The Hanazakura Terrace is located in an area exclusive to participants of our stay program. Two weeping cherry trees spread their branches directly above the terrace, which both Yoshino and wild cherry trees surround. Beyond the terrace, you can see the cherry blossoms of Mount Ogura on the other side of the river. For a limited time only, a 16-mat wooden deck and a 4-mat tatami mat terrace have been set up for guests to relax, on the “Hanazakura Terrace” surrounded by cherry blossoms. The wooden deck is furnished with sofas, allowing guests to admire the cherry blossoms while eating or drinking.
After checking in, you can enjoy a welcome cocktail and original Japanese sweets at Hanazakura Terrace. The welcome cocktail is a special cocktail made using fresh, juicy strawberries, with refreshing, slightly sparkling Japanese sake that draws out the sweetness and sourness of the strawberries. The Japanese confectionery is seasonal “Ubadama” (Japanese traditional sweet made with smooth bean paste and special black sugar) by Kameya Yoshinaga, a Kyoto-based confectionery store established in 1803.
In the evening, you can enjoy a special dinner that allows you to taste all sorts of ingredients of the spring season. Several dishes, prepared using various cooking methods, will be served, including side dishes such as bamboo shoots with Japanese pepper dressing, sea urchin and spring greens, and simmered sea bream roe. The chef’s special Hanami Meal is an eye-catching set of dishes, including thinly-sliced spring red sea bream as a sashimi appetizer, a clear soup with sakura shrimp and bamboo shoot dumplings, and a rice dish, “hinazushi” made from edible wild plants. You can spend the dinner time while enjoying the gorgeous cherry blossoms by your side.
In the morning, board the private yakatabune “Hisui” and enjoy a special breakfast, while viewing the cherry blossoms of Rankyo Gorge illuminated by the soft morning sunlight. This gorgeous meal was created using “korin” bamboo leaves in reference to the famous hanami event held in Arashiyama by Korin Ogata, a painter who lived during the Edo period, at which spring ingredients were served on top of bamboo leaves (*2) decorated with golf leaf maki-e (gold relief lacquerware).
*2 Refers to dishes served with gold leaf overlaid on top of bamboo sheath. When Korin and his friends went to Arashiyama to enjoy the cherry blossoms, his friends packed delicacies from the mountains and the sea in their lavish lunches, but Korin alone removed a rice ball from a bamboo sheath wrapping and began eating it. They ridiculed him, but upon closer inspection, they saw that the inside of the bamboo sheath was decorated with an astonishingly exquisite maki-e created with gold and silver. Korin even threw it into the Ōi River without hesitating after he finished eating.
HOSHINOYA Kyoto’s Exclusive “Yakatabune”: “Hisui”
“Hisui” is HOSHINOYA Kyoto’s exclusive yakatabune. We have created an elegant space by using building materials and decorations that have been popular in Kyoto since ancient times. For example, the hull is made of Kitayama cedar and Hinoki cypress, which are used in traditional architecture style buildings, and copper ornaments, which have been used to decorate pillars and ceilings in temples since ancient times, cover the tips of the wooden parts.
You can spend the time before your departure tasting the program’s special Japanese sweets and warm matcha. The Japanese confectionery is a sweet called “kinton” (mashed sweet potato), made for this program by a long-established Japanese confectionery store, “Oimatsu”, which has been in business for over 100 years. Named “Hana no Utage”, this “kinton” is covered with fine white and pink paste to resemble the cherry blossoms blooming on the “Hanazakura Terrace”. Guests can spend a relaxing time with warm matcha and Japanese sweets that reflect the scenery unfolding before their eyes.
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