Hachikan
108 Ohara Todera-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 601-1245, Japan
108 Ohara Todera-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 601-1245, Japan
About 40 minutes by car from central Kyoto.
Surrounded by mountains, the village of Ohara still keeps the look of rural Japan as it once was.
Nobles and monks have come here since ancient times; shōmyō chant still carries through the air, and temples stand in quiet.
Rapeseed blossom in spring, green paddies in summer, autumn leaves, and winter snow.
Hachikan stands in the midst of these seasons.
Sanzen-in, Hōsen-in, Shōrin-in, Jakkō-in — Ohara is dotted with ancient temples.
In the village fields, the day's vegetables are being picked.
We bring the water, the soil and the gifts of the season straight into your stay.
That is what hospitality means at Hachikan.
The building is a thatched-roof house that has stood on this land for more than 250 years.
The marks on the posts and the soot-darkened beams are the time this house has lived through.
Rather than rebuild it, we have had craftsmen repair only what needed repair, and carried it forward.
A fire in the irori hearth, water heating on the kamado.
The time that has flowed through this house goes on.
The thatched main house, approx. 140 m².
It is said to have once been Uan, a ryotei restaurant with its own tea room.
A great hall, a tokonoma alcove, an irori hearth, a kamado stove.
The soot-darkened beams and posts still hold 250 years of time, carried forward by the hands of Kyoto craftsmen.
Hachikan's spa was designed by a designer who has created saunas for well-known hotels in Japan. Inspired by the baths of ancient Rome, it is built so that heat comes from the walls, floor and benches as well.
Convection, radiation and conduction — the space is designed to combine all three kinds of heat.
We paid as much attention to scent as to temperature.
Ohara is a basin held between the Hira and Kitayama mountains.
The groundwater here is soft, with a hardness of just 17–33 mg/L.
It brings out the delicate flavors of matcha and Kyoto dashi, and it fills our baths as well.
Cooking, tea, bathing — all of it depends on this water.
We build each meal from vegetables picked that morning and ingredients at their seasonal best.
The tableware comes from Hachikan's own collection, from Edo-period antiques to pieces by contemporary artists.
For each day's menu, we choose the vessel for every dish.
Set apart in the grounds stands the sukiya-style tea house “Joshun.”
The name is said to have been given by the novelist Yasushi Inoue, and a plaque bearing it hangs inside. There is a main room of four-and-a-half mats plus daime, and a tea garden of approx. 127 m².
From the earthen walls and fittings to the stepping stones, it has been tended by craftsmen who specialize in sukiya architecture.
Among its furnishings are pieces said to be the work of the Senke Jisshoku, the ten craft families of the Sen tea schools, and elsewhere in the house are pieces said to be by Kitaōji Rosanjin.
