Iwasō

Iwasō is a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn where guests dine and sleep) founded in 1854 on Miyajima island, at the entrance to the Momijidani valley, 300 m and 3 minutes on foot from Itsukushima Shrine. It has 38 Japanese-style rooms spread over three buildings from different periods, including four secluded wooden cottages beside the stream. It suits travellers who want to sleep on the island itself and explore it once the day visitors have gone, in the evening and at dawn.

Three buildings, three periods

Iwasō has some 170 years of history. Choosing a room means first choosing a building.

The main building (Honkan), wooden and two storeys high, dates from the early Shōwa era (from 1926). Its 5 Japanese rooms each have their own decor and look over the Momijidani valley and river. They have a private toilet but no bath or shower: guests bathe in the shared onsen.

The annex (Shinkan), five storeys, built in 1981 and served by a lift, has 29 rooms. They are the only rooms with a private bathtub, filled with ordinary water. The Standard room has 10 tatami mats (rice-straw mats) and sleeps up to three with a folding bed on request; the Deluxe, on a corner, has two connecting 10-tatami rooms over the valley, for a family or small group of up to six.

The four cottages (hanare), single-storey wooden houses built between 1924 and 1952 in the Momijidani garden:

• Kimpu-tei, from the Taishō-Shōwa era, the most immersed in the valley, has hosted many members of the imperial family; private toilet, shared onsen.
• Shukin-tei, built in 1928, has one 10-tatami and one 8-tatami room, with a private indoor bath.
• Ryumon-tei was named by Asano Nagakoto, the last lord of the Hiroshima domain; deer wander through its garden; private toilet, shared onsen.
• Senshin-tei, from 1949, in the sukiya teahouse style, was named by the master of the Omotesenke tea school and renovated in 2018. The novelist Eiji Yoshikawa worked here in 1952. At the far end of the grounds, for two guests, it has its own bath facing the stream.

The cottages sleep two to five, two in Senshin-tei. The room table gives these capacities; sizes are given only in tatami mats.

Wakamiya onsen

Hot springs are rare on Miyajima, and Iwasō has its own: Wakamiya onsen, a weakly radioactive simple spring. The women's bath, Hinode-yu, and the men's, Tsuki-no-yu, each have an indoor pool and an open-air bath facing the forest. They are open from 3 pm to midnight and from 6 to 9.30 am, for guests only; there is no private hot spring bath. Bathing etiquette is in our onsen etiquette guide.

Dining

The Momiji restaurant serves Kyoto-style kaiseki (a Japanese meal of many small seasonal courses) with produce from the Inland Sea: Miyajima oysters in winter, conger eel. Dinner and breakfast, at 8 or 8.30 am, are served in the dining room; the last dinner seating is at 7.30 pm. Vegetarian or gluten-free menus should be requested seven days ahead. Rooms can also be booked without meals or with breakfast only.

Practicalities

Check-in is from 3 pm, by 7 pm at the latest, and check-out is at 10 am. The inn's free shuttle collects guests from Miyajima pier between 8 am and 8 pm when you phone; on foot, allow 15 minutes. Luggage can be left before check-in and after check-out. Prices shown include consumption tax, service and the onsen tax; Hatsukaichi's accommodation tax, 200 ¥ (about 2 €) per person per night since 1 April 2026, is extra, as is the Miyajima visitor tax of 100 ¥ (about 1 €), collected with the ferry ticket.

Children pay by age: a flat 2,200 ¥ (about 13 €) under 2, half price from 2 to 6, 30% off from 7 to 11.

On the island, on foot

Itsukushima Shrine, founded according to tradition in 593 and built over the sea in 1168, opens at 6.30 am: from Iwasō, you can be there at opening time. The Miyajima Ropeway station is in the Momijidani valley; it climbs in two stages, about 10 minutes then 4 minutes, to Shishiiwa, from where an hour's walk there and back leads to the summit of Mount Misen. In the evening, a 30-minute cruise passes the illuminated shrine and great torii (sacred gateway). Hiroshima and its Peace Memorial Museum are 10 minutes by ferry and 25 minutes by train away. The details are on our Hiroshima and Miyajima page.

Iwaso or KAI Miyajima

In our selection, Iwasō is the address on the island: old wooden buildings, secluded cottages, a shared open-air onsen and the shrine on foot. KAI Miyajima, opened in July 2026 on the opposite shore, is a new 54-room ryokan with every room facing the island, a top-floor onsen and rooms with a private open-air hot spring bath, from which you take a boat to visit Miyajima. The first suits those who want to live on the island, the second those who want a private bath looking at it.