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 One of the craftsmen who built this lovely structure as a traditional restaurant over 70 years ago was the father of Mrs. Kato, the current owner, and ever since it was moved to its present location in the 1950s, the impeccably elegant details have been caringly preserved. Hazuki is a luxurious three-storied wooden building the only one in Yuya evocative of traditional Japan. The owners will gladly walk you through the inn, pointing out subtle, beautifully crafted detailing at every turn, such as lighting recessed behind wooden slats, thickly cushioned Chinese-patterned linoleum outside the dining area, faux indoor roofs, etched glass windows, and banisters made from highly polished limbs of the wood known in Japan as ‘monkey-slip’. |
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During your stay, you share this spacious inn with guests from only four other rooms. Two exceptionally large rooms have twin beds as well as tatami sleeping areas, and three others are tatami only, in which lavish three-layer-deep futon beds are laid out at your convenience. |
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Again, note the splendidly fashioned details in each living quarter: under the glass panes of the large sliding windows, overlooking the wooded riverbank, discover the wooden panels which may be drawn to one side revealing oblong vents to the outside, cleverly allowing your room to be filled with refreshing breezes as well as music from the river’s passing. Hazuki truly does cater to all the senses.
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There are two baths at Hazuki, each reserved for men or women at different times of the day. The indoor bath is an intimate, curved ceramic tub, set under a large glass window you may slide open to a view of the river through a leafy screen of trees. |
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The outdoor bath is made of fragrant Japanese Cypress, protected from the elements by a wooden awning but otherwise feeling very much a part of the riparian environment. Both baths, of course, feature the restorative Yuya spa water. |
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While your surroundings ensconce you grandly in a previous century’s Japan, your meals partake of another Asian tradition. To the sounds of Chinese flute mingling with the rush of river outside and faint peals of laughter and conversation from other guests, you dine on herbs and foods selected, according to Chinese wisdom, entirely for properties enhancing your good health as well as pleasuring your taste buds. |
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Every year the Katos bring in an experienced chef from Shanghai who creates studiously assembled foods for the inn’s guests, making Hazuki an excellent temporary abode for comprehending the Chinese approach to a body’s health through diet. While you enjoy over a dozen restrained courses of startling variety and texture, your server will explain the beneficial properties of each of the ingredients used, and you also have at your elbow a text specifying the curative properties of the delicacies before you. |
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