Truly jaw-dropping – the
IT’S not hard to see why Hollywood actress Jessica Alba fell in love with the Hoshinoya Kyoto hotel.
Tucked away among trees overlooking a gentle river, it’s a wonderfully Japanese bucolic retreat. Ms Alba said it was a ‘magical place’ and I’m similarly bewitched, with my check-in taking ages because I have to drag my jaw across the floor as I’m shown around.
But allow me to rewind, because the arrival begins a few hundred yards before you get to the reception desk.
You are met at a bridge downstream – Togetsukyo Bridge, or the ‘bridge that leads to the moon’ – and taken by boat to a small landing dock and disembark into a place of stunning, zen-like luxury.
We pass a woman sitting on a stone in the middle of a small pond, by a waterfall, rubbing a stick around a bowl, which produces a calming, meditative sound. Then we’re shown to our room – and we’re left in a state of disbelief.
The hotel was originally a business tycoon’s private villa, built 100 years ago. But now it’s an eye-catching take on a ryokan, a type of traditional Japanese inn, with 25 rooms, overlooking the Oigawa River in the Arashiyama area of Kyoto.
Our room is a beautiful suite with its own Japanese-style living room with a matted floor, plus a room with a king-size bed, cushioned window-side couch and ‘kyo-karakami’ wallpaper – a traditional design that creates ‘enchanting shadows when the sunlight falls on it’.
The rest of the suite includes a study, loo and a bathroom with a square wooden bathtub and rain shower. Perhaps I’ve died and gone to hotel heaven. My
girlfriend agrees. ‘I want to stay for ever,’ she says after the tour – and we haven’t even sampled the cuisine yet.
But before we do that, we explore the area. The must-see nearby sight is an otherworldly bamboo forest. A similar one in China was used in the filming of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. They’re at once eerie and beautiful.
Back at Hoshinoya, we experience a top-end take on the Japanese multiple-course kaiseki meal. The hotel’s head chef is Ichiro Kubota, who won a Michelin star in London with his Umu restaurant. We sit around a counter and watch two chefs prepare exquisite dishes – each a work of art and accompanied by a ‘by-the-glass’ wine and sake tour.
By this stage I’m considering writing to the Japanese premier to urge him to make Hoshinoya Kyoto a national treasure.
In the morning, after a stretching session in the hotel’s ‘peace garden’, checking out is a slow process, because my jaw is still on the floor.