About this hotel
General information
Hiiragiya is a family ryokan in central Kyoto with more than two centuries behind it, and it still keeps the old customs of a Japanese inn. The stone path at the entrance is sprinkled with water as a sign of welcome, and a calligraphy scroll in the hall wishes every arriving guest the feeling of coming home. The name comes from holly, long believed to ward off misfortune, and the holly leaf recurs as an emblem in details all through the house. The Main Building is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property, and the ryokan is a member of Relais & Châteaux.
There are 22 rooms: fifteen in the two-storey wooden Main Building, built in the sukiya manner of the tea house, and seven in the three-storey New Wing, where contemporary lines meet traditional materials and craftsmanship. Interiors are made of polished wood, clay walls, tatami and paper sliding doors; each tokonoma alcove holds art objects from the family collection, and stained glass, painted fusuma and hand-wrought metalwork give every room a character of its own. Kyoto-style kaiseki is the pride of the kitchen.
Location
The ryokan sits in Nakagyo, right in the centre of Kyoto. Karasuma-Oike subway station is a 7-minute walk away, Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae 5 minutes and Sanjo on the Keihan Line about 15 minutes. Kyoto Station is roughly 15 minutes by taxi or 25 minutes by subway and on foot; the Shinkansen reaches Kyoto from Tokyo in 2 hr 20 min, and Kansai Airport is about 75 minutes by JR train. Airport and station transfers, taxis and sightseeing guides are arranged on request.
Spa
There is no spa; instead, the ryokan cultivates the Japanese ritual of bathing. Every room has its own wooden tub of Japanese umbrella pine (koyamaki), filled with soft groundwater drawn from beneath the property — there is no hot spring. Guests wash seated before soaking, using wooden buckets and stools made by a Kyoto craftsman. Two larger Private Baths for two or three guests are reserved through the staff: one is set with stained glass and porcelain tiles, the other finished in lacquer from floor to ceiling.
Sports & leisure
Leisure here is quiet and rooted in culture and the house itself:
- Wisteria Room — a library for reading and resting, with stained glass, cut-glass panes, a coffered ceiling and a view of wisteria branches
- Bamboo Room — a room under a vaulted bamboo ceiling with polished clay walls, used for cultural lessons and small ceremonies
- Silk Room — a gallery with silk-covered walls and Kitayama cedar, used for exhibitions and cultural events
- Go and shogi sets, playing cards and kotatsu tables to borrow
- Sightseeing guides around Kyoto and taxis arranged by the staff
Restaurants & bars
The standard stay includes dinner and breakfast, with bed-and-breakfast plans also offered. Both meals are served in the room overlooking the garden, at a table with chairs, and groups may dine in the banquet room or a private room. Dinner is Kyoto-style kaiseki built on seasonal local produce and served on treasured tableware from the house collection. Breakfast brings Kyoto yudofu, delicately grilled fish, rice cooked in an earthenware pot and homemade pickles, with a Western breakfast on request. Vegetarian and allergy-friendly meals are prepared with advance notice, and dinner is also open to visitors not staying at the inn.
Rooms
22 rooms in two buildings: 15 in the wooden Main Building and 7 in the New Wing. Nearly all are Japanese-style tatami rooms that serve as a sitting and dining room by day; after dinner thick futons are laid out, and Western-style beds can be set up on request. Each room's area includes its veranda, bathroom and toilet.
Every room has its own koyamaki wooden bathtub, a toilet, towels, loungewear, toothbrush sets, shampoo, conditioner and body wash, free Wi-Fi, and on request an iron, phone chargers, voltage adaptors, a disc player and a hot-water bottle.
Room 32
An intimate ground-floor room in the Main Building, designed in the suki manner of a tea room, with 5 + 2 tatami mats facing a walled courtyard garden. For two guests.
Room 16
An Edo-period ground-floor room in the Main Building, 8 tatami mats, whose veranda looks onto a moss courtyard garden with a stone water basin; its stained glass depicts the Kinkaku temple. For two guests.
Room 31
A calm ground-floor room in the Main Building, 8 + 4 tatami mats, facing an intimate walled garden, with stained glass dedicated to the Gion Festival. Up to three guests.
Room 26
A bright second-floor room in the Main Building, 8.5 + 3 tatami mats, with veranda windows over the main garden and stained glass and handmade tiles in the bathroom. Up to three guests.
Room 53
A second-floor room in the New Wing with 6 tatami mats, an adjoining wood-floored room and a writing alcove with a holly-patterned window, facing a courtyard garden. For two guests.
Room 29
A second-floor room in the Main Building, 11 + 4 tatami mats, under a ceiling shaped like a ship’s hull, with a deep writing alcove and a veranda of large windows over the garden below. Up to four guests.
Room 54
The only wood-floored room, on the second floor of the New Wing — Western in style with Japanese touches, with beds dressed in Japanese futon mattresses and a view of an intimate courtyard garden. For two guests.
Room 34
A serene two-room suite on the ground floor of the Main Building, 8 + 7 tatami mats, with a garden view and mube vines along the back wall. Up to three guests.
Room 52
A second-floor room in the New Wing with 8 tatami mats and an adjoining wood-floored room, a tokonoma of ancient cryptomeria and its own adjoining courtyard garden. For two guests.
Room 14
An Edo-period ground-floor corner room in the Main Building, 10 + 4.5 tatami mats, with a ceiling of rare Yakushima cedar, antique sliding glass doors and a view over the moss garden. Up to three guests.
Room 61
A third-floor room in the New Wing, 10 tatami mats, reached by a long wood-floored approach, with a stone water basin fed by an underground well. Up to three guests.
Room 19
An Edo-period second-floor corner room in the Main Building, 10 + 4.5 tatami mats, with stained glass of a heron and a Kyoto bridge and a view of the garden below. Up to three guests.
Room 62
A third-floor room in the New Wing, 8 tatami mats, finished in bamboo and washi paper, with holly leaves in the alcove and a view of a courtyard garden with a stone lantern. For two guests.
Room 63
A third-floor corner room in the New Wing, 10 + 3 tatami mats, with a scroll-shaped alcove, the silhouette of a tiled roof on the shoji and a long courtyard garden. Up to three guests.
Room 25
A second-floor corner room in the Main Building, 12 + 7 tatami mats, with golden fusuma painted with fans in the Edo period, a writing alcove and a view of the main garden. Up to four guests.
Room 51
A second-floor room in the New Wing with 10 tatami mats and an adjoining wood-floored room, a lacquered tokonoma inlaid with jewel-beetle wings and a private inner garden. Up to three guests.
Room 33
A spacious ground-floor corner room in the Main Building, 12 + 7 tatami mats, with fusuma painted with colourful flower carts and a veranda wrapping two sides of the main garden. Up to four guests.
Room 30
The most spacious room of the inn, on the ground floor of the Main Building: two rooms of 15 and 14 tatami mats looking onto the main garden, with stained glass showing Arashiyama. Up to five guests.
Photos are for illustrative purposes only. Actual room layout, furnishings, décor, views and amenities may differ from those shown and may vary between rooms of the same category. Hotel and room descriptions are based on information provided by the property and are believed to be accurate at the time of publication, but are not guaranteed. The hotel may renovate or change its rooms, facilities, restaurants and services at any time without notice. The final details of your stay are confirmed at the time of booking. See our Terms of Use.