Beniya Mukayu
Kanazawa

Beniya Mukayu is one of Ampersand's Top 10 Luxury Ryokans.

Culturally speaking, Kanazawa is one of the richest places in Japan, but it is short on great hotels. The Beniya Mukayu, in historic Yamashiro Onsen is less than an hour away and provides the perfect place to stay. Like our other favourite Ryokans – the Hoshinoya in Kyoto and Gora Kadan in Hakone – the Beniya successfully combines modern elegance and comforts with the traditional ryokan experience.

Upon arrival, you will be instantly greeted into a light and airy spacious lobby, which provides a welcome relief from the usual shadows cast by the dark woods in most ryokans! Despite this modern take, you will still experience the authentic Old Japan Ryokan culture here, from wearing yukata kimono robes to sleeping on futon beds during your stay. Also, in keeping with true traditional aesthetics, the 17 rooms of the ryokan are fitted with authentic tatami-mats. The added luxuries of private open-air onsen baths and views of the magnificent ornamental garden are a huge plus. The picturesque greenery that surrounds the ryokan lends a zen-like, tranquil feel especially as a teahouse sits in the heart of the manicured garden, harmoniously balanced with a modern sculpture.

Between 2021 and 2022, new outdoor hot spring baths made of hinoki cedar wood have
been installed in all 16 rooms at hand-reaching distance to the forest garden.
Four Japanese Premier Tatami Garden View Rooms have been completely renovated,
and they now feature new outdoor hot spring baths, floor heating, closets and sofas.
Two new Zen Style Junior Suites have been completed in August 2022. Beds and sofas
have been harmoniously incorporated into a quintessentially Japanese atmosphere.
You are bound to experience immaculate service at this ryokan – on top of ‘omotenashi’, the attentive yet discreet customer care that Japan is renowned for, you will be treated to the typical high-end hotel hospitality of a Relais Chateux property.

Nakamichi-san, the owner, is a tea master and guests can share the tea ceremony experience with him here. The public areas are minimalist yet inviting, with an art installation by Satoru Matsuzaki, CEO of Muji. Excellent 'kaiseki' seasonal cuisine is served in a western-style restaurant with a sun terrace looking down into the garden copse. In typical Japanese fashion, this dinner is an intricate multi-course ritual - complete with platters of varying colours and flavors, depending on the season and local delicacies – so will certainly be memorable.

A private stairway and lift provide direct access to the iconic bath house of Yamashiro Onsen with its healing mineral-rich waters, but it is the atmospheric ryokan itself and the exceptional service of several English-speaking staff that are the real highlights.

At Beniya Mukayu, nature is not only to be admired: Guests are invited to immerse themselves in it. A Moss map illustrates the 13 varieties of representative mosses that grow on our premises. The Forest Library is Beniya Mukayu’s second library. Conveying the importance of the surrounding nature, the new library is dedicated to trees, wildflowers and mosses,
where guests can browse books on botany while drinking some self-blend herbal tea.  

We also offer a wide range of unique experiences where guests can create flower arrangements, make herbal balls, moss terrariums and washi paper or hiking the nearby Ozuchi mountain. A New art piece installed in 2021, Paraíso Vertical, showcases more than 30 varieties of local plants growing along the façade of one of the buildings of the property.

I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything.
Bill Bryson