The Nunohan Hotel is a traditional Japanese inn (a ryokan). The Nunohan Hotel has been in existence for 150 years. Ryokans date from the Edo Period (early 1600's to the mid 1800's) during which time (and later) they served as guesthouses for Japanese traveling on the road.
As was true of the historical ryokans, Nunohan is bare (by today's standards) in style, especially the guest rooms. Each guest sleeps on the floor on a futon placed on a tatami (a traditional mat) in a traditionally styled room. When we first arrived at our room, the only piece of furniture in it was a table. When we came back to our room after dinner the table had been moved to the side and the futon and tatami were in the middle of the room. Widespread use of tatami for nobility, priests and samurai dates from about 1100 c.e. - a time marked by the emergence of the samurai class and feudalism in Japan.
Guests of Nunohan are expected to remove their shoes before entering their rooms and use the provided toe socks when in their rooms and the provided slipper/sandals when in the rest of the hotel. The hotel also features communal hot spring baths (Judy did it), meals of many small portions of fresh, seasonal ingredients (typical of our other traditional meals elsewhere in Japan) and a beautiful garden which reflects seasonal changes in vegetation. Guests at Nunohan are encouraged to wear kimonos (provided by the hotel) which we did to dinner.
Nunohan is in Suwa-shi, a resort town which features hotels with hot spring baths and Lake Suwa - both presumably a nice change of pace for the big city residents of Japan. Nunohan is located next to Lake Suwa. Excellent views of the lake are seen from the hotel's guest rooms. There is a natural hot spring under the lake.
In the book "Autobiography of a Geisha" by Sayo Masuda Suwa-shi is prominently featured as Masuda explored the life of a hot springs resort geisha (in contrast to the more commonly told tale of the life of a city geisha).
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