Ryokan Denyou

I booked after watching "Tomogu" on YouTube because I really wanted to try Denyo's food. The sashimi boat platter was even fresher than I expected, and the dinner spiny lobster and sea bream were prepared differently the next morning, so I enjoyed every last bit. Even breakfast miso and pickled plums were homemade, using plums from the ones blooming there at the time. I visited at the end of February, when the plum blossoms were out and Japanese bush warblers were singing. It warmed my heart, and the climate there must be lovely. The service was incredibly attentive, too, which made the stay very comfortable.

The building is old, but the other facilities are in good shape and perfectly fine. Everyone was friendly, including the young owner, and the food was wonderful. I ate it all. I hadn’t expected much from the building or rooms, but other people said the portions and quality were so good they couldn’t finish. That convinced me to stay during my pilgrimage to Ise. Get the Deluxe course. There’s a hot spring, too. I’d like to stay here again on my next visit to Ise.

January 2026. I finally made it here after winning a voucher worth up to ¥30,000 at a Mie Prefecture event during the Kansai Expo. Taking time off work had been difficult. The inn feels longstanding, with a Showa-era atmosphere. My room was a 12-tatami Japanese-style room with its own toilet, sink, and entrance. The bath was big enough for about four people and wasn’t directly fed from the source. Still, the simple alkaline, slightly carbonated spring water warmed me up nicely and seemed good for the skin. Dinner brought a boat-shaped platter of fresh sashimi, including live spiny lobster, abalone, and sea bream, plus bluefin tuna, amberjack, octopus, and flounder fillets. The menu combined Toba food and fish in creative ways, with steamed oysters and southern sea bass as well. There was lobster grilled in a pot, rice cooked with homemade rice and seafood such as sea urchin and octopus, dashi-based hotpot soup, and chawanmushi. In the morning, we had miso soup made with the head of the lobster caught the night before, along with sea bream sashimi. The homemade white rice made everything even better. It’s a place where you can spend a satisfying day off doing nothing. If you drink, the "Ise-Shima Summit Brewery Tasting" offers a small selection of "Saku," "Hanzo," and "Jikon" at reasonable prices. The sake quality differs from the Summit’s, but it’s still a nice way to sample them.

The open-air bath turned out even better than I expected. The lobster and abalone were such a treat that I left full in both body and spirit. I’d love to go back!