Kanaguya

Kanaguya

Kanaguya (金具屋) is a hot-spring inn in Shibu Onsen, Yamanouchi Town, Nagano Prefecture, founded in 1758, and four of its buildings from the early Showa period are registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Kanaguya).

The inn's own history says its founders were metal-fitting smiths (kanagushi) who had served the Nagaoka domain, which is where the name comes from. A landslide in 1754 damaged their workshop at the foot of Mount Shinmei; while rebuilding they struck hot water, began putting up the craftsmen who came to deliver goods, and in 1758 opened as a hot-spring inn. The family kept both trades until the fourth generation.

The Four Registered Buildings of Kanaguya

The four are the Kanaguya Ryokan Saigetsuro, a four-storey timber guest wing, and the 170-mat Kanaguya Ryokan Great Hall, both completed in 1936 and registered on July 1, 2003, and the main building and bathhouse of the Kanaguya Annex Rinsenkaku, built in 1929 and registered on October 28, 2011 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Kanaguya describes the Rinsenkaku as its trial at building tall in timber, and says that experience led to the plan for the Saigetsuro. The Saigetsuro and the Great Hall were raised in 1934 under a shrine and temple carpenter from Obuse.

The Saigetsuro and the Great Hall form the main inn at lot 2202 Hirao, while the two Rinsenkaku buildings stand a short way off on a riverside street, facing each other across a narrow lane (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Each building has its own page.

Visiting Kanaguya

Kanaguya is a working inn, and only overnight guests may go inside. There is no day bathing or meal-only visiting, and the inn is closed to callers from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; check-in is at 3:00 p.m. and check-out at 10:00 a.m. Guests can join a free building tour that runs daily at 5:30 p.m. for about 40 minutes, booked on arrival (Kanaguya). Anyone not staying can still see the Saigetsuro and the Rinsenkaku from the stone-paved street of Shibu Onsen.

The nearest station to Kanaguya is Yudanaka, the terminus of the Nagano Electric Railway. From there a Nagaden bus takes about 10 minutes (about 250 yen) to the Shibu Onsen or Wagobashi stop, followed by a 2-minute walk; a taxi takes about 7 minutes and costs about 1,500 yen, and guests can book a station pick-up. By car, leave the Joshin-etsu Expressway at Shinshu-Nakano and follow Route 292 toward Shiga Kogen for about 20 minutes. Kanaguya parking is in an open lot away from the inn, with a shuttle after 3:00 p.m., and vehicles 2.3 metres or taller cannot enter the Shibu Onsen streets (Kanaguya).