Tokiwa

"A quiet night in Ibe."This visit to Okayama happened to be cloudy. Tourists and pedestrians rarely walk on the road, making this Ibe Komachi quiet. After walking around Okayama for a day, I stayed at Tokiwa Ryokan in Ibe. The reason was simply that Ibe burned down the important town of Bizen and Tokiwa Ryokan was an old hotel that was carefully run.Tokiwa Ryokan is an old-style Japanese inn, without the style of large openings and closings. The first floor is an ancient banquet room with tatami mats, mainly used for dining. There are also separate bathrooms for men and women, as well as a carefully managed atrium. The second floor is for rooms, and the entire hotel is a wooden structure with weak sound insulation. I couldn't help but move lightly when checking in, for fear of disturbing other guests.I have mentioned before that Ibe is an important town of Bizen ware, so you can see Bizen ware products from time to time in the hotel. I don’t know much about Bizen ware, but its characteristics are very distinctive, and a layman can understand it a little bit at a glance. That is, Bizen ware is not glazed and is presented in its most primitive form. Of course, there is room for all kinds of ingenuity in this form, so I won’t go into details here.When I first entered the room, I saw that the tea bowls and utensils were all Bizen-yaki. When I went outside while eating, I could see Bizen-yaki workshops everywhere. Each one has its own characteristics, and the Bizen-yaki style is extremely innovative. Back at the hotel, the hotel is run by a mother and daughter. Celebrities have also stayed at Tokiwa Hotel, making it quite famous in the local area. The hotel only has seven rooms, which is neither too many nor too few. It is a number of rooms that can be carefully taken care of.The price is also in the traditional style of an old Japanese inn. One night with breakfast and dinner is only a little over 10,000 yen, so it is really cost-effective to stay one night and have two meals. The so-called true relaxation does not mean staying in an extremely expensive room. I always think about sitting here and using that, and I am afraid that if I don’t experience some services, it will not be worthwhile. This kind of hotel is very cost-effective just for resting and doing nothing. Since the price is really not high, you can rest assured and feel at ease.After dinner, the quietness of the small town outside the house comes through the window, and falling asleep early without anything else is one of the great comforts in life.Recommended itinerary: Kurashiki Bikan area → Tokiwa Ryokan (accommodation) → Take a walk in Ibe Bizen Yaki no Sato"There is a proverb in Japan that water placed in Bizen-yaki will not spoil."After walking around Ibe Station, I returned to the hotel, took a shower, put on a comfortable yukata, and got ready for dinner. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon. Most hot spring hotels (some of which you can adjust the meal time to your own preference) have meals at six o'clock, so it's only around seven o'clock after finishing the meal. There is still time to take a shower or just relax with nothing to do. I often look at the time and see that it is only eight o'clock in the evening. The leisurely feeling brought by such a moment is something I really hope will be engraved in my life forever.Dinner at a hot spring hotel often has a feeling of tension and relaxation alternating. When the dishes are served one after another, I feel nervous and I don’t know how to eat them. Should these be paired with wine or should they be tasted directly? Will the hot pot be cooked too early? What should be paired with the rice you are waiting for? Is the portion size large or small? The white rice is so delicious that I want to eat more bowls, the Nara pickles are not to my taste, etc. This is the tense part.It takes time to feel relaxed, which is often when you find that there are still many dishes left to eat in the middle of the meal, but it is still early, so you relax, and the taste of the hot spring dinner slowly emerges here. And if I want to eliminate the initial nervousness, I later focus on the food utensils. In addition to the taste of the dishes, most of the dinner dishes at the hot spring hotel reflect local customs, such as Kutani ware from Ishikawa Prefecture.The Tokiwa Ryokan located in Bizen-yaki Komachi naturally uses Bizen-yaki. Except for some of the food containers, the small plates and cups in front of the entrance are all Bizen-yaki. First, the crab served on a Bizen yaki plate had an average taste, and the sashimi was fresh but ordinary. Until the oysters arrived, I didn't think these were just dishes to go with drinks. So I poured a glass of non-alcoholic beer from a Bizen shochu cup. I wonder if the surface of Bizen shochu is thicker, but the foam of the beer becomes extremely fine, the entrance is dense, and the bitterness is much softer. It turns out to be particularly delicious when paired with these snacks. . Paired with this beer, the boiled fish and tempura that followed also became a side dish.The subsequent beef pottery was cooked and served in a Bizen pot. Perhaps due to psychological effects, the soup was more delicious. The staple food is sushi. In recent years, many hot spring hotels have used sushi as the staple food. The portion is not too big and it will not be too filling after you are full. This is also a good improvement.

I stayed at Ryokan Tokiwa with my parents for one night on September 25th and 26th, 2024. It was my parents' first experience at a ryokan, and they loved it. Everything was perfect.The inn is run by Mariko and her mother, and the family has been running it for four generations. This family has run the business for four generations. In particular, the jinbei is sewn by Mariko.Both dinner and breakfast were wonderful. The food is served on local pottery. The room is clean. The bathroom was also very nice.I would recommend staying at Tokiwa to anyone visiting Bizen and the surrounding area.

We were warmly welcomed by Mariko-san in this Ryokan, whose interior is simply exceptional.The dinner was delicious, typically Japanese, as was the breakfast, all served in different ceramic dishes.

Thank you very much for kindly accommodating us on short notice.

The hostess's hospitality is kind and the food is delicious. I'm glad you came.You can make meals and tea using Bizen ware, so you can get a feel for it and learn a lot. When I tried using the teacup with a cross-cut in the room, I was drawn to it, so the next day I went to the nearby Konishi Toko to buy one with a cross-cut.

"A quiet night in Ibe."This visit to Okayama happened to be cloudy. Tourists and pedestrians rarely walk on the road, making this Ibe Komachi quiet. After walking around Okayama for a day, I stayed at Tokiwa Ryokan in Ibe. The reason was simply that Ibe burned down the important town of Bizen and Tokiwa Ryokan was an old hotel that was carefully run.Tokiwa Ryokan is an old-style Japanese inn, without the style of large openings and closings. The first floor is an ancient banquet room with tatami mats, mainly used for dining. There are also separate bathrooms for men and women, as well as a carefully managed atrium. The second floor is for rooms, and the entire hotel is a wooden structure with weak sound insulation. I couldn't help but move lightly when checking in, for fear of disturbing other guests.I have mentioned before that Ibe is an important town of Bizen ware, so you can see Bizen ware products from time to time in the hotel. I don’t know much about Bizen ware, but its characteristics are very distinctive, and a layman can understand it a little bit at a glance. That is, Bizen ware is not glazed and is presented in its most primitive form. Of course, there is room for all kinds of ingenuity in this form, so I won’t go into details here.When I first entered the room, I saw that the tea bowls and utensils were all Bizen-yaki. When I went outside while eating, I could see Bizen-yaki workshops everywhere. Each one has its own characteristics, and the Bizen-yaki style is extremely innovative. Back at the hotel, the hotel is run by a mother and daughter. Celebrities have also stayed at Tokiwa Hotel, making it quite famous in the local area. The hotel only has seven rooms, which is neither too many nor too few. It is a number of rooms that can be carefully taken care of.The price is also in the traditional style of an old Japanese inn. One night with breakfast and dinner is only a little over 10,000 yen, so it is really cost-effective to stay one night and have two meals. The so-called true relaxation does not mean staying in an extremely expensive room. I always think about sitting here and using that, and I am afraid that if I don’t experience some services, it will not be worthwhile. This kind of hotel is very cost-effective just for resting and doing nothing. Since the price is really not high, you can rest assured and feel at ease.After dinner, the quietness of the small town outside the house comes through the window, and falling asleep early without anything else is one of the great comforts in life.Recommended itinerary: Kurashiki Bikan area → Tokiwa Ryokan (accommodation) → Take a walk in Ibe Bizen Yaki no Sato"There is a proverb in Japan that water placed in Bizen-yaki will not spoil."After walking around Ibe Station, I returned to the hotel, took a shower, put on a comfortable yukata, and got ready for dinner. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon. Most hot spring hotels (some of which you can adjust the meal time to your own preference) have meals at six o'clock, so it's only around seven o'clock after finishing the meal. There is still time to take a shower or just relax with nothing to do. I often look at the time and see that it is only eight o'clock in the evening. The leisurely feeling brought by such a moment is something I really hope will be engraved in my life forever.Dinner at a hot spring hotel often has a feeling of tension and relaxation alternating. When the dishes are served one after another, I feel nervous and I don’t know how to eat them. Should these be paired with wine or should they be tasted directly? Will the hot pot be cooked too early? What should be paired with the rice you are waiting for? Is the portion size large or small? The white rice is so delicious that I want to eat more bowls, the Nara pickles are not to my taste, etc. This is the tense part.It takes time to feel relaxed, which is often when you find that there are still many dishes left to eat in the middle of the meal, but it is still early, so you relax, and the taste of the hot spring dinner slowly emerges here. And if I want to eliminate the initial nervousness, I later focus on the food utensils. In addition to the taste of the dishes, most of the dinner dishes at the hot spring hotel reflect local customs, such as Kutani ware from Ishikawa Prefecture.The Tokiwa Ryokan located in Bizen-yaki Komachi naturally uses Bizen-yaki. Except for some of the food containers, the small plates and cups in front of the entrance are all Bizen-yaki. First, the crab served on a Bizen yaki plate had an average taste, and the sashimi was fresh but ordinary. Until the oysters arrived, I didn't think these were just dishes to go with drinks. So I poured a glass of non-alcoholic beer from a Bizen shochu cup. I wonder if the surface of Bizen shochu is thicker, but the foam of the beer becomes extremely fine, the entrance is dense, and the bitterness is much softer. It turns out to be particularly delicious when paired with these snacks. . Paired with this beer, the boiled fish and tempura that followed also became a side dish.The subsequent beef pottery was cooked and served in a Bizen pot. Perhaps due to psychological effects, the soup was more delicious. The staple food is sushi. In recent years, many hot spring hotels have used sushi as the staple food. The portion is not too big and it will not be too filling after you are full. This is also a good improvement.