Weekend at the Honke Bankyu ryokan in Nikko-Yunishigawa

December 26-27th of 2025. We spent a couple nights at the Honke Bankyu ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) in the Yunishigawa Onsen town.

From the outside, the building is unremarkable. It looks just like any other old ryokan in the countryside. However, once the doors open it's obvious that it's not. They have been operating continuously since 1666 (for almost 360 years now), and the building keeps most of its old look and feel. It's obvious that it has been renovated a number of times, but the interior keeps an atmosphere perhaps not too different from what you would have expected during the Taisho era (about a hundred years ago). The main building is contains the guest rooms, private rotenburos (open-air baths), and the public onsen and rotenburo. It's built on the side of the river, and the lobby has big windows overlooking the stream where you can sit and relax while drinking some of the free coffe or soft drinks. The guest rooms face the river, and the ones in the second floor (like the one we got) have their structural beams exposed and you can see all the way to the underside of the roof. Breakfast is served in an extension built under the main building almost level with the river, and accessed by a set of stairs and a short rock tunnel. Dinner, however, is served in a separate pavillion across the river, accessed via a hanging bridge attached to the first floor of the main building to the side of the lobby. Crossing the bridge at night under the snow makes the place feel magical, like being inside a movie or a video game. On the other side there's a set of stone steps built on the hill leading to a large dimly-lit building with several large tables, each built around an large irori used to cook some of the food on top of coals. Needless to say, the food was fantastic. I will certainly visit again in Summer.