A Stay with a Sense of Place

A Place Where the Heart Unwinds: Garden Inn Sekitei

Sekitei is a 12-room inn that harmonizes pale wood-trimmed sukiya-style architecture with modern Nordic furniture and fabrics. Each room exhibits its own distinct character, offering richly individualized stay spaces.

Owner Ueno says that what he values in creating the inn is a sense of exploration. Walking through the garden, you’re apt to the expressions of the trees, flowers, and grasses. Wandering through the building is the perfect way to stumble upon soothing nooks and crannies hidden throughout. These small discoveries enrich the stay here.

A Stay Shaped by Aesthetics of Space

Guest rooms are arranged around the central garden. While plantings and layout ensure privacy, the design fosters a sense of shared space in the garden that allows the presence of anyone strolling through it to meld with the scenery, becoming something like a living landscape painting.

The inn is also home to a number of small libraries tucked away throughout the building and into guest rooms, offering the charm of unexpected serendipitous book encounters. Cracking open a book while overlooking the garden is an incomparable way to surrender yourself to the tranquil passage of time.

Other Room

Seizan

This is a calm guest room with a private terrace overlooking a weeping plum tree and trellis of wisteria. Located in the rearmost part of the inn, it offers an especially quiet stay. Outside its windows sit lawns and trees, with light that changes throughout the day and augments beautiful seasonal views. It features a spacious stone bath, allowing guests to rest body and mind in soothing proximity to nature.

Taikan

In this guest room, large glass windows frame views of the garden trees, along with the sea, mountains, and sky beyond. A raised-floor tatami room offers an expansive panorama, showcasing one of Sekitei’s most open designs made especially for maximal enjoyment of the scenery. Other guests strolling the garden meld with the swaying of the trees to become one living landscape painting filled with vivid colors. The room boasts two 12-tatami-mat-size rooms for accommodating up to five guests.

*Please note that room assignments may be subject to change based on availability. If a change is necessary, the rate may vary. Wabunka will confirm details with guests ahead of time.

Deepen Your Connection to the Region

A Special Calligraphy Experience with Master Calligrapher Sasaki

The signature experience of this plan is a Wabunka-exclusive calligraphy session with calligrapher Takuji Sasaki, held in the guest room “Oimatsu.” Sasaki has been active in calligraphy education for over 40 years, and was tasked with writing the sign at the entrance to Itsukushima Shrine which marks it a World Cultural Heritage site. Under his guidance, learn to turn meaningful characters into works of visual art.

Sasaki’s calligraphy experience is about more than simply writing beautiful characters. Reflect on the scenery viewed from the inn, the landscapes encountered during the journey, and other memorable moments – along with words you personally hold dear – then express those as a single piece of artwork. Choosing a character or word that resonates with you – common choices are “love,” “dream,” or “peace” – entrust your feelings to the brush. You may also opt to add a simple sumi-e ink painting.

Your completed work will be stamped with an original rakkan seal made by Irie Meishodo, a long-established seal shop on Miyajima that has been in business for over a century. Specify your seal design in advance using alphabet letters, kanji characters representing the meaning of your name, hiragana, or katakana. The work will be finished as a hanging scroll for you to take with you as a travel keepsake and display it in your own home.

A Glimpse into the Garden: An Occasional Walk with the Owner

Depending on availability on the day, guests may have the opportunity to explore the garden with Sekitei owner Junichi Ueno. As they walk through the grounds together, he shares the philosophy and aesthetic vision behind the inn, revealing thoughtful design details that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Sekitei’s guest rooms are all arranged around the garden and designed with access to it. By simply stepping out, you can find yourself surrounded by grass lawns, a traditional pond, and an assortment of seasonal flowers and other plants – with the Seto Inland Sea overlooking Miyajima and Mount Kyogoya as the backdrop. The garden pond is home to a group of koi, whose leisurely docile demeanor imbues the garden with a gentle feeling of resilient life.

Beneath the guest rooms surrounding the garden is a space for strolling with a sitting area in one corner. Lounge in comfortable chairs and enjoy a gentle moment with books and drinks. Sekitei’s garden is filled with Ueno’s way of thinking, and by walking while listening to his guidance, discover design details and aesthetic ideas you might otherwise perceive as simple scenery – or overlook entirely. Exploring the distinctive garden with a new perspective makes a stay at Sekitei all the more memorable.

Japanese Beauty That Moves the Senses

A stay at Sekitei is about more than simply spending time at a traditional inn. Stroll the garden, experience the architecture, soak in the bath, and savor seasonal cuisine as your heart gently unwinds. Entrust their own thoughts and feelings to the calligrapher’s brush and express them with instruction from a master. Through each of these experiences, enjoy the harmony with nature and aesthetic sensibilities long cherished in Japanese culture.

Turn your attention to the changing seasonal scenery and give yourself over to a gentle flow of time. Sekitei stays are special opportunities to step lightly away from the demands of daily life and spend time a little moment cozying back up to yourself.