Hakone Guest House Samurai Oyado - Enjoy Hot Springs And Sweets!

A Natural Hot Spring Called Kodakara-no-Yu

Image courtesy of: Hakone Samurai Oyado

An unexpected feature of the guest house is the directly adjacent natural hot spring, with separate pools for men and women. As expressed by its name, Kodakara onsen is a hot spring that has been loved by visitors for eight hundred and fifty years (in Japanese, "dakara", usually pronounced "takara", means a treasure). Even among famous hot springs, Kodakara onsen is considered to be top class, and the water is said to keep one's skin looking healthy and beautiful.

Guests with tattoos are also welcome to enjoy the hot spring facilities.

The Family Room

There are two types of accommodation: co-ed dormitory type rooms (3500 yen including tax, per night) and family rooms (13,500 yen including tax, per night). The family rooms can accommodate up to five guests.

All rooms have tatami mat flooring, and when you first enter the room you get enveloped by its soothing fragrance. Each room comes equipped with a security box so that your valuables will be safe. 

There is Wi-Fi access throughout the guest house complex as well.

Image courtesy of: Hakone Samurai Oyado

Some family rooms have their own private balcony. They cost 20,000 yen per night (tax included). 

After a soothing dip in the hot spring, how about snuggling up on the balcony with your favorite novel, as the Japanese bush warbler and other creatures create some natural background music?

A Spacious Dining Area

Interestingly, the windows in the eating area have no curtains, allowing guests to enjoy the view of the trees and surrounding greenery. In this wide-open space, it'll be easy to strike up a conversation with other diners, even if it's the first time you meet them.

The menu here offers shoyu (soy sauce) flavored ramen (800 yen including tax) and a gyudon set meal (1000 yen including tax), among other tasty looking selections.

The Enticing Japanese Confectionery Shop Nearby

Just ten minutes away on foot from the guest house is a Japanese confectionery shop called Hanakotoba. It offers a variety of sweets, guaranteed to give your mind and body an energy boost.
With a history dating back more than ninety years, the shop only uses natural, additive-free, high quality ingredients grown in Japan, and continues to take pride in making sure all products are handmade.

Daimonji manju (*1), handmade one by one with loving care, comes in four varieties: yomogi (the yomogi plant gives the manju dough a green color), koshian (strained anko), tsubuan (anko in which the beans remain whole), and shiso (manju with the fragrance of shiso leaves).
They sell for 120 yen each. With their natural sweetness, it'll be easy to eat a few of them all at once!

All sweets are made with local spring water, said to be the only water from the Mount Hakone area that you can drink as is. The shop is lined with a variety of wagashi (Japanese sweets).
When you bite into them, they have a gentle kind of taste that instantly puts you at ease.

*1 Manju: A popular Japanese sweet in which red bean paste (anko) is wrapped in a kneaded dough made from flour and other ingredients, and then steamed.

Son Sanso Honke / Flower Poetry

934 Kiga, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, 250-0402

In Closing

Did you enjoy today's tour? Surrounded by mother nature, this is the ideal place to enjoy a natural hot spring and delicious Japanese confectioneries.

How about recharging your body and soul at Hakone Guest House Samurai Oyado and Hanakotoba, the perfect places for relaxation?

Special thanks to: Hakone Guest House (Samurai Oyado) and Hanakotoba

Hakone Guest House Samurai Onjuku Shogun's Hot Spring

983 Kiga, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, 250-0402