How a samurai family estate in Yanagawa became one of Japan’s most unusual ryokan stays

The Ariake Sea has Japan’s largest tidal range, at approximately 6m, and at low tide, vast tidal flats extend between 5km and seven 7km offshore. Residents began reclaiming land for agriculture around 2,000 years ago. Over time, a 930km network of waterways developed, serving as irrigation channels, castle moats, flood-control infrastructure and a source of water for daily life.

OHANA RYOKAN’S BEGINNINGS

In 1738, the sixth-generation clan head, Sadayoshi Tachibana, established a residence on the site now occupied by Ohana Ryokan’s for his concubine and children. It remained in the family for generations. Chizuka’s grandmother, Ayako Tachibana, grew up on the estate as the daughter of Count Akinori Tachibana, during a period when Japan’s former feudal families had been incorporated into the modern peerage.

Ayako studied in Tokyo and accompanied her father on duck-hunting trips to the Ariake Sea. She also learnt to ski and play tennis, eventually winning the women’s doubles title at the 1933 All Japan Women’s Tennis Tournament with her partner. When she was 20, her father built her a tennis court in the garden, where she later held a reception when she married Kazuo Shimamura, a descendant of a samurai family. From the Mikan Suite, where I stayed last autumn, the former court was still clearly visible.

After World War II, Ayako converted the 23,000 sq m estate into a ryotei-ryokan – a traditional restaurant with accommodation – as a way to preserve the property. Japan’s post-war reforms had abolished the peerage, while agrarian reform and heavy inheritance and estate taxes eroded the fortunes of many former aristocratic families. Ayako relinquished the family’s Tokyo residence to retain the estate in Yanagawa, and Ohana opened as a business in 1950.

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