KYOTO ・ SINCE 1873
Kanamean Nishitomiya
RELAIS & CHÂTEAUX ・ MICHELIN ★ ・ MICHELIN KEY
Founded in 1873: eight sukiya rooms and a kaiseki kitchen with a long run of Michelin stars.
- Founded: 1873
- Rooms: 8 rooms
- Location: Tominokoji, central Kyoto
- Rates: On request
The inn sits on Tominokoji, just south of Rokkaku — a quarter once home to the craftsmen who made the ribs of folding fans, and still called Honeya-no-cho. Kaname, the pivot that holds a fan together, gave the house its name. Inside a narrow, deep two-storey townhouse are eight sukiya rooms, each with its own furnishings and inner garden: the bones of an old Kyoto machiya, filled with books, furniture and contemporary art.
- Wakana — Executive Suite（Ground floor, up to 4 guests, two rooms of 8 and 10 tatami） — The largest room in the house. A main room and anteroom open onto an earthen-floored space and entry, sukiya tradition set out with a contemporary eye.
- Aoi & Kashiwagi — Suites（3–4 guests, 8-tatami main room plus adjoining rooms） — Aoi, on the ground floor, has garden views on every side. Kashiwagi, upstairs, adds a book-lined sitting room and a study, combining sukiya with modern design.
- Umegae, Yokobue & Kagaribi — Deluxe（2–3 guests, 8–9-tatami main room） — Umegae pairs a green garden with a hinoki bath. Yokobue lets you sit on its earthen floor facing the garden, with music and a glass of wine. Kagaribi looks onto carefully shaped garden trees and has a small study.
- Matsukaze & Hatsune — Superior（Up to 3 guests, 8-tatami main room plus sitting area） — Matsukaze, upstairs, sets Le Corbusier design within sukiya. Hatsune, on the ground floor, opens from main room to sitting area to inner garden — the inn's own take on sukiya.
The kaiseki here has held a Michelin star every year since 2010. It is built on three ideas drawn from the tea ceremony — the season, the vessel, the occasion — and on what the owners have brought back from travels abroad. For dinner, choose between the kaiseki or the counter at Kaname, the house's sister restaurant cooking over a teppan and charcoal. Wines come from a cellar of about 1,000 bottles. Breakfast is Kyoto obanzai home cooking.
The inn opened in 1873 as a ryokan known for its cooking, and is now run by the fifth-generation owner and his wife, the okami. Under the motto "tradition is continuous innovation", they have kept adding new cooking and furnishings to a classic sukiya house. In 2015 it became the first Relais & Châteaux member in Kyoto.
About 10 minutes on foot from Shijo Station (Karasuma Line) or Karasuma and Kyoto-Kawaramachi stations (Hankyu) About 12 minutes by car from JR Kyoto Station
Check-in 14:00 / Check-out 11:00 Stays include dinner and breakfast; choose kaiseki or Kaname for dinner