From the moment you arrive at the pier below Togetsukyo Bridge on the edge of Kyoto, you know you’re in for a special experience. Like Japanese aristocrats of old, you are escorted onto a stately little boat for a 15-minute journey up the river to Arashiyama, where the nobility once hung out in medieval times — now the site of the 21st century retreat Hoshinoya.
Hoshinoya is styled as a modern ryokan — an updated version of the traditional inn which most visitors to Kyoto long to experience for at least one night.
Think classically furnished apartments where you leave your shoes at the door, don a kimono and sleep low, but here restyled with five-star comforts including a proper bed rather than on a tatami mat.
Arriving is spectacular in itself, stepping on to a riverbank dripping glorious foliage — and blossom in the spring — before climbing up the sometimes uneven stone stairs to your own personal retreat.
Ours was raised for wonderful views. A wooden staircase inside gave access to the bathroom and living room, in which breakfast was served on the low dining table, where we would sit cross-legged to enjoy a feast prepared on the spot by staff.
On both levels, bedroom and living room windows were carefully divided and shaded to frame fabulous views of trees and water, visible from the low tatami sofa as well as our beds.
Woodblock-printed paper and traditional lighting that casts magical shadows made for the most atmospheric and romantic of lodgings, a stay here is ideal for a honeymoon or anniversary.
Hoshinoya’s kitchen is also presided over by a chef who won a Michelin star at London’s Umu before returning to his native Japan, offering the refined kaiseki Japanese cuisine for which Kyoto is famous.
For its tiny dining room, Ichiro Kubota has created an exquisite multi-course tasting menu served to just a few at a counter, whose seats must be booked well in advance.
With dishes inspired by the seasons and by local festivals, the menu is a modern twist on Kyoto’s traditional cuisine. In Japan’s ancient capital, chefs would have had every ingredient at their disposal: here Kubota aims to blend Western elements too to offer something to new to all guests, Japanese and Western.
There are gentle activities to help fill your days, from morning exercise in a “hidden garden” which mimics traditional raked gravel with tile, to tea ceremonies overlooking the river and Japanese whisky-tasting.
And after soaking up the tranquillity of Hoshinoya’s elegant surroundings, the sights of Kyoto, including its own gardens and temples, are close enough to explore on a day tour too.
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