Created by the founder of elevated hotel brand Aman, the Azumi Setoda brings together modern Japanese architecture, innovative cuisine and traditional bathing rituals. Ben Southan reports
The Azumi Setoda, located in the lemon farming heart of Japan on the island of Ikuchijima, is an elegant contemporary ryokan (Japanese guest house) created by Adrian Zecha, founder of luxury hotel brand Aman, and Naru developments.
Originally a 140-year-old estate belonging to the Horiuchi family, the Azumi can be found resting in a narrow street of fruit shops, Shinto shrines, izakayas (Japanese bars) and hidden restaurants.
The Azumi has been carefully curated to honour a culture where historically an abiding sense of homeliness and tranquility are the primary qualities of a Japanese inn, and in Zecha’s Azumi Setoda we see the epitome of a modern-day ryokan.
The spaces within the Azumi closely embody notions explored in the essay “In Praise of Shadows” by Junchirō Tanizaki, which seeks to describe “the collision between traditional Japanese interiors and the dazzling light of the modern age” and, among other things, compares the contrasting architectural aesthetics of the Eastern tradition to those of the West, each having developed with differing resources under different climatic conditions.
The design of the Azumi plays with these unfamiliar shadows to strong effect; black, slatted frames brace the windows in the dining room, translucent white shoji screens diffuse the light allowing it to pass only so far, the kakine cedar fence in the courtyard filters sunshine into dots and dashes which fall like glowing lines of morse code on the bedroom walls.
There are 22 rooms available over two floors in the guest pavilion each with a private garden or balcony. I stayed in a comfortable Niwa suite on the ground floor with warm, honey-coloured cedar flooring, a fragrant hinoki bathtub in a green granite wet-room with white shoji screens dividing the bedroom and bathroom.
Choose from four room types: Niwa or Suzumi suites, each 50 sqm and suitable for two people, or the Sora-Suzumi and Niwa-suzumi, each 70 sqm and suitable for three people.
Bed and breakfast starts at ¥85,910 (£452) per room and the room includes all the amenities one might expect as well as several other thoughtful touches such as comfortable room wear, sandals and a haori jacket which one is invited to use when dining in the restaurant.
As a starter we were served cold onion soup cleverly contained in an edible ball (which we were advised to eat it in one bite), cauliflower tart, chickpea fritters and aebleskiver (Danish pancake balls), followed by eight other courses each as fresh and delicious as the last.
The stand-out plate that we all agreed was superb was the carrot course, which was unsurprisingly the chef’s signature dish. Described on the menu as: “Carrot – a plate of carrot with every single part of the carrot used”. It was probably the best carrot I’ll ever eat.
Dinner was followed by a private tea party with french pastries in the Azumaya pavilion before I headed across the street to sample the late night Yubune sento – the public bathhouse and sister property to the Azumi.
Developed in honour of the Horiuchi family’s commitment to community contribution, the sento is open to the public from 10am to 8pm with private access granted to hotel guests from 8pm to 10pm.
The next day we were treated to a traditional breakfast before taking off on a 17km round-trip bike tour following a section of the Shimanami Kaido cycling route which runs along the sea wall and passes through the Lemon Ravine before crossing the 1480-metre long Tatara bridge which spans the swirling whirlpools and white-tipped waves of the Seto inland sea.
Many other experiences are on offer at the Azumi including wellness treatments, private yoga lessons, zen meditation at the Kojyo-ji temple, coffee workshops, walking tours, cruises, fishing, paddle boarding and kayaking as well as partaking in the famous orange and lemon harvests.
VERDICT:
The Azumi Setoda delivers an authentic yet luxurious ryokan experience rooted in true Japanese style, where traditions of hospitality, artistry and architecture combine to set the bar high for those who wish to follow in its shadow.
BOOKING:
Japan Airlines has twice daily London Heathrow – Tokyo return flights from £962.