日本三大秘境のまち

How and where to experience Iya’s irori

Perhaps the best way to encounter irori life would be by staying the night at one of the Iya Valley’s traditional farmhouses. There are several available that are hosted by the families that own them, where you can cook together with the hosts over the irori and sample a variety of traditional Iya foods. You will also learn how to help build and tend the irori, which includes blowing through a bamboo stick called a hifuki-dake to enliven the fire.

Some guest houses which offer hosted stays with irori cooking include:

Kouya https://kouya18508.wixsite.com/kominkayado

Iya Hakkei http://www.ctm.ne.jp/~taka58/

Kajiya Ia Romantei  https://iya-romantei.wixsite.com/kajiya

It is also possible to enjoy irori-prepared dinners at the Hotel Kazurabashi, which also features a lovely thatched roof traditional teahouse next to their outdoor hot-spring baths that has a continuously burning irori inside.

Hotel Kazurabashi https://www.kazurabashi.co.jp/

There are also several preserved historic homes in the Iya Valley that are open to the public where you can see irori in their original setting, but these irori are usually no longer lit due to the danger of fire. However, at the wonderful Kimura-ke, which was built in 1699 and is the oldest still standing house in the Iya Valley, the Kimura family offers up their historic home as a daytime cafe where you can enjoy tea and sweets around one of their still functioning twin irori.

Kimura-ke Cafe https://cafe-4347.business.site/

(By: Shaun Lamzy)

For more information about travel in Miyoshi, check IyaTime.com

Official Travel information：https://miyoshi-tourism.jp/en/