This guide draws on the English pages of the Japan Ryokan Association and the Koyasan Shukubo Association, and on the tourism listings for Sado Island and Shirakawa-go together with the Shirakawa village pages on places to stay. It reports what those pages say rather than rules for the whole country.
A ryokan sells one night with two meals, dinner on the evening of arrival and breakfast the next morning. At Daien-in on Koyasan, the standard plan serves vegetarian cuisine. Overnight guests at Daien-in can join the morning service. Minshuku Tokaen on Sado Island offers a bed-and-breakfast plan. The same minshuku also has a plan without meals.
Ryokan: Two Meals Built Into the Price
A ryokan charges for one night and two meals together, the evening meal on the day of arrival and breakfast the morning after. The room attendant carries the dishes of dinner to the guestroom. Dinner is generally a course menu of washoku, that is, Japanese food.
Breakfast is basically washoku as well. A Western-style breakfast is also available at ryokans when the preference is given in advance. Average prices at Japan Ryokan Association member ryokans range from five thousand yen to one hundred nineteen thousand yen per person.
Minshuku: Two Listings Up Close
Minshuku Tokaen on Sado Island charges from five thousand five hundred yen per night for bed and breakfast, tax included. Minshuku Tokaen's simple package without meals starts from four thousand five hundred yen per night, tax included. An en-suite bathroom is not available at Minshuku Tokaen. To compare other places to sleep on the island, see lodging options on Sado.
Hirase Hot Springs has eight ryokan and two minshuku. Juemon in Ogimachi, Shirakawa-go, is a gassho-style minshuku with check-in from three in the afternoon and check-out by ten in the morning. At Juemon, bath times are booked in advance.
Shukubo: Temple Lodgings on Koyasan
From Osaka Namba Station, the Nankai Electric Railway reaches Koyasan Station in one hour forty minutes by Limited Express. Shukubo temples hold a Buddhist service early every morning. On Daien-in's standard plan, overnight guests can take part in the morning service.
The early morning services at Daien-in start at six o'clock, or half past six in winter. Meals at Daien-in on the standard plan are vegetarian cuisine. Sutra copying at Daien-in costs one thousand yen and needs booking ahead. The curfew at Daien-in is ten in the evening.
At Hojo-in, the shared bath is available from four o'clock in the afternoon to nine o'clock at night and cannot be used in the morning, and the guest rooms have no bath of their own. Hojo-in cannot serve dinner when check-in is after six o'clock in the evening.
Side by Side: Check-in, Check-out and Curfew
The tables below gather the same details in one place, so that each named stay can be read in a single row.
| Stay | Times |
|---|---|
| Hojo-in standard plan with two meals | Check-in from three in the afternoon to six in the evening, check-out from seven in the morning to nine in the morning |
| Daien-in check-in | From three in the afternoon to five in the afternoon |
| Daien-in check-out | Ten in the morning |
| Daien-in curfew | Ten in the evening |
| Kodai-in check-in | Three in the afternoon |
| Kodai-in check-out | Half past nine in the morning |
| Minshuku Tokaen check-in | Three in the afternoon |
| Minshuku Tokaen check-out | Ten in the morning |
| Most ryokans check-out | Either ten or eleven o'clock in the morning |
| Stay | Rate |
|---|---|
| Japan Ryokan Association member ryokans, average per person | Five thousand yen to one hundred nineteen thousand yen |
| Daien-in Japanese-style room, one person | From twenty thousand nine hundred per adult, tax included |
| Minshuku Tokaen with breakfast | From five thousand five hundred yen per night |
| Minshuku Tokaen without meals | From four thousand five hundred yen per night |
Exceptions and Differences Between Places
Even among the Koyasan temples, the bath arrangements are not the same. At Kodai-in, men use the shared large bathroom from four o'clock to five o'clock in the afternoon and from eight o'clock to nine o'clock at night. Women at Kodai-in use the shared large bathroom from five o'clock to eight o'clock at night.
The Kodai-in public bathroom cannot be used in the morning. The Japanese-style room at Daien-in has no bath or toilet. Child rates differ as well. At Kodai-in, children in the lower elementary grades are charged seventy percent of the adult rate. Hojo-in charges eighty percent of the adult price for both the upper and lower elementary grades.
Japanese law, for its part, defines a simple lodging business as a business that lodges people in a facility whose structure and equipment are mainly sleeping space shared by many people, apart from a boarding house business. Each of the pages behind this guide may change. Check official information before visiting.
Related Reading
See Okunoin at Koyasan in the quiet morning and Sado Island's quiet port and mine towns.