Inishie no Yado Ikyu (Kyoritsu Resort)

We truly enjoyed the comfortable service. All of the staff responded promptly and efficiently, allowing us to have a wonderful time—thank you very much. It was also a trip of gratitude to Ise Jingu.

I was amazed by how congested the traffic was around the shrine area. I was glad we managed to arrive at the Accommodation’s parking lot a little early, but the front desk and lobby were also crowded with guests waiting to check in. In the end, they finally started calling names about 20 minutes after 3:00 p.m., and we headed to our Room with our key and a card key for exclusive access to the Miyabi Floor.There was a brand-new wooden open-air bath on the terrace, but it was an extremely windy day (so windy that even the plastic umbrella we borrowed for visiting Naiku broke), and so many leaves and small branches were blowing in from the forest right in front of us that we hesitated to even open the windows, so we didn’t use it. Instead, I took a shower in the Room, changed into a yukata, and went to the large public bath.The Onsen in the large public bath truly warmed me up after my body had gotten completely chilled during an early-morning visit.As it had just reopened after renovation, everything in the building felt new and very clean. After dinner, I stopped by the vending corner reserved for Miyabi Floor guests, but it seemed there was some kind of malfunction or issue, and two staff members were quietly working on it. In the end, I only ended up having a canned beer from the refrigerator.Dinner began with four small appetizers—urui (hosta shoots), seri (Japanese parsley), fava beans, kinome miso (young pepper leaf miso), and more—an excellent introduction to what followed. The sashimi served after the soup course was perfect in both freshness and portion size; its seasoning with irizake paired wonderfully with their recommended Mie Prefecture sake tasting set. I also enjoyed taking my time with their idea of simmering chicken, pork, beef, and seasonal vegetables such as spring cabbage, new onions, and bamboo shoot tips in two different broths. The “Kokorobakari” course featured simmered katsuobushi-bushi (dried bonito) pieces rich with umami and small ayu fish fried with aonori seaweed; for rice/dish at meal’s end I chose maguro tekone-zushi on our attendant’s recommendation.Breakfast was classic Japanese fare: two kinds of grilled fish; thick rolled omelet; shigure-ni; simmered greens; a soy milk hot pot; lightly toasted nori; plus a small salad and yogurt. Thank you for a wonderful meal.