Shouhakutei Azumaso

“A Hidden Treasure”

We were a little worried about our booking at Azumaso, mainly because the pricing was considerably less than other luxury ryokan. As readers may know, in Japan, generally, the higher the price, the better the experience; the lower the price, the worse the experience. BUT, we did not have to worry… more

We were a little worried about our booking at Azumaso, mainly because the pricing was considerably less than other luxury ryokan. As readers may know, in Japan, generally, the higher the price, the better the experience; the lower the price, the worse the experience. BUT, we did not have to worry! Our room at Azumaso was huge. We reserved a room called "Dream," and it was a dream! The ryokan had two large tatami rooms, one that served as a sitting room and the other that served as a bedroom. In addition, it had a dining room that let people unused to a Japanese dining experience to sit at a "normal" table with chairs. We were impressed that the person who made up our bed was able to put the futon together and extend the futon to deal with a tall person. Very nice. This room came with its own private hot spring bath. It was a cedar tub bath which was excellent for two people. The water was authentic hot spring water and the temperature was piping hot. We needed to seriously cool down the water in the morning before we stepped into the bath. We never had the desire to try another bath as our bath was decadently pleasurable -- you could soak outdoors in a very hot bath and then totter off to bed. The food, served in our room, was top notch. We could not have been more pleased. And, the portions were immense! Our quibble was with the service. The waitresses seemed to be under immense pressure to serve and leave -- in our stay, it seemed like we were being rushed. If you are eating in your own room, why rush the experience? While the waitresses were friendly and efficient, we believe that Azumaso had too few waitresses, and so the waitresses had a lot of pressure to handle customers quickly. There is not view, as this ryokan is in the hotel section of Tendo city. But, we had a pleasant garden view, a very nice bath (fully outdoors), and loads of space. In addition, our room was quite bright.

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“Old World Charm .”

This is a nice ryokan/ inn which has a long history around 100 years. It is around a 10-15 minute walk from Tendo Station. If you ring a day beforehand you can organise a bus pickup from the station especially if you have luggage. The check in process was a bit slow as the staff did not speak muc… more

This is a nice ryokan/ inn which has a long history around 100 years. It is around a 10-15 minute walk from Tendo Station. If you ring a day beforehand you can organise a bus pickup from the station especially if you have luggage. The check in process was a bit slow as the staff did not speak much English and eventually made it in the end. After checking in a staff member showed us on the map where the lobby was and where our rooms were and the location of the hot spa baths. We were also told the location of the breakfast room and that breakfast was from 7:30am till 9:00am. We then went to our rooms and were surprised to learn that there was an actual real keys still being used here to lock the door. The room had a couple of sliding doors which gave you the authentic feel of old Japan. The one thing that I did not like much was the thin mattress that you also on the tatami floor as it was a bit hard to get comfortable. The breakfast that you were served was an authentic Japanese breakfast which was different and interesting. You could get coffee and orange juice also. There was a cat that wandered around greeting guests and it was called Maichan. This cat had the run of the place and you could see every often it doing claw marks on the back of the sofas. It looked as though the owner liked the cat and let it do what it wanted. If you are look i my for an authentic feel of old world charm then I would recommend coming here to experience it for yourself. If you come on winter you might get lucky and have it snow .

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“Cat-themed Ryokan with Onsen”

Azumaso is a Ryokan with hertitage, dating back 100 years. There is some patina in the main building, but the property is well maintained. While there are two gender-separated public onsen (24h available, one open-air, one indoors), I recommend you to stay in the new wing and ideally to choose a ro… more

Azumaso is a Ryokan with hertitage, dating back 100 years. There is some patina in the main building, but the property is well maintained. While there are two gender-separated public onsen (24h available, one open-air, one indoors), I recommend you to stay in the new wing and ideally to choose a room with private open-air onsen. These are large rooms with a very nice layout, such as a seperate dining room. Dinner and breakfast are served in your room. Azumaso has a decent selection of Sake and offers four different tasting sets, with three cups each. While Azumaso is not one of the super luxurious Ryokan (i.e. no staff member is running towards your car as soon as you arrive, there is no bar area nor restaurant), all staff members were friendly, helpful and we had a very pleasant stay and enjoyed the hospitality. I would choose Azumaso again.

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