"The roofs of the minka (traditional guesthouses built to resemble praying hands) may be covered in lichen, some of the walls may be made of pressed earth, and the floors and ceilings may have uncut tree trunks running straight through them, but don’t get the wrong idea; though the illusion of sleeping in the woods is persuasive, the comforts of Wanosato are as civilized as they come. This is the natural world as we wish it could be: all the lush greens, the fresh mountain air, a gurgling river, the solitude and the tranquility, none of that pesky dirt to smudge up the composition. Unless, that is, we count the timbers rendered a gleaming obsidian black by years of smoke from the communal hearth at the center of the ryokan." - Tablet Hotels