a few dozen metres below ground) is generous, providing the hotel’s three bathhouses with 100,000 litres of water a day. Yakushi Ruriko Nyorai is the Buddha of Medicine and Healing, so fittingly the first and largest bathhouse, built in the mid-20th-century Shōwa era, is named in homage. The second, Gensenkaku is on the site of the garden’s old pond, with a steamy, open-air bath and murals on spring-related legends; Karasu-yu, which has two-for-one temperatures with both warm and hot baths completes the trio.

Packing tips

Bathing is traditionally done in the nude, so you won’t really need swimwear (a small modesty towel is supplied), which means all the more room in your suitcase for purchasing the aesthetically ravishing Kutani-ware pottery. The ryokan has many meditative corners, so maybe download an app before you arrive to help guide your time-outs. And this is a shoes-off hotel, so bring some you can easily slip on and off.

Also

One of Rosanjin’s most notable works here is a screen depicting a cawing crow — its inspiration is the legend that Yamashiro Onsen was built on, when 1,300 years ago a monk saw a crow dipping its wounded wing in the healing hot-spring waters.

Pet‐friendly

Dogs are not allowed at Araya Totoan. See more pet-friendly hotels in Kaga.

Children

Kids can stay (those aged 12 and up will be charged as adults) and can use the bathhouses. But this is a place of peaceful contemplation, whether you’re meditating in water or admiring ancient arts, so better suited for grown-ups.

Food and Drink

Photos Araya Totoan food and drink

Top Table

The dining hall is elegantly minimalist (private spaces can be set up too), except for the stand-out ceramics you’ll be eating off — a mix of local Kutani-ware, Yamanaka lacquerware, antique heirlooms and Rosinjan replicas make memorable place settings.

Dress Code

It’s all about considered details here, so compose accessories just-so, belt up and blow dry, shine those shoes and add finishing touches.

Hotel restaurant

The hotel only serves breakfast and dinner. Multi-course kaiseki meals are swayed by whichever shade of foliage you can see from your window; and ingredients are sourced from the river and sea, mountains and farms. Spring brings cherry salmon and sea bream, with bamboo, bracken and chrysanthemum leaves; in summer you’ll sup on oysters and abalone with pumpkin and watermelon; and autumn tastes like tiger prawns and barracuda with sweet potato, pear and fig. But winter brings the regional speciality: snow crab, prepared in various ways, from raw to steamy in a hot-pot. Remember, this is dining as ceremony, with up to 15 courses, so allow a few hours for dinner.

Hotel bar

There's no bar, but Araya Totoan has its own teahouse, which is open to a neatly manicured garden. It doubles up as a gallery for Rosanjin’s work and more from the owner’s collection.

Last orders

Breakfast is from 8am to 9.30am and starts from 6pm or 7pm till guests have finished.

Location

Photos Araya Totoan location
Address
Araya Totoan
Yamashiro Onsen Yunogawa
Kaga City
922-0242
Japan

Araya Totoan is immersed in the mountain greenery of hot-spring-blessed resort town Yamashiro Onsen, close to the city of Kaga in the west-coast prefecture of Ishikawa.

Planes

International arrivals will find it easiest to touch down at Tokyo Haneda; however, you could also connect via New Chitose, Fukuoka or Naha airports. All four have direct flights to Komatsu Airport, which is a 30-minute taxi ride from the hotel. Flight times to Komatsu vary from an hour to two-and-a-half hours, the quickest being from Haneda.

Trains

The easiest route to the hotel is from Tokyo Haneda. Ride the Monorail or Keikyo Airport Line to either Hamamatsucho or Sengakuji stops and switch to the Yamamote Line to reach JR Tokyo station. From there, hop on the speedy JR Hokuriku Shinkansen for the three-hour journey to Kaga Onsen Station. Araya Totoan runs a free shuttle service from there (note that you’ll need to book your shuttle spots at least one day in advance of arrival). Shinkansen trains also arrive from Kyoto (a two-hour journey) and Kanazawa (a 20-minute journey).

Automobiles

You may wish to stay blissfully submerged throughout your stay, but should you surface, you’ll need a car to explore the surrounding lofty greenery and hopping from hot spring to hot spring. There’s free parking for up to 30 cars at the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

Kaga city was popularised by its many hot-spring resorts, but residents didn’t spend too long wallowing, because it’s also a hotbed for arts and crafts — ceramics and lacquerware, in particular. First, wander the hotel’s mountain garden, which dates back to the 17th-century Kanei era and has centenarian trees; and dip into each of the ryokan’s three bathhouses. These are split by gender, but change each day so you get the full experience.

Famed calligrapher and ceramicist Kitaoji Rosanjin stayed at Araya Totoan; you can see his works on-site and at Iroha Soan, his cottage studio, which now has an exhibition and teahouse, too. There’s no shop, so stock up on delicate wares at Suda Seika Pottery Kiln. Or make your own at Kutani-Ware Kiln Museum, home to an Edo-era kiln and more modern workshop. This kind of wheel throwing is more demure than in Ghost, but things heat up again at Kosoyu Public Bath, a Meiji-era spa made more atmospheric by stained-glass windows.

Lift your spirits further at Yakuoin Onsenji Temple, home to the awe-inspiring wooden statue of the 11-headed Kannon Bodhisattva (goddess of compassion). Also on the temple complex is the Hattori Shrine — be sure to pray to its guardian statue Ichigan Jizo; if you do, it may grant you a wish. If your wish is to be further immersed in the region's glorious greenery, then take a taxi out to Kakusenkei Gorge for dramatic scenery and Natadera Temple, whose three-storey pagoda sits in a setting so leafy the site was awarded a Michelin Green Star.

Local restaurants

Kame Sushi’s ingredients have a fine pedigree, with fish sourced very freshly from the Sea of Japan and Hashidate Port, with rice grown in clear mountain streams, all served on Kutani ware. English is spoken and you can go à la carte or opt for the chef’s kaiseke choices; but if visiting from November to March, snow crab in all forms is your go-to order. For yet more seafood and mountain produce tightly tied to seasonal shifts, Kappo Kawaguchi crafts delicately plated feasts, featuring butterbur and bracken, rock oysters and abalone, chestnut, cod, kelp and more.

Local cafés

Kimino Café is a casual lunching spot with noodle bowls, pastas, pizzas and sweet treats, which doubles as a photography studio. For dessert, head to wholly organic café Kaga-san Marche, famed for its towering parfaits — they’re flavoured with raw chocolate, seasonal fruits and honey, but time your visit to the weekend and you can try a parfait topped with a whole crème caramel.

Local bars

Swing is a sultry yet sociable, finger-clicking spot where you can nurse a Japanese whisky while listening to live jazz; it’s part of Pannonica Gallery, worth exploring for its decorative displays.  

Reviews

Photos Araya Totoan reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this hot-spring-fed ryokan in Yamashiro Onsen and unpacked their Kutani-ware ceramics and shown off their new glow, a full account of their aah-inducing break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Araya Totoan on Japan’s west coast…

Araya Totoan embodies the Japanese concept of Ma: appreciating a pause in time. That’s because with three historic bathhouses and rooms with cypress-wood tubs for guests to sink into, it serves up Ma with plenty of ‘ahh’ — and still-moments are rarely less refreshing than when you’re soaking in fresh, geothermal spring water. But there’s more to make you pause at this ryokan (built in 1639 and now on its 18th-generation family owner): the natural scenes framed by each window, painted anew by each season; the exquisite calligraphic and ceramic works by Sh?wa-era artist Kita?ji Rosanjin. Elegant minimalism is made all the more ethereal by plays of light, and silhouettes of ancient trees and thoughtfully positioned furnishings are your prompts for scenic reveries. Contemplations continue over edible masterpieces of local seafood and mountain produce, and trips to local potters and shrines, but remember less is Ma, and a trip that ends down the plughole here is actually very well spent. 

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Price per night from $637.03