Travel to Kyoto's Muromachi neighborhood, and you'll find Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone: a peaceful ryokan inn with only seven rooms. Here, we will take you inside this charming hotel, with its elegantly designed rooms and interior, and delicious, delicately flavored seasonal dishes.
If you are seeking lodging for your next trip to Kyoto, then this place is a must-see.
In a quiet town where both new and old meet, sits Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone
From Karasumadori, a street that runs north to south along central Kyoto, to Muromachidori, which runs west. The area surrounding these streets prospered as a political and cultural center during the Muromachi Period and as a bustling shopping street lined with clothing shops during the Edo Period.
It is in this Muromachi area that Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone lives. It is an area lined with old buildings and houses, mixing the quiet lifestyles of old with the lively bustling of the city.
The entrance to the hotel. At first glance, it looks more like a restaurant, but it definitely feels like Kyoto.
Pass through the noren curtains, and you will come to a stone path and a little garden. It seems this inn was renovated from what was once a private home that was also a kimono shop.
With a total of seven rooms, it might appear quite compact for a Kyoto ryokan inn; however, when you consider that it once was a home, it is actually quite spacious!
▲As soon as you go through the front door, you enter the lobby
Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone opened in 2016, leaving behind some of the pre-renovation glass, handrails, beams, and pillars for a space with a combined old-fashioned yet modern atmosphere.
The decorative cloths behind the round wooden chairs were also made using fabric handed over from the previous owner from when it was a kimono shop.
▲Shiraai Double Bed Room
Once we finish with reception, we head straight to the room. Check-in takes place for each room, after which you are given full personal time. There is no scheduled meal time, or time for making the bed. You are truly free to use the entire time in any way you please.
Each of the seven rooms are given names of ancient Japanese colors, which are also set as the room’s theme color. The room in the photo is called “Shiraai” (2 person room, 23,000 yen plus tax per person on weekdays, includes 2 meals). It is a pale bluish yellow color, an old color whose name can even be found in old Heian Period books.
▲The theme color of each room is used in that room’s interior and decoration.
The other rooms besides this one each have their own theme colors as well.
▲Botan Twin Bedroom (triple rooms possible). 2 persons, 23,000 yen each plus tax on weekdays, 2 meals included.
▲Fuji-murasaki Twin Bedroom. 2 persons, 23,000 yen each plus tax on weekdays, 2 meals included.
▲Ruri Twin Bedroom. 2 persons, 23,000 yen each plus tax on weekdays, 2 meals included.
▲Ginshu Twin Bedroom. 2 persons, 23,000 yen each plus tax on weekdays, 2 meals included.
▲Usuzakura Twin Bedroom. 2 persons, 23,000 yen each plus tax on weekdays, 2 meals included.
▲Tokiwa Twin Bedroom. 2 persons, 23,000 yen each plus tax on weekdays, 2 meals included.
Botan, shiraai, fuji-murasaki, ruri, ginshu, usuzakura, tokiwa. When you arrange the first letter of each room’s name… Ho-shi-fu-ru-ki (kyo)-to… “Hoshifuru Kyoto!” An expression that means “Starry Kyoto.”
I probably wouldn’t have noticed if …
