Yanagawa is located an hour’s drive from Fukuoka city in Japan. One of its many charms is Ohana Ryokan, known for its historic architecture and the Shoto-en Garden with some 150 pine trees, many of which are estimated to be between 150 and 200 years old.The estate is nationally designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty – a category that also includes celebrated landscapes such as Arashiyama Bamboo Grove in Kyoto, and Mount Fuji and The Five Lakes. Ohana is the only property on this list where guests can stay within the grounds of a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty.Spending several nights at Ohana allows visitors to experience the estate after day-trippers have left. Its history is intertwined with that of the Tachibana clan, which stretches back more than 400 years. Tachibana Muneshige, a celebrated warrior, became the first lord of the Yanagawa Domain in the early 17th century.“Many samurai lived here. Alongside them, merchants and townspeople thrived, thanks to water transport via the Ariake Sea and the canals that shaped Yanagawa’s distinctive waterside scenery,” said Chizuka Tachibana, an 18th-generation descendant of the Tachibana family and CEO of Ohana, who took over the management of the property from her father in 2015.
How a samurai family estate in Yanagawa became one of Japan’s most unusual ryokan stays
Ohana Ryokan survived post-war upheaval to become a living record of the Tachibana family, complete with historic rooms, a pine garden and canal-side experiences.
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