Welcome to Koemon. This Gassho-Zukuri minshuku was built during the Edo Period (1603-1868) and is perfect for guests looking to experience Japan in a very traditional way. It has 5 Japanese-style guest rooms without their own private baths or toilets, and there is a family bath that can be used from 17:00-21:00. Local, Japanese-style cuisine is served to the guests in an Irori sunken hearth room at Koemon.
Warning: In winter, it's not possible to go there by car. Please go there by bus. (there is no parking available because of snow).

Facilities

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Ryokan Reviews:

• Traditional living with modern amenities

  Ember

  Date of Review: February, 2020

  Month of Visit: February

  Country Of Reviewer: Singapore

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  We stayed at Koemon on 19 February. Snow fall was uncharacteristically low, so we missed out on the famed scenery of Shirakawa-go in a thick blanket of snow. In any case, Koemon was an incredibly enjoyable stay. We entered the threshold inhaling the light scent of incense and tatami. I personally felt the experience of living in an old Gassho house heightened with the scent, yet there are modern amenities as well, like heated shower rooms and toilets. Meals are meticulously prepared by our gracious hosts, and it should be noted that meal times are very punctual, to be adhered to. Our hosts speak very little English, but they've prepared an info file that we can easily read.

• Quite special

  Kirrie

  Date of Review: January, 2020

  Month of Visit: January

  Country Of Reviewer: Australia

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Beautiful house and interesting experience. Staff very welcoming and helpful. Dinner and breakfast excellent. Village was very scenic and history was fascinating. Highly recommend this ryokan.

• Love this place, feel like a home

  Chayatupat

  Month of Visit: December

  Country Of Reviewer: Thailand

  Atmosphere Rating - 4

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 4

  Room Rating - 5

  Love this place! feel like a home. If you want to experience traditional Japanese style, I recommend U.

• Great experience

  Vassil

  Month of Visit: October

  Country Of Reviewer: Germany

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  We were very late with booking and Koemon was the only available guest house in Shirakawa-go. We were a bit worried by some of the reviews we've read, but decided to book nevertheless and we are very happy we did so. Our experience was very positive -- the host was very kind and communication was good (at least we managed to clarify everything and got some good recommendations as well); the house itself is very nice and authentic; dinner and breakfast were also very tasty. Overall, a great experience. It's also generally worth to stay one night in Shirakawa-go, as the village gets very quite in the evening, when most tourists have left.

• Wonderful atmospheric experience

  Clare

  Date of Review: September, 2019

  Month of Visit: September

  Country Of Reviewer: UK

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  We arrived on a misty evening and awoke to bright sunshine. Our stay at Koemon was so enjoyable, with care taken by our host to make sure that we had everything we needed. Delicious traditional Japanese meals taken in the beautiful period dining space were memorable and we also squeezed in a trip to the onsen up the road. Unforgettable couple of days.

• Amazing Exoerience

  Jill

  Date of Review: September, 2019

  Month of Visit: September

  Country Of Reviewer: USA

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  A wonderful experience in a beautiful traditional house. Our room overlooked the pond and it was lovely. Breakfast and lunch were fabulous. Roaming around town was enchanting. We found some homes to tour, a beautiful coffee house playing classical music and a bus that takes you up the hill to see a view of town from above. It’s so beautiful it almost looks unreal!

• A wonderful experience

  Simona

  Month of Visit: August

  Country Of Reviewer: Italy

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  The Koemon is a superb traditional japanese ryokan; the rooms are big with tatami and futon bed: simply awesome. breakfast and dinner are served in the common dining room and the food is very good and the atmosphere is unique. we really recommend to spend a night in Shirakawa-go at Koemon. everything was good

• Amazing Experience

  Thanaporn

  Date of Review: May, 2019

  Month of Visit: May

  Country Of Reviewer: Thailand

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 4

  Location Rating - 4

  Room Rating - 5

  In May 2019 I going to stay at KORMON Ryokan, the house and room was very clean. The house near the bridge you can walking a bit to take photo. The house far form the bus stop take time around 10 mins. Food is ok. Room is clean and comfortable. Bathroom is good but have time for using.

• A must stay when u r in Japan

  Gina mayang

  Month of Visit: February

  Country Of Reviewer: Indonesia

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Ryokan offers more than just an authentic place to stay and japan but also offered a culture experience which lived within. Koemen’s owner gave a very warm hospitality,share how they family lived and grew over the years in the koemen and shirakawago. How they built the houses, lived within the tradition and faced weather challange together in shirakawago. They shared the japanese culture at home like time to bath,dressed in kimono in dinner,voucher for onsen, very delicious meals cooked by magical hand of the owner. I never tasted any delicious salty fish like they did,excellent. Thanks for sharing such a beautiful experience to us. much more beautiful than a photograph

• Amazing guesthouse and best value

  Laura

  Month of Visit: February

  Country Of Reviewer: Singapore

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Koemon is a cosy, clean and central guesthouse. We totally enjoyed our stay. The food was awesome and I think the value is unbeatable. It has everything we needed and staff tried their best to help.

• One of a kind of experience.

  Yee wei

  Month of Visit: December

  Country Of Reviewer: Singapore

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  My wife and I had an awesome stay at Koemon. We visited the site in early December 2018, there hadn't started snowing yet. We checked in our luggage and explored around the place. The house is very accessible via the main road of Shirakawa. The food (dinner and breakfast) provided was simply superb. The entire place makes you feel right at home.

• Pleasant experience in an enchanting town

  Gabriela

  Month of Visit: October

  Country Of Reviewer: Mexico

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 4

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Koemon is a beautiful property, with dark hardwood floors and a traditional common room where meals are served. Rooms are traditional ryokan rooms, spacious enough, without toilet or bathroom but with beautiful views. Dinner and breakfast are included, and they are great, tasty and traditional, served in the common room by the owner. Toilets are shared, at a corner of the house down the hall from the rooms. The only unpleasant detail was that shower/bath times are very restricted: one cannot shower in the morning. Only at night, in the single bathroom that also contains a small hot tub. Management's reaction to our timid attempt to shower in the morning bordered on rude. On the other hand, the guests receive a pass for the town's onsen, which is great (about 600 metres away); but also has restricted hours.

• Estancia perfecta

  Sonia

  Month of Visit: August

  Country Of Reviewer: España

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Pasamos una noche en Koemon y fue una experiencia magnífica. Desde el alojamiento en si mismo, céntrico, bonito (solo paseando te fijas, seguro, en él) y histórico, hasta la habitación y la cena y desayuno. Especialmente buena y abundante esta última. La propietaria del alojamiento muy amable y educada y con un nivel de inglés por encima de la media en Japón. Sin duda lo recomiendo a todo el mundo que quiera una experiencia diferente. Además quedarse a dormir es una buena opción para estar en el pueblo a última hora de la tarde y a primera de la mañana sin las aglomeracions de turistes que pasan unes horas en Shirakawa-go, que es un pueblo muy pintoresco.

• Nice experience staying in a traditional gassho-zukuri

  Gabriela

  Date of Review: May, 2018

  Month of Visit: May

  Country Of Reviewer: Canada

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 3

  We enjoyed our stay at Koemon. Staff was very kind and welcoming. It was a nice experience staying in a traditional gassho house. The house was charming, clean and well maintained. We got dinner and breakfast, I have to say the food was delicious, I loved that they introduced us to many different local ingredients. The only thing we did not enjoy was the futon, it was really thin, it felt like we were sleeping directly on the floor and it was very uncomfortable. We realized it was uncomfortable late in the night, but to be honest we did not think to ask the staff for a second futon. Apart from the futon, we really liked staying at Koemon.

• Amazing experience

  Nuraini

  Date of Review: February, 2018

  Month of Visit: February

  Country Of Reviewer:

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Very delightful and friendly host despite some language barrier. Room & toilet were very comfortable and clean. Meals were absolutely delicious. I also used the discount coupon for onsen. In short, a wonderful stay. :D

• Enjoyable and memorable stay

  Rionita

  Date of Review: January, 2018

  Month of Visit: December

  Country Of Reviewer: Indonesia

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  We (6 of us) were pleasantly surprise and delighted with our stay at Koemon. The owner was very attentive to our needs and made sure that we had enough rice for dinner and breakfast since being Indonesians, rice is our staple. The facilities were very clean. Umbrellas and snow boots were available for our use and proofed to be very useful in heavy snowfall which occurred during our stay. Highly recommend this minshiku.

• Fantastic Stay

  Alicia

  Month of Visit: December

  Country Of Reviewer: Australia

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  My partner and I had a fantastic stay at Koemon in December, 2017. Booking through Japanese Guesthouses was simple and we received responses to our queries very promptly. The stay itself was fantastic, the house itself was warm and welcoming after coming in from the snow. It was extremely clean and well maintained and the food served at both dinner and breakfast was delicious and offered an opportunity to sample traditional Japanese home cooking. We were very impressed by the hospitality shown to us here, with an English speaking host who went out of her way to make our stay as comfortable as possible, even offering snow boots which were very much appreciated!! Would highly recommend staying at Koemon!

• Wonderful stay

  Month of Visit: September

  Country Of Reviewer: Australia

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  We had a wonderful stay at Koemon. Ogi-Machi is a beautiful little town and well worth seeing. The room was a traditional Japanese room with a very comfy futon. Dinner was served in the dining room in front of the fire with the kettle on it. We had let them know in advance that one of us was vegetarian, and they catered to that perfectly. I'd highly recommended visiting ogi-machi and staying at Koemon for a night at least for a wonderful traditional Japanese experience.

• Nice Trip

  Month of Visit: March

  Country Of Reviewer: Thailand

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 4

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  My mom and I stayed at Koemon for 1 night and had a wonderful experience. The Ryokan was stunning. We really impress every room of the ryokan. The bed room was a Japanese style room. The bathroom was Japanese too. We soak in a warm bath and felt really comfortable. Dinner was so nice as you will see in the photo. We really enjoyed with breakfast as well. The scenery of the town was beautiful. I definitely recommend you to spend time at Shirakawago at least for 1 night and you will enjoy it.

• Nice Trip

  Month of Visit: March

  Country Of Reviewer: Thailand

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 4

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  My mom and I stayed at Koemon for 1 night and had a wonderful experience. The Ryokan was stunning. We really impress every room of the ryokan. The bed room was a Japanese style room. The bathroom was Japanese too. We soak in a warm bath and felt really comfortable. Dinner was so nice as you will see in the photo. We really enjoyed with breakfast as well. The scenery of the town was beautiful. I definitely recommend you to spend time at Shirakawago at least for 1 night and you will enjoy it.

• Amazing experience

  Month of Visit: February

  Country Of Reviewer: Malaysia

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  I was travelling alone during this trip and stayed a night at Koemon. I had a really wonderful time here. The meal was very delicious! And the location of the minshuku was great! Definitely recommend for an overnight stay if you visit Shirakawago during winter time.

• A pleasant stay

  Month of Visit: June

  Country Of Reviewer:

  Atmosphere Rating - 4

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  The location is super good, one minute walk from the bus center. The room is superb and the food is a huge bonus! I still feel the miso dish that we had for breakfast was the best I had in Japan. We did not take the bath since in Japan the bath water is shared by the whole family. It should be clean, though, because everyone take the bath after a separate shower. You should also ask for the coupon for the hot spring bath that can be found at the other end of the village. Again we didn't go because we were too tired. Overall we had a great time and the night at Koemon is worth every penny.

• Wonderful minshuku

  Month of Visit: July

  Country Of Reviewer: Italy

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Wonderful Gassho-Zukuri traditional house with lovely Irori. The dinner was delicious, housekeeper was friendly. I definitely recommend you to stay at least for 1 night and you will enjoy it.

• Amazing Stay!

  Month of Visit: September

  Country Of Reviewer: USA

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  We had a wonderful time at Koemon in the traditional ryokan. Although we arrived early, the owner checked us in and allowed us to park in the lot. Extremely convient! Dinner & breakfast were the best meals we had in Japan. Both were vegetarian, as requested (note that fish broth was consumed). Ogi-Machi was my favorite of the Gasso-style villages, easily spent 1.5 days here. Some confusion over the bathroom vs. toilet - bathroom (shower/bathtub) use limited to evening.

• One of the top experiences in Japan

  Month of Visit: October

  Country Of Reviewer: Switzerland

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Our stay at Koemon was fantastic. The family was extremely nice and welcoming, the ryokan is beautiful and the food was superb. All of these elements together made the experience unforgettable and one of my favorite in Japan! I highly recommend this experience and Koemon is a lovely and welcoming Ryokan.

• Charming Gassho, Nice Experience

  Month of Visit: September

  Country Of Reviewer:

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  We stayed at Koemon for 1 night. Booking through Japanese Guesthouses was easy. The house itself was very charming, clean and well maintained. We loved our room which faced the pond. Even the bathing room was nice and spacious. Food was delicious, both at dinner and breakfast. One of us was vegetarian and that catered to perfectly as well. All in, a great experience.

• Unexpected Weather Overcame by Great Hospitality

  Month of Visit: December

  Country Of Reviewer:

  Atmosphere Rating - 4

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 4

  Room Rating - 5

  December 2014 was when Hokkaido was battered by a winter storm it had not seen in years. Huge amount of snow as well fell in central Japan. We managed to make it to the Ryokan and leave the next day on the earliest bus amidst route closure and trip cancellations. These were made possible by the owner who helped us with some travel re-arrangements. Marco and Vincent were helpful as well in this chaotic situation. The food was among the most delicious meals we have had in Japan. The atmosphere, the ambiance, the bath before the meal, the creaking sounds of old wooden structures all add to the authenticity of this experience. Mr. Otani and his family has been in business for nearly 40 years, they really do know how to make you feel comfortable away from home.

• Charming Place to relax

  Month of Visit: December

  Country Of Reviewer: Singapore

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  My wife and I had a wonderful stay at Koemon. It was easy to locate. A short distance after the bridge.The owner allowed us to checked in early before time. Best meals we ever had in Japan.Snow boots were provided and the owners were friendly. Will definitely stay here for next visit.