I took my brother to Japan, and I wanted him to experience a traditional "ryokan", and even though the IROHA Hotel has "hotel" in the name, it is very much a ryokan with tatami floors in the rooms, shoji and fusuma doors, and you sleep on futons. There is a communal bath in the hotel in addition to the "unit baths" (with commode, sink, and shower/bath) in the rooms. They serve a traditional Japanese breakfast with rice, miso soup, pickles, grilled fish, simmered soybeans and hijiki (seaweed), shredded cabbage, with an egg and some bacon- very much the gohan (rice) okazu (variety of different foods). The IROHA is right across the street from Nikko Toshogu, one of the big tourist destinations in Nikko so the location is great. The big drawback of the IROHA is its age. It looks like it was built in the 1970's and has not been updated since then. It is very clean but old- faded carpet, dated wall coverings. This is likely why it is fairly inexpensive relative to other properties around it. A big highlight of check-in was the woman at reception. She wore a very attractive kimono, which I complimented, and she let me know her mother made it, which was also impressive. If you can get past the age of the hotel, it is possible to get a glimpse of traditional Japan, which is well worth it in my opinion. (Note also we had a minor medical emergency while staying at the IROHA, and they jumped into action to help.)
