NAGANO - Korakukan, an Onsen Inn nearest to the Jigokudani Monkey Park with more than 150 years of history

Korakukan is just a few minutes walk from the Monkey Park, and if you are lucky, you may be able to enjoy a bath together with the monkeys in Korakukan's outdoor bath (Roten-buro).  Just remember not to look the monkeys in the eyes, and stay relaxed! 🙈

General Information

Click here for the Korakukan official website

Click here for the Japan Association of Secluded Hot Springs Inns website (English)

Address: 6818-1 Oaza-Hirao, Yamanouchi-machi, Simotakai-gun, Nagano 381-0401

Tel: 0269-33-4376

4 indoor baths and 2 outdoor baths.

1 of the outdoor baths is mixed, or co-ed...male, female, and monkeys!

Rates

No bathrooms or baths in the individual rooms.  

There are two private baths for those who are not ready to bathe with strangers!

Plan A: 15,594 Yen per person (largest room)

Plan B: 13,218 Yen per person (smaller sized room)

Plan A (Shin-Fuseki room, only for those who are interested in the board game GO): 15,594 Yen 

Korakukan and the Japanese board game GO

GO is this strategic board game with black and white stones.

Korakukan is known as a historical place for the Japanese game GO.
It is considered as the the birthplace of Shin-Fuseki (new strategic placing of pieces) developed in the 1930's by two famous GO players, Kitani Minoru and Go Seigen.

Korakukan is home to Kitani Minoru's wife, Miharu Kitani, and her nephew is currently the owner of Korakukan.

You can find the GO table signed by both Kitani Minoru and Go Seigen at the hotel.
Basically, Korakukan is a very famous place for GO players.

Food at Korakukan

We enjoyed dishes prepared with local Nagano ingredients.

Main dish for dinner was Kamo Nabe, or duck hot pot.
Then, there were lots of mountain vegetables, and grilled fish from the river.

Next to the fish...was...Inago no tsukudani, or locusts cooked in soy sauce and sweet sake (mirin).  

Inago is traditional not only in Nagano, but in Japan's mountain regions, as it has historically been served as an important source of nutritional supplement.

This however, does not mean that we Japanese can just pick it up with our chopsticks and eat it.

As a matter of fact, CNN Travel says, and I also agree, that this is one of "The 5 dishes even Japanese people are freaked to eat"! (click here for the full article)

Finally, we (ok, I didn't, only my husband) enjoyed an after-bath drink of Shochu (Japanese sake)...coming in two flavors: snake and bee!
NOTE: the snake sake, which is similar to the Habushu from Okinawa, is also listed in the CNN Travel article, along with the Inago!

Just for your information: the owner of Korakukan would catch the bees that wandered into the hotel and put them into the Shochu...and this is how the bee-sake is made!

If you are interested in trying out the Shochu drinks, just ask the owner of Korakukan!

For more, visit our YouTube channel "Ichigo Ichie in Japan"