Hoshinoya Kyoto

Want to vacation like a Heian noble?

Step onto one of the Hoshinoya’s unassuming wooden boats, and 10 minutes later you’re in another world, far from the thronging crowds and bustle of Arashiyama’s main streets.  Out here, the river cuts between steep wooded hills with rocky banks.  Ahead, there’s a scene that could be from 100 years ago – low wooden pavilions peeking through the trees, and a small group waiting on a dock to welcome us.

This is not the place to come if you’d like to be conveniently located to Kyoto sights and restaurants – it’s meant to be a retreat from all that.

The heart of Hoshinoya Kyoto is the small courtyard and reception building, which also has a sitting area outside overlooking the river.  There are beverages and snacks there, and a small library.

Rooms are in small buildings set along a winding path farther back into the property.  All of them have views of the river – ours had a large cushioned sitting area next to the bedroom window, a nice place to relax with the windows open to watch the river and listen to nature.

We also had a tatami room where we had breakfast; I was amazed each morning how the room was transformed from a sitting room with low sofa to a breakfast area with a table that appeared out of nowhere (not to mention the toaster or hot pot that was the centerpiece of each meal!).

The old storehouse, or kura, is now a small bar that offers complimentary afternoon snacks and cocktails.  The snacks were traditional Japanese confections.

The bar also has sketch paper and pencils in case an artistic whim strikes, and some traditional board games.

Coming and going from the hotel – given that it requires a boat trip – is quite an involved process so I would recommend limiting to one trip per day.  On our first night, this was dinner at our previous favorite Tempura Matsu (and returned past the boat’s normal hours, which meant a van ride on narrow winding roads).  And on our second day, we went for lunch and a walk around the Arashiyama area, before returning in the afternoon and relaxing in our room before dinner at the hotel restaurant.

As in a traditional ryokan, this kaiseki meal is a key element of the entire experience.  The restaurant is across from the reception area, with counter seats in front of the chefs preparing exquisite dishes.

My favorite was this assortment of amuses bouches, each so different and so delicious: mackerel sushi wrapped in bamboo leaf, lotus root with smoked salmon, asparagus mousse, tiny simmered lake gobies, and more.

We also had sashimi, sake-flavored soup with deep fried fish, grilled baby ayu sweetfish, then grilled beef followed by the typical rice-miso soup-pickles finale.

Each course was matched with wine (from Italian white to red Bordeaux) or sake.  The sake selection was especially interesting, including a contrasting pairing of a crisp sake from Kyoto and a richer unfiltered sake.

The dessert, a cherry millefeuille, was one of the most striking things I’ve seen in quite a while, with a paper-thin crisp arcing above a layer of cherries and a gravity-defying cherry on top.

To complete our nobles-on-vacation experience, we joined a monko incense experience.  “Incense listening” was a popular pastime centuries ago in aristocratic Japanese circles, when the rare and fragrant woods were all the rage – people even created their own signature incense blends.

Monko is a sort of game in which you “listen” to incenses and try to differentiate them – for example, start by passing one incense around the group, then move to a second one and determine if it’s the same or different.

The process begins by preparing the incense burner, with a hot ember beneath a pile of ash.  We tried our hand at it – first pressing the ash into a conical shape with a small ridged spatula, then creating a chimney effect by pressing a narrow metal rod down to the ember to enable the heat to rise.  A transparent wafer of mica is balanced on the point of the cone, and the tiniest shard of incense goes on top, to warm gently and release its fragrance.

The aromas are quite subtle!

Hoshinoya Kyoto is a treat for all five senses and the perfect spot for some mid-trip downtime.  I look forward to stepping back onto that wooden boat sometime soon.