A Place Where ‘There Is Nothing Here’
Totsukawa Village Stay or ‘Omori no sato (Home of Mt. Omori)’ is a lodging facility in an old traditional dwelling, first built over 100 years ago, that has been renovated into a place where you can ‘stay as if you are living here’ and where you can feel the spiritual and cultural richness of life in a mountain village. It is located on a mountain at an elevation above 300 meters, in a locale where the scenery of a mountain village remains as it was in the distant past. Under the supervision of noted East Asian culture expert and researcher Alex Kerr, who has a deep love for this area, the structure has been renovated, making lavish use of timber produced here in Totsukawa Village, and it is a lodge brimming over with the warmth of wood.
Where the Totsukawa Village Stay (‘Omori no sato’) Is Located
The ‘Omori no sato’ is situated at the southern tip of Nara Prefecture in the village of Totsukawa, with the largest land area of any village in Japan. It is a village deep in the mountains, 2 hours by car from the nearest urban area. This may make it somewhat less accessible, but as a fortunate result it preserves the original scenes and landscapes of Japan’s traditional mountain villages. It is within this village of Totsukawa that the Totsukawa Village Stay or‘Omori no sato’is located in the hamlet of Musashi.
Next door to the‘Omori no sato’ is the former Musashi Elementary School which was built early in the Meiji period. It was closed as a school in 1970 and at present serves as an Educational Archive and Museum. The grounds of the school remain preserved as they were in the past and seem like a time warp back to more than 40 years ago. The school building is a wooden structure with a clay tile roof, and in the schoolyard the local Bon dance known as ‘O-odori (Great Dance),’ which is one of Japan’s Important Intangible Folk Culture Properties, is performed every year on August 14.
The ‘Musashi O-odori’ is a classical folk dance with a history that goes back to the medieval period. With its own unique relaxed tempo, ancient and elegant choreography, and sung lyrics about life from the Edo to the early Meiji periods, it has a different flavor than other more contemporary Bon dances.
In the Musashi district there is also a public hot spring bathing spot that all visitors are welcome to use. Totsukawa Village’s hot spring is not recycled or re-used water, is not artificially heated, is not chlorinated, and is not diluted. It is a pure hot spring and it is only water from the spring that flows into the bathing tubs at all times. Please enjoy this superb and luxurious hot spring, which is only made possible by its abundant volume of spring water.
Totsukawa lies in the deepest mountains of Nara Prefecture. It's truly remote. From the 10th century in the Heian period through the end of Edo in the 19th century, mystics and political reformers alike found refuge here. Pilgrims on the Kumano Road, warriors in the 14th century Imperial wars of succession, and "Totsukawa fighters", loyalists who helped to put Emperor Meiji on the throne in 1868, all came through here. The hamlet of Musashi preserves the graves of ancient warriors as well as a miraculously preserved Meiji Era wood-and-tile elementary school. Through this tranquil rural setting stirs the air of many centuries of history. In these restored old houses, one can read a book, write a book, or simply absorb the mood of a "secret place".
Alex Kerr
＜Price ＆ Summary＞
room.01 「GYOZEN」
1名使用One-person occupancy
|
￥7,000
|
休日前・平日
Before holidays
|
2名使用Two-person occupancy
|
￥7,000
|
休日前・平日
Before holidays
|
＊No meal Rates
room.02 「YAKEMINE」
1名使用One-person occupancy
|
￥18,500
|
休日前
Before holidays
|
￥16,500
|
平日
on weekdays
| |
2名使用Two-person occupancy
|
￥10,000
|
休日前
Before holidays
|
￥9,000
|
平日
on weekdays
| |
3名使用Three-person occupancy
（1名につき）(per person)
|
￥9,500
|
休日前
Before holidays
|
￥8,500
|
平日
on weekdays
| |
4名使用Four-person occupancy
|
￥9,000
|
休日前
Before holidays
|
￥8,000
|
平日
on weekdays
|
＊No meal Rates
＜Access＞
Travel time by car | ◎From the NorthFrom Kintetsu Yagi Station: 2 hrs. and 20 minutesFrom Kansai International Airport:3 hrs. and 10minutes | |
◎From the SouthFrom JR Shingu Station: 1 hr. and 30 minutesFrom Shirahama Airport: 2 hrs. and 30 minutes |
＜Inquiries and Reservations＞
→ ‘Omori no sato’HomePage →〈contact〉
Totsukawa Village Stay 〈‘Omori no sato’〉
487 Musashi Totsukawa-mura Yoshino-gun Nara-ken , JAPAN
COPYRIGHT（C）TOTSUKAWA VILLAGE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
