Michelin-listed ryokan "Shiroyamakan," in world heritage Shirakawa-go

Hello! My name is Satoru Miwa, and I work as a young master at the ryokan (Japanese inn) Shiroyamakan, which was founded in the World Heritage Site Shirakawa-go at the end of the Meiji era.

It was a winter with little snow, but the busiest season of the year, January and February, is over, and it's finally time to take a break. This time, I would like to introduce our ryokan to everyone.

Shiroyamakan received a one-star rating in the "Michelin Guide Aichi/Gifu/Mie 2019 Special Edition" published last year. I would like to write about the attractiveness of Shiroyamakan while putting my frank opinions that cannot be written on the website.

From now on, Shirakawa-go will be in my favorite season with cherry blossoms blooming, beautiful fresh greenery, and fireflies. It is also recommended for sightseeing, 

What is Shiroyamakan?

First, let me briefly introduce Shiroyamakan. Shiroyamakan is located in Shirakawa-go, Gifu Prefecture, in the Gassho-zukuri Village, which is registered as a World Heritage Site. Founded at the end of the Meiji era, it is a long-established ryokan that is limited to 4 groups per day. The current owner is the fourth generation of the ryokan.

The building has been designated as a nationally important traditional building. Because it is run only by the family, it is a ryokan that takes pride in its warm hospitality and delicate Japanese cuisine.

How to get to Shiroyamakan and Shirakawa-go?

Here is a guide on how to get to Shiroyamakan easily. Access to Shirakawa-go from Nagoya is as follows:

(1) By car: From Nagoya, take the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway and get off at the Shirakawa-go IC, then drive about 5 minutes (about 2 hours).
(2) By bus: Direct bus service from Nagoya to Shirakawa-go (about 3 hours)
(3) By train and bus: Take the JR Wide View Hida train to Takayama, then take the highway bus to Shirakawa-go (about 4 hours)

3 patterns are the basics, but please be aware that the number of direct buses between Nagoya and Shirakawa-go is small.
There will be no snow in the coming season, so I think the easiest way to get here is by car.

Shirakawago Bus Terminal. Shiroyamakan is just across the road.

People who come by bus often ask me, "How long does it take from the Shirakawa-go bus stop to Shiroyamakan? Can you pick me up?"  The bus terminal was relocated right in front of our ryokan a few years ago, so you can reach Shiroyama-kan in one minute on foot from thethere.

If you are coming by car, please use this bus terminal as a landmark. There is a large parking lot next to Shiroyama-kan, so please park there.

First, take a stroll through the gassho village

After arriving at the ryokan, we recommend leaving your luggage and taking a stroll through the World Heritage gassho-style village. The shops close after 5:00 in the evening, so it's better to take a walk early. You can walk from the ryokan to the gassho village in about 1 minute, so it is very convenient to take a walk.

Shirakawa-go in early summer and summer is also very beautiful.

If you haven't had lunch yet, a light meal is ideal. Because the meals at Shiroyamakan are very filling! Hida beef croquettes, gohei mochi, mitarashi dumplings, and other foods are popular while walking around, but please be careful not to eat too much (laughs).

We once had customers like this. They probably thought that all ryokan dishes were small in portion. When the wife saw the amount of food we served, she said to her husband, "You didn't tell me there would be so much food!" and a fight broke out. At that time, I was very nervous.

That being said, most women finish the meal, so if you are hungry, you should be able to finish the meal without any problems.

If you're taking a stroll, we also recommend visiting Cafe Ochiudo, which we introduced in a previous article.

Life Designs

2019.05.30

Gassho-zukuri cafe located in Shirakawa-go, a World Heritage site. "Cafe Ochiudo"

https://life-designs.jp/webmagazine/ochiudo

こんにちは！世界遺産白川郷にある創業明治末期の旅館「城山館」で若旦那をしている三輪了です。とにかく今年のG.W.の10連休は凄まじい人でした。とくに車がかつてないほどの大渋滞。旅館の方もようやく落ち着いてきたので、前回から間が空いてはしまいましたが、第2回目の投稿です。今回は白川郷に来たら必ずオススメするお店のひとつ、「喫茶・落人」さんをご紹介します。アンティークな空間で幸せカフェタイム喫茶・落人は世界遺産の合掌集落のちょうど中心に位置します。落人を真ん中に3軒の合掌造りがうつくしく並んでいるため、...

Which do you like? 4 room types

At Shiroyamakan, sightseeing tours start at 16:00 every day, so we recommend checking in 30 minutes before the tour starts. (The check-in time is from 15:00, but the preparations will be completed by 14:30, so you can check in even if you come around that time.)

There are 4 types of rooms because it is an ryokan limited to 4 groups. Each has its own characteristics, so I will briefly explain them.

8-tatami mat Japanese-style room "Seseragi" on the 2nd floor on the riverside

It's a little small, but it's the room with the best view. You will never get tired of looking at the magnificent scenery from the window every day! It's my favorite room.

10-tatami mat Japanese-style room "Buna" on the first floor along the river

This room is spacious and has a great view. Up to 4 people can stay here, so this is recommended for 2 or more people.

On the 2nd floor on the courtyard side, Japanese-style room with 8 tatami mats "Ichiban"

It is a room with the most history and taste, with the architecture of the Meiji period left as it is. I love this room because of its atmosphere, but the partition between the hallway and the room is a fusuma slide door, so some people may find it offensive. However, only the people in the adjacent "Hakusan" room pass through the hallway, so it is not a hallway where people come and go so often, so we have not received any complaints from customers who use this room. Please be assured that the key will also be properly locked.

Since the lighting in the room is somewhat suppressed, the room may feel a little dark at night. The lighting is calming when you spend your time normally, but it may be a little too dark when reading a book at night.

There are no restrooms in the three rooms mentioned above, and there is shared restroom.

"Hakusan" on the 2nd floor on the courtyard side, Japanese style room with a bathroom

This is the only room in our ryokan with a bathroom and a restroom, and only this Hakusan room is slightly more expensive than the other three rooms. In terms of room reservation rate, it is the most popular room. International guests especially like this room. This room is also popular with elderly people and those with small children.

Personally, I recommend "Seseragi" if you are staying with two people. The view from there is really great!

It is not adjacent to other rooms at all, so you can feel a sense of privacy. However, it's really narrow (laughs), so please understand that.

There is spring water in the hotel, and this spring water is available in the refrigerator and dining room of the room. This is also popular for its deliciousness, and coffee brewed with this spring water is also available in the common space rest room.

Very popular, sightseeing tour

From 16:00, a sightseeing tour will be held with the owner. It's a free tour that lasts about an hour, where you go around the village in a 10-passenger car, give commentary at each point, and take a commemorative photo at the observatory at the end.

This tour is highly recommended and is very popular with our customers as it allows you to understand things that you wouldn't know if you were walking normally, and to understand the history and culture of Shirakawa-go one step at a time. The owner has been doing this for over ten years.

And this tour is full of  the old man jokes. It seems that there are days when his jokes leave them cold, but he keeps trying make jokes every day without hesitation (laughs)

Whether or not you participate in this tour will make a big difference in how satisfied you are with your trip. It's highly recommended, so please join us when you stay at Shiroyamakan.

Actually, this is only information here, but recently, I sometimes act as a tour guide. I'm not quite as good as the owner's tour, but I'm doing my best while having the unique perspective of an outsider, so if I was a guide, please watch over me with warm eyes.

Have a relaxing time in a natural hot spring

The tour ends around 17:00. Dinner starts at 18:00, so it's a good time to take a bath.

Shiroyamakan does not have a bath, but there is a natural hot spring "Shirakawa-go no Yu" a minute's walk away, so a free bathing ticket is included. Until now, there was only one ticket included, but now it comes with two tickets. (As of March 10, 2020)

The hot spring has a hot and comfortable indoor bath, a slightly lukewarm semi-open-air bath, and a sauna. Even in the middle of winter, you will feel warm after taking a bath.

The hot springs are just a 1-minute walk away, but in the event of bad weather such as rain or snow, we also provide transportation by car for those with small children and the elderly.

Long-awaited dinner time

Well, from 18 o'clock it's time for the long-awaited dinner. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most important time at Shiroyamakan. After all, it is a Japanese ryokan!

The dining room for dinner is a completely private room, so you can spend a private time.

Recently, I think about it again, but we really use a lot of local ingredients.

Rice, egoma, Hida beef, rockfish, rainbow trout, konnyaku, pickles, apples, fried tofu, tofu, green onions, and many other ingredients from Shirakawa Village and the Hida region that I can think of.

When it comes to the harvest season for wild plants and vegetables, the number increases. Of course, all the dishes are handmade with time and effort. Therefore, the owner, who is a chef, is busy with preparations from morning till night.

My recommendation is the egoma (perilla) gohei mochi (on the right side of the aperitif in the center of the photo above). Gohei mochi is usually served with a soy sauce or sweet miso sauce, but ours is made with egoma miso. I think it's probably a taste that most people have never eaten, but it's very delicious.

And another one is simmered eggplant (bottom right of the aperitif). To be honest, I have had eggplant simmered in various places in the past, but it was rather a dish I didn't like. But the eggplant that the owener makes is something completely different. When I first tasted it, I was really surprised at how delicious it was.

And the main is this A5 grade Hida beef steak. A5 grade is of course the highest rank! To be honest, I've never seen an ryokan that serves such a large Hida beef steak.

Also, we're pretty particular about that part. It's a trade secret, so I can't say the name, but we use the rarer part "△△△△" instead of the "〇〇〇〇" part, which can only be taken in a few pieces from one cow. Hida beef has an image of having a lot of marbling, but sirloin, which has a lot of marbling, is so fatty that some people feel sick to their stomachs when they eat this amount. It is a proud steak that you can fully enjoy the taste of.

My recommendation is that the surface is grilled so that the umami is tightly confined, and the inside feels rare when you eat it. Please be careful not to overcook.

Also, there are three types of sauces: wasabi soy sauce, rock salt, and special Japanese-style sauce, but I like the special Japanese-style sauce. It goes well with rice!

The sashimi is char and rainbow trout caught in Shirakawa Village. Both are sashimi that can only be eaten in the mountains. The other is Hida konnyaku sashimi made by a friend. It's also smooth and I love it.

The grilled fish is also salt-grilled using char (iwana). The fish that was still alive until just a little while ago is slowly grilled, so it's a popular dish that is often said, "I didn't know char could be so delicious!"

The fried food is seasonal tempura. I'm happy that there will be lots of edible wild plants harvested in the nearby mountains in the coming season. I love taranome tempura.

Please note that the dishes may change slightly depending on the season and the purchase of the day.

Sleep while listening to the murmuring of the river

After dinner, relax in your room. We do not have a TV in the room. Because there is no TV, you can have conversations that you can't usually do, read a book and relax, forget the hustle and bustle of everyday life and refresh your mind and body.

With the river flowing right next to it, falling asleep while listening to the sound of the murmuring river is an indescribably pleasant sleep.

A breakfast that conveys 100 years of history

You can choose between 7:30 and 8:00 for breakfast.

It's a hearty breakfast from the morning, with the local cuisine Hoba miso-yaki and boiled tofu as the main dish, but my personal impression of our breakfast is "It's super healthy and good for the body!" Especially when there are a lot of vegetables, I think we use 20 kinds.

The most popular among them is Hoba miso-yaki (top center of the photo above).
The taste that has been passed down for more than 100 years has been improved little by little by generations of owners, and the current 4th owner, who is a Japanese cuisine chef, has perfected it. It is so popular that it has even been commercialized. It goes really well with rice!

Hoba miso was commercialized several years ago. 1 bottle 250g 1,080 yen (tax included) This versatile homemade miso can be used for stir-frying vegetables, or simply dipped in tonkatsu or oden.

We also serve Hida milk after the meal. This is so delicious! My 5-year-old son drinks this Hida milk every day, so sometimes when he drinks other milk, he says, "I can't drink it because the taste is strange..." (laughs)