When you first arrive outside Ryokan Kurashiki, take a moment to admire its carefully preserved exterior. Like many of the other historic structures in the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter, the building is characterized by classic Edo period features such as white mortar walls, wooden latticed windows, and kawara tile roofs. The Kawahara family were able to construct this impressive home with its kura storehouses and garden thanks to the fortune that they made from sugar trade. As you step towards the entrance, imagine that you have traveled back in time and are about to be feted by a family of wealthy Kurashiki merchants.

Inside Ryokan Kurashiki, you will see that the interior has been thoughtfully renovated and refurbished to preserve the historic character of the building while providing ultimate comfort and convenience to guests. The deluxe suites Inui, Tatsumi, and Nishi all feature stylish modern detailing and large Western-style beds, but their natural wooden beams and ridgepoles speak to their origins within rice and sugar storage warehouses.

Between your arrival and dinner, feel free to wander through Ryokan Kurashiki’s Youzen-no-Niwa garden. This attractive inner garden is a peaceful sanctuary where different flowers bloom according to the season. Be sure to look over your shoulder as you walk—the garden provides particularly beautiful views of the ryokan itself.

While you may wish to spend the afternoon relaxing in the ryokan, it is also well worth heading outside for a stroll through the picturesque old district of Kurashiki known as the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter. Centered on a canal flanked by many historic buildings, the Quarter retains the look and character of an authentic merchant’s town from the Edo period. Beautifully preserved kura storehouses dating back to the 17th century can be found here, some of which now house galleries, cafes, shops, and restaurants.

The Seto Inland Sea and its surrounding regions are renowned throughout Japan for the extraordinary quality and variety of the fish, fruit, and vegetables produced there throughout the changing seasons of the year. The head chef at Ryokan Kurashiki includes many of these fine local ingredients within his kaiseki dinners, striving for the perfect balance of culinary innovation and traditional Japanese cooking.

While a kaiseki dinner is the standard evening meal offered at Ryokan Kurashiki, the ryokan does offer its guests several other options. Should you prefer, other options include meat or seafood shabu-shabu (a type of Japanese hotpot where you cook the ingredients yourself in light dashi broth, then dip them in sauces before eating them), sukiyaki, sushi, or tempura. Please notify Wabunka of your preferences in advance.

If you would like to enjoy a relaxing bath after your meal or at any other time during your stay at Ryokan Kurashiki, you can reserve the ryokan’s exclusive private bath for up to 50 minutes during your stay (the bath is open from 6:00-9:00 AM and 3:00-11:00 PM each day). The large Aji stone bathtub has been a part of the building for many generations, looking out upon trees and garden plants that change colors with the seasons.

After a restful night in your guest room at Ryokan Kurashiki, you will wake up to the warm comfort of a delicious cooked breakfast. Served in the on-site restaurant, breakfast can be enjoyed as a leisurely morning meal so that you can take your time as you ease into your morning. Guests are free to choose either a Western-style or Japanese-style breakfast.

After breakfast, a private car will pick you up at Ryokan Kurashiki to take you to Shin-Okayama Port. From there, you will make a journey by ferry across the Seto Inland Sea to the island of Shodoshima. Onboard, revel in the gentle sea breeze as you gaze out on crystal clear waters and many small picturesque islands. As the ferry approaches Shodoshima, take note of its stunning mountainous landscape, which features some of the most beautiful valleys in Japan. From the moment you set foot on the island, it is all there waiting for you.

For this exclusive trip itinerary, Wabunka offers guests a choice between two different tours on Shodoshima. The Gastronomy Tour will take you to a traditional soy sauce brewery and a somen noodle factory with over 400 years of history to better understand the island’s legacy of skilled and committed craftsmanship. The Art and Nature Tour is a journey through the majestic natural scenery and stunning rice terraces of the island to explore the symbiosis between art and nature. Both tours conclude with lunch at SEASiON, an innovative creative space that showcases art and sustainable gourmet food.

Soy sauce production is one of Shodoshima’s traditional industries, handed down through the generations for over 400 years. Yamaroku Soy Sauce is one brewery on the island that has chosen to continue to employ traditional wooden barrels, an extremely rare process these days that now accounts for just 1% of soy sauce brewed in Japan. To help you better understand the traditional methods involved, the first stop on your Gastronomy Tour will be the 100-year-old Moromi-gura warehouse. Inside the warehouse you will find 90 cedar barrels, each taller than a human being, some in use since the founding of the brewery.

The Moromi-gura warehouse is a one-storey wooden building with clay walls and a packed dirt floor. “Yeast and lactic acid bacteria are essential in soy sauce production,” explains facility guide Yukako Sarada. “These microorganisms inhabit not only the wooden barrels themselves, but live in the wooden beams, the clay of the walls, and soil beneath us.” In many ways Moromi-gura is a living, breathing reservoir not of soy sauce, which comes and goes, but of the microorganisms that give continual life to its production.

Because soy sauce relies on live microorganisms, it must be monitored 365 days a year. As you tour the warehouse, you may start to sense the time and dedication required to produce the finest soy sauce in Japan.

Somen noodles are made by stretching wheat flour into thin strands, which are then dried. One technique used to create some is hand-pulling the noodles, which was introduced to Shodoshima nearly 400 years ago. The Shodoshima somen factory Fujii Mengyou still uses this traditional hand-pulled method to produce somen noodles renowned for their superior flavor, firmness, and texture. Your Wabunka Gastronomy Tour offers exclusive access to Fuji Mengyou’s manufacturing area, which is not usually open to public viewing.

Shodoshima’s hand-pulled somen noodles are made using the finest carefully-selected wheat flour, sesame oil, and salt, with the dough at Fujii Mengyou aged for a time to result in richer, fuller flavors. This dough is twisted to make it thinner, wrapped two chopsticks in a figure eight and then left to age further. The unique firmness of Shodoshima’s hand-pulled somen noodles is attributed to the meticulous care in these steps in the process.

The rolled dough is then stretched as high as an adult human, then draped over a hata, which is a specific drying rack made especially for somen. To counter the effects of humidity, the noodles are carefully separated by hand on the rack one by one to prevent tangling. When you catch sight of all those slender noodles stretched out over the hata to dry, it is easy to appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that goes into creating such a scene.

If you choose the Art and Nature Tour, it will begin right at Tonosho Port, home to outdoor and indoor art installations from the Setouchi Triennale art festival. You will then travel to the spectacular Nakayama Senmaida rice terraces to explore the connection between art and nature on Shodoshima. En route, you can visit “Shishigaki Island” (“Island of Stone Walls”) by Saito Masato, an installation that pays tribute to Shodoshima’s legacy of stone walls. Amongst the rice terraces, you will find a large bamboo sculpture with a dome-shaped interior created by Taiwanese artist Wang Wen-Chih. These art installations blend seamlessly into their natural surroundings: innovative, unique, and thought-provoking.

*Please refer to the “Experience Itinerary” in the “Things to Know” section for the detailed schedule.

Having explored Shodoshima with the Gastronomy Tour or the Art and Nature Tour, you will next head to the seaside restaurant SEASiON. Designed by Ken Tsukajima, an architect known for his work in Tokyo and Osaka as well as internationally in Mexico, Kenya, Bali, and the UK, SEASiON was constructed within a decommissioned somen noodle factory, making use of as much of the original building and its materials as possible.

Spurred on by Tsukajima’s profound appreciation of art, a wide variety of artworks can be found throughout SEASiON. The second floor of the building was previously used as an art gallery and is currently hosting an installation by the Mexican artist YupicA.

The world of YupicA’s unique art will enthrall and enchant you. His installation makes use of actual rice grains harvested from Nakayama Senmaida in Shodoshima’s rice growing region of Nakayama, which includes stunning rice terraces that have been recognized among the finest in all of Japan. Using resin, the artist solidified these rice grains into hard plates and connected them to form a screen onto which images of Shodoshima could be projected.

SEASiON works hand in hand with the local community when it comes to food and sustainability. This approach is sincerely reflected in the meals they serve, making every effort possible to be environmentally conscious by ensuring that as little as possible goes to waste. One example of this approach is SEASiON’s use of residual moromi from the 150-year-old Yamaroku Soy Sauce brewery, which the restaurant uses cleverly in their chicken dishes. Chicken marinated in moromi benefits from the yeast and lactic acid bacteria in terms of taste and texture.

You will find a wide variety of innovative and creatively-inspired dishes on the menu at SEASiON, featuring an abundance of ingredients that reflect the local food culture of Shodoshima. One popular choice is the local brand Olive Beef, which uses olive-fed wagyu beef produced from cattle reared on the island itself and fed olive pulp to improve the taste and marbling of their meat. If you’d like, you can choose Olive Beef for the main dish in your meal as an added option to this Wabunka itinerary. While creative in their inspiration, the flavors at the restaurant are relatively simple, combining the cool sophistication of fine dining with the warm satisfaction of a home-cooked meal.

After a delicious meal at SEASiON, it will be then time to bid Shodoshima a fond farewell, heading back by ferry and private car to spend one more blissful night at Ryokan Kurashiki.

Kurashiki was largely built by merchants, who capitalized on the city’s key location as a trade hub with direct access via the Seto Inland Sea. During your stay, reflect on the efforts of the Kawahara family, who made their fortune on the sugar trade and used the profits to construct the marvelous home and garden that now house Ryokan Kurashiki. Wandering the streets of the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter, you will see countless other former homes and storehouses built by other merchant families.

With your day trip to Shodoshima, you may gain some sense of the special part that the Seto Inland Sea has played in Japan’s history of trade and commerce. Spending even a short time on Shodoshima will also give you precious insight into the unique culture that has developed on the islands of the Seto Inland Sea, where people take the time to slow down and appreciate food, art, nature, and one another.