A completely magical and unforgettable experience. It's difficult to get there (although the directions from the Ryokan are very good) but its worth the trip and the price. Amazing.

Great food with charming chef, excellent service even by Japanese standards in a most beautiful setting. Historic building. Well worth the somewhat complicated journey

Traveled to Japan 2 years ago and this was the best Ryokan we stayed at. My partner and I landed in Narita and then rented a car for the duration of our trip (2 weeks) and drove through the country.

This was the hotel we stayed at for our first night and it was everything we could have asked for! We drove from Narita to the hotel using a GPS (in Japanese only--neither one of us speaks the language), and it took us a few hours (can't recall exactly, but I think 4 or 5 hours) to get there. The road was mountainous, but otherwise very well maintained and we had no issues finding it and the drive was very beautiful.

We had a room with the view of the river and bridge. The room was very large, clean and the sound of the water was very peaceful. We had dinner across the bridge and thought the food was just not particularly tasty or fresh, but the setting was amazing! Like nothing we've ever seen before. You sit on the floor and your "table" is a rectangular hole (for lack of better words) filled with sand with a fire in the middle so you can cook different dishes as well as warm the sake. It was such an experience!

When we went back to our room after the dinner the bed was ready and was very comfortable and clean.

We woke up early in the morning and went to the onsen downstairs. I went to the women's and my partner to the men's. There was no one there yet, so it was very relaxing and peaceful.

I highly highly recommend this hotel if you have the time to spare and don't mind the extra travel. There's not much to do up here it seems and we stayed because we were going to Nikko the next day, but I would definitely go back just for the tranquility and experience. I loved everything about this place and the staff was very nice.

From reading all the reviews on tripadvisor my expections were high. I have never stayed in a Ryokan before so I can't compare experiences. I stayed for one night and felt that was sufficient. I enjoyed the adventure getting there and the instruction from the hotel website was great. Booking this place I found difficult as I had to find someone who spoke Japanese(this made me like the place more as it felt like I was staying somewhere authentic). The room was big and lovely. It had a gorgeous view of the river. The only negative thing about the room is they didnt empty the rubbish bin from the people before us. The food was good but not exceptional. The service I felt was disappointing. There wasn't any and I received more service in staying in a hotel. I am not sure if i am wrong but I thought the service in Ryokans were meant to be amazing. We carried our bags to our rooms, when they made our beds they didnt tidy anything up (we had a few drinks in the afternoon in our room and I assumed they would remove the glasses and empty bottle). I sound petty but I assumed i would be fussed over just a little bit. Isn't that why you pay so much?
The onsens were great.