Japanese Inns Called Ryokan

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese-style inn. Their style dates back to the Edo period in the 1600's and the 1700's.

If you want to see what they are like, you can still go to Japan and book hotels with that style of room. You can use the Ryokan and Hotel search on the Japan Ryokan Association website or visit the Japanese Inn Group website.

Some hotels are modern multi-floor hotels with elevators and other amenities (such as hand hair dryers), but with their rooms re-modeled in the ryokan style.

The ryokan's main feature is its tatami mat flooring. There are no bed, because you sleep on thin futons placed directly on the tatami mat floor. It will be a much firmer sleeping arrangement than a bed. So for those who likes to sleep on soft mattresses, it may take some getting used to.

The rooms are simply furnished -- sometimes decorated with a flower arrangement or scroll. Rooms have a low table and zabuton cushions for sitting at them. Japanese like green tea. So you may often find a electric hot water dispenser in your room with some packets of tea. Some rooms may have interior sliding door to add to the Japanese style.

In Japanese culture, it is customary to take off shoes when entering a home. Many rooms will provide multiple slippers for your use and would have a foyer (inside the door) where you can take off and leave your shoes. And especially because you will be sleeping on the floor, you should never wear your shoes on the tatami mat flooring. If hotel staff (or a native Japanese) sees you doing that, they might have a heart-attack. On the tatami mat itself, you should only wear socks or bare feet.

Some rooms may also provide a yukata (Japanese cloth robe) which you can wear inside the room or within the hotel.

Some large ryokan-style hotels may have large public communal baths. Since you are to be completely naked when in the bath, there are separate ones for women and men. You do not wear any clothes or underwear or swim-wear in these bath. They are not swimming pools and are not for cleansing oneself. They are for soaking (for a few minutes).

The etiquette for use of these baths is to place all your clothing in the basket or shelf in the changing room. Bring your small towel to the washing room, where there would be a stool and a small tub. Shower with soap while sitting down on the stool. When you have completely rinsed your soap off, you may enter the bath.

The water will be hot, so enter slowly. Be careful if you have heart problems. And do not stay in there too long. You just sit and soak. Do not splash or swim. Some people like to put their damp towel on top of their head.

It will be difficult to find pictures of these public baths, because photographs are often not allowed (for obvious reasons).

Ryokan hotel bathrooms may look like smaller versions of these communal bath. The bath tub looks more like Western-tubs but have steeper sides so that you can use them for soaking. Traditional Japanese custom is for everyone to use the same bath water, so do not pull out the plug after you are done.

In some Ryokan, there may be separate slippers for use only in the toilet room. You would change slippers as you move from the Ryokan room to the toilet room and vice versa.

In the toilet room, you may get a Western style toilet (one where you sit). It might even be fancier because it may have a built-in hygiene cleaner where you press a button to spray water. Make sure you are sitting on the toilet when you activate the spray.

Or you may have a traditional Japanese-style toilet. You do not sit on this one. In fact, you do not touch it at all. You squat over it. And that is why some say it may be even more sanitary.

To learn more about how to use a Ryokan style baths and even see cartoon picture of how to use the traditional Japanese toilet, visit the Japanese Inn Group travel tips.

What is Ryokan - Japanese.about.com

Ryokan Etiquette

Wikipedia entry on Sento

Wikipedia entry of Tatami