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The other day we found a white porcelain vase, which had been placed on a red sandalwood rack of the room Higashi, was broken. The mouth of the vase was chipped and had cracking.

If precious ceramics, wooden ware or glassware should be broken, we cherish them by applying Kintsugi technique to them.

Kintsugi is a traditional method of repairing the objects with Urushi/ lacquer and gold or silver.　

After a month, the white vase came back to us after an artistic treatment.　

Look! The photos below show how they were treated.

"Kurashiki Haruyoi Akari" has been held every Saturday night in whole Bikan area since February 18 and main highlight illumination is scheduled on March 17 and 18.
Warm flame of candles in paper-covered lamps changes rows of houses of the white wall into the world of fantasy.

Advent of spring will be impressed in every venue.

Spring rainy season has arrived.

Hina Meguri or Hina dolls festival has started since February 25 in whole Bikan area, lasting till March 11, 2012. 

To celebrate the Doll festival, residents of Bikan area will entertain the visitors by displaying their cherished Hina dolls and doll accessories all over the town in old houses, shopping arcades, cultural facilities, and elsewhere.　Thus it will be a nice chance to walk through and see those precious implements and flower arrangements.

If you have occasion to visit us during this period, a pair of Hina dolls will welcome you in the entrance hall.

Also in the restaurant, we will serve “Hina Gozen”, a lunch set meal specially prepared for this occasion from February 25 till March 31, 2012, at 2,500 yen

Especially colorful tiny balls of SUSHI add to the gaiety of the lunch set.

Reservation available for 11:00, 12:00 and 13:00 of weekdays except Mondays.

To welcome a New Year, the Ryokan was decorated by all the staff on December 30. According to custom, New Year’s decoration should not be set up on 31st December based on the belief that it is not faithful to have only one day before welcoming the deity on New Year's Day. Moreover, the 29th should also be avoided because 'nine matsu' is associated with 'wait for pain'.

In accordance with the annual autumn festival of Achi Shrine, residents of Bikan area entertained the visitors by displaying their cherished Byobu (folding screens), handed down for generations. Houses, which are usually closed to the public, were opened to the visitors, thus it was a nice chance to walk through and see those precious implements, flower arrangements as well as works of calligraphy.

Of course our Ryokan Kurashiki joined this event and welcomed the visitors on the theme of "Thanks to the harvest autumn and wishes for the recovery of devastated area".

We displayed our wood lattice folding panels on the Tatami space in the entrance hall and had it decorated with flower arrangement by Ms. Yoko Takahashi, the Japan’s leading flower-arrangement artist.

A peaceful rural landscape of autumn was reproduced by her in our entrance hall. To a small hedge of Japanese ancient rice (black rice), several kinds of colorful chrysanthemum were assorted: yellow - and red spider chrysanthemum, red – and brown florist’s chrysanthemum, pale pink ping pong chrysanthemum, Anastasia green and others. Above them were branches of climbing wild rose and pomegranate, both with orange fruits.

In front of the panels set were the tiny altars. On two of them regularly-cut chrysanthemum flowers were stuck upright, crowned with floss silk; on one of them silver-white cocoons were piled up.

Both were the products from Date-city, Fukushima pref., from a disaster-struck region. Although the chrysanthemum month has already passed, she dared to decorate the floss silk covered chrysanthemum to have a share of luck followed by the ancient customs to express her deepest condolences to the people suffering from the disaster.

Harvest is a great season at any part of the world.

Over two days on Oct. 15^th and 16^th, the annual autumn festival was held in and around Bikan area.

After the parade of Mikoshi ( portable shrine), a pair of Taiko-dai( portable drum stages) started the parade. One is shouldered by male youth; the other is shouldered by female youth.

The Taiko-dai is specially called Senzairaku in the southwestern area of Okayama pref. It is said that a newly created Noh song Senzairaku during the Edo period in Kurashiki-city became so popular that people generally chanted the song in shouldering the Taiko-dai (drum stage) in their neighborhoods, thus leading to call the Taiko-dai itself 'Senzairaku'.

While the Mikoshi portable shrine belongs to the shrine, Senzairaku belongs to the shrine parishioners and their role at the festival is to escort or to lead the parade of Mikoshi or to offer performances in front of the God, in which the local youth perform dynamically and vigorously by tossing it up, shaking it right and left and hoisting it.

In the final highlight, the carriers dash up the steps to the shrine gate by shouldering it. It is worth while watching it.

After the rainy days of early autumn, the air turned much cooler in October.

To reflect the deepening autumn, the dishes of our Kaiseki menu have changed to “Dishes for the splendor of autumn in gold and maple colors”.

As the title mentions, one of the theme is to reflect the deepening colors of the season like red, orange, yellow and gold into the dishes. For example the assortment of seasonal starter features orange persimmon used as a cup, yellow of Kinton-ball of sweet potato and chest nut, gold flakes to decorate the top of Kinton-ball as well as ruby-red of sprinkled pomegranate seeds.

Inevitable ingredients of the autumn are mushrooms. In the assortment of seasonal starter, there are simmered Nameko mushrooms which go well with Yuzu citrus flavor, and also French horn mushrooms which are spirally rolled by the sliced hairtail and grilled. To be fully enjoyed of the flavor and the stock of mushrooms, we prepare Dobin-mushi, delicate clear soup, in a tiny tea pot. First enjoy the broth of Shimeji and Matsutake mushrooms along with their flavor, then add the Sudachi citrus to the broth and enjoy the seasoned broth, finally you can fish out the ingredients.

Another highlight is Spanish mackerel. Though considered to be tasty in spring, it is tastiest from the autumn to the winter, when its fat increases. This time our chef will arrange the fish by briefly searing it over the fire of rice straw, adding the wild flavor to it and slicing it. It can be tasted with 3 kinds of seasoning: soy-based dip, Sudachi juice, or natural salt.

Two major festivals of autumn will be held on Sat. October 15 & Sun. October 16, which are the Achi Shrine’s annual autumn festival and the Kurashiki folding screen festival.

In accordance with them, we will have a special treat of CHIRASHI-SUSHI for the lunch guests. In the course menu of Kaiseki dining, we will prepare CHIRASHI-SUSHI which is gorgeously decorated with seafood such as vinegar-cured Spanish mackerel and small herring, grilled sea eel and boiled tiger prawn. It will be brought to the table in a wooden SUSHI bowl and then served to the individual plates in front of the guests.

We will also prepare CHIRASHI-SUSHI in one of the dishes of “Kurashiki-Gozen” at the restaurant.

◎Kasiseki course of lunch in a private Tatami room
  (Reservation required)

   Rates: 5,000 Yen, 6,500 Yen, 8,000 Yen 〜
  (15% services charges are additional)

 Hour: 11:00 – Last starter time 14:00

◎Kurashiki-Gozen lunch at the restaurant
　(Reservation available only for 11:00)

   Rate: 2,500 Yen

   Hour: 11:00 – Last starter time 14:00

To all the lunch guests of our restaurant, there will be a small dessert of “bracken starch cake” as our special treat. Please taste a bite-sized homemade Japanese sweet from our teatime menu. It is available during lunch hour of weekdays from Mon. October 3 to Fri. October 28.