Houshi Ryokan

We stayed here to celebrate our son turning 20. He was visiting Japan temporarily from abroad, so we thought we would have him enjoy the traditional Japanese ryokan experience here. The stay was extremely nice and much better than expected. The food, room and hot springs were all amazing, and the staffs were very polite and kind; they gave us a card for him. Overall we got to have a wonderful experience here, very much recommended!

Complete catfish scam. Avoid this rotting resort at all costs! I was lured here by the other strong reviews and reserved a room with beautiful photos and dinner. Two people for two nights was $120,000 (about $400 USD per night). We were put in a decrepit room with an active mold infestation. It stunk and you could see mold growing on every wall. It was completely falling apart and mysterious stains covered every surface. The furniture should have been thrown in the garage 30 years ago. We asked to move rooms because of the mold and were moved to a slightly less moldy room, the same room but two floors up. I paid for a king size bed but the bed was only a full. It was as hard as a rock with cheap, scratchy sheets. I paid for a garden view, but our room overlooked a rotting industrial building. The vibe is abandoned mall meets motel six. Paintings falling off the walls, scaffolding everywhere, stained carpet, broken windows held together by tape... The baths were fine but nothing special. The photos online are of the men's space. The woman's is smaller and more plain. We've stayed at other ryokan at a similar price point for a significantly better bath setup. These were more like a hot tub smelling like chlorine. The outside bath was lukewarm. The dinner was made with low quality ingredients like cheap meat and dry rice. They give you a lot of food, but it's all bad. The redeeming quality was the garden, which was lovely but not worth the trip. Staying here was one of the only times I felt scammed in Japan. I wish I could give zero stars. It looked nothing like the photos. The owners should be embarrassed to charge such an outrageous amount for such a poor quality product.

Enjoyed 3 nights. Overall very good to experience traditional Japanese hospitality. Meals were very fish and meat based (as expected) but no flexibility re food choices. The town is a little down at heal. Very pleasant staff.

Recommended Below 14,000¥ including bento style dinner and breakfast at selfservice room, which is very reasonable and satisfying in terms of value and quality. Less than 10 mins from Awadu station and the hotel offers free shuttle service from/to the station upon booking. There are convenience stores and cafes nearby. The hotel itself is aged but well maintained. However, the selfservice type room is not so well maintained with old and small TV compared to the room size. The room is huge and cozy. Some parts need to be improved such as the dasts near the AC vents. However, these rooms are for guests who want to stay with reasonable pricing so maybe I should not complain but it was something pity indeed. The public bath is clean and huge with good hot spring water. The garden is beautiful and its very well maintained. You can walk around the garden. The dinner and the breakfast are good enough.

Beautiful place. Sensational garden, friendly and authentic staff. The dinner in the evening is delicious (a large and exceptionally well preserved tasting menu), the rooms are authentic and traditional and the onsen is fabulous. Tattoos allowed, too. Thoroughly recommend!

Staff are very welcoming and some can communicate in English. This onsen town seems quiet but the ryokan itself is good enough for a stay-in trip to relax and use the onsen. Try to visit Natadera temple before you check-in.

Being the second oldest hotel in the world, this was a cool place to stay. The reception staff and hospitality here was top notch. As i pulled up in my taxi, they were waiting in front of the hotel and knew my name. I was immediately whisked inside where they serve me hot tea in the lobby. The onsen was great, and the morning sunlight in the room was gorgeous. The garden was INCREDIBLE! Cons: Parts of the hotel seem outdated (including the bathrooms in the room). As a family owned hotel on quite a large property, I understand that it would probably be very expensive for them to renovate and they likely need to prioritize other maintenance costs. The location is kind of far removed from other areas you might be visiting in Japan, and there is not a ton to do nearby. Overall this is a cool hotel, but if your time is limited in Japan, I wouldn't necessarily consider it a "must see". I'm grateful that I was able to check it out though.

It is advertised as the oldest ryokan (hot springs hotel) in Rokuriku region. It is historical buildings but was taken very good care of. The staff were very nice. The older Japanese staff don’t speak much English but you can easily feel their enthusiastic hospitality. The room was a bit old but still in great condition. The public baths are both great indoor and outdoor. The indoor pool is huge with several areas and kinda different temperatures to choose from. Unfortunately, the Sauna room was not hot enough. The buildings are all connected and surrounded by a big and beautiful Japanese garden. It was nice wandering around the garden both day and night.

You know you are going to get a great experience and stay when a Ryokan has been here since 718 (founded over 1300 years ago!!). That in itself is significant. First, some details. You can either arrive at JR Awazu station or JR Kagaonsen station. They have a shuttle bus service available to pick you up! The moment you arrive, you are greeted by a large group of staff. They first direct you to their tea-lounge (even before check in!!). There you take a sip of their fabulous tea and snack. From there you get to view an amazing garden situated within the hotel. We then proceeded to the check-in process. Just fyi, English is very limited. I had to utilize Google translate to help assist with the process. Afterwards, we were directed to our room with our primary hotel hostess. Her hospitality was beyond our expectation. At one point I offered to carry my own luggage, she politely declined, indicating I should just focus on enjoying our stay. When we arrived at our room, it was jaw-dropping. We have never been to a room with two floors and connecting to our own private garden (just fyi we booked a duplex suite with jacuzzi for just the two of us). Our hostess sat us in the main living room area, where she served us fresh tea with snacks (notice a trend? Tea is their primary focus and boy is it good). From there, we were left with enjoying the rest of the hotel facility, mainly their public onsen, and our private open air jacuzzi. Public onsen: separated to males and females' as excepted. Large area to first shower, and then you have the option of an indoor or outdoor onsen. Within the onsen region, you have a foot massager, cold water station, and a hair-drying region. There are lockers. The facility itself you can walk around (there is the public garden, as well as our own private). Provides different vibes during day and night. Be careful of mosquitos during those warm weather. Food: Our first traditional Kaiseki dinner. It was amazing and filling. Each dish provided with its own unique taste, filled with its own beauty and savourness. It was really a journey into their 46 generational history. The breakfast course was just as amazing (we scheduled our breakfast at the earliest time at 0700h) as we would have to catch our earliest shuttle at 0930h. Just fyi the meals can take a long time (2-3h for dinner, and 1h for breakfast). Room: While we spent most of our time at the living room region, and our open air jacuzzi, the actual bedroom is upstairs (where they lay the tatami bedding during dinner hours). It was our first tatami experience, so it certain was unique to us. It was only one night that we stayed. Wished we can stay longer to continue to soak this experience. I came away amazed by their gracious hospitality. I wish we could be there as the trees change in color. But nonetheless, you will be fascinated by every aspect of this hotel.

7/16/2018: I plan visiting Houshi Ryokan Hot Springs Hotel in 2019 after visiting my ancestral land in Balatan, Camarines Sur Province, Philippines-yes, I do speak my Mother's tongue despite, being born in NorCal~LOL. BTW: After living in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, South Korea for two and a half years, on a whim, I decided I would visit Japan from February 9 to March 10, 2009 . . . Shockingly, I missed the Fukushima Earthquake event by ONE DAY=March 11, 2009! If, I left for Narita Airport on March 11, 2009, in the morning rather than leaving on March 10, 2009 from Sakura Hotel, Jimbocho, +81332613939, 101-0051 Tokyo Prefecture, Chiyoda-ku Kanda-Jinbocho 2-21-4, Japan-info@sakura-hotel.co.jp, I wouldn't be alive writing Houshi Ryokan's review right now or ANY Yelp reviews after March 11, 2009 to present date . . . Eeeeeek! Incidentally, I do speak broken-well, okay~admittingly, I do speak Dragnet-style, botched Japanese . . . There! I stated that fact so, don't make fun of my inability speaking Japanese, reading or writing Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana scripting, ALRIGHT? Alrighty, then~grrrrrrr . . . Anyway, I'll be visiting Japan so, I will learn speaking Japanese, reading and writing Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana as well as I do speak Korean . . . Augh~I'm still having a problem reading Hanguel . . . That's Korean scripting. Anyway . . . I'll stay at Sakura Hotel first for about a week healing my jet-lag flying from USA then, I'll begin traveling to Houshi Ryokan: Hopefully, there won't be major flood events or disastrous earthquakes (I'm trembling right now) preventing me riding the Japanese Transportation System like the extreme flooding happening in Japan the last couple weeks, July 1-16, 2018! So, let's proceed-ONWARD to Houshi Ryokan Hot Springs Hotel . . . I'll be booking my hotel reservation after Christmas 2018 hoping, Japan has recovered from the extreme flooding event which prevented me from visiting Japan right now. Please watch "Houshi Ryokan Hot Springs Hotel"-English translation videos below: 1. https://vimeo.com/114879061?ref=tw-share 2. http://www.ho-shi.co.jp/en/ for further information. Backstory: Since the year of 718, "Awazu Onsen Hoshi" has been offering its ever-flowing hot spring to its visitors. The legend historically recorded, the Awazu Hot Spring was founded 1,300 years ago when Taicho Taishi, a Buddhist monk, dreamt of the location of this sacred, hot spring. According to Houshi Ryokan's current, Hotel Owners, they state healing your body and soul enjoying the scenery from their open-air baths is absolutely relaxing. Moreover, relaxing in the Japanese, traditional-style rooms are simple but, well-appointed; in addition, enjoying the traditional Kaiseki cuisine surely, will be a memorable experience. Surprisingly, for a 1300-year old hotel, Houshi Ryokan has High-Speed Internet (LAN) available in some public spaces located at Houshi Ryokan Hot Springs Hotel-you may check YELP while bathing in the hot springs' mineral pools! WOW, wow, wow! So, YELPERS~Make sure you do a YELP check-in, okay? FYI: It takes thirty minutes by car to Komatsu Airport, fifty minutes by car to Kanazawa, one hour and thirty minutes by car to the Shirakawa-Go(Volost). Shuttle services are available to and from Awazu and Kaga Onsen stations. Below is the name of Houshi Ryokan Hot Springs Hotel in Japanese; it's imperative you MUST copiously copy and paste the Kanji scripting exactly onto your travel, itinerary schedule showing the Japanese Kanji business name for Houshi Ryokan to the transportation operator who unfortunately, might not read English which visiting Japan my first time in 2009, proved tremendously problematic; worse-I can't read Kanji scripting or speak fluent Japanese~Eeeeek! Hello, sir: Please-I want to go to Houshi Ryokan Hot Springs Hotel. Kon'nichiwa, sā: Watashi wa Houshi ryokan hottosupuringusuhoteru ni ikitaidesu. こんにちは、サー：私はHoushi旅館ホットスプリングスホテルに行きたいです。 北陸 栗津温泉法師 Awazuonsen, Komatsu-shi, Ishikawa TEL. +81 761 65 1111(Representative) +81 761 65 1112(Reservation) FAX. +81 761 65 1115 Transportation Tips: Situated in Awazu Hot Springs, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. By car: 5 minutes from JR Awazu Station, 15 minutes from Komatsu Station and 20 minutes from Kaga-Onsen Station; 15 minutes from Katayamazu Interchange and 20 minutes from Komatsu Interchange, both of which are on the Hokuriku Expressway. Forty minutes from downtown Kanazawa and 20 minutes from Komatsu Airport. To JR Hokuriku Kaga-Onsen Station: By express train, 4 hours and 30 minutes from Tokyo, 2 hours and 30 minutes from Osaka, and 2 hours and 30 minutes from Nagoya. To Komatsu Airport: By plane, 1 hour from Tokyo, 1 hour and 30 minutes from Sapporo, 1 hour and 15 minutes from Fukuoka, 2 hours from Seoul, 3 hours and 20 minutes from Shanghai, and 4 hours from Taipei. Driving Hokuriku Expressway: Katayamazu Interchange, Komatsu Interchange.