How a 110-year-old kimono merchant’s residence became Yoruya, a boutique culinary retreat in Kurashiki, Japan

“Kurashiki, which became a shogunate territory during the Edo period and where water transport trade flourished, is characterised by its “merchant architecture”, which has two different uses: the front for welcoming guests and the rear for hosting guests,” shares the team from Japanese design firm Simplicity, founded by Shinichiro Ogata, which transformed the building into its new use.

This informs Yoruya’s programming. The front is for social uses—Bar Yoruya, a quaint space offering Japanese sake and a great collection of natural wines; a restaurant with a hinoki wood counter helmed by executive chef Fumio Niimi; and an intimate lounge. 

Guestrooms that are more private are placed at the rear. The building’s original features are highlighted against smooth white walls—to be discovered by guests as they amble through.

“The sense of carefully weaving together the atmosphere of the building was achieved by transforming and reusing the original materials and showcasing a powerful structure,” shares the design team. “The architecture and the interior of the old building have been designed to showcase the original beautiful wooden structure as much as possible, and the earthen walls [in some spaces] have been dismantled and then reused, giving the hotel a new yet ancient feel.”

It is not just the shell but also the details that have been treated with love and care. “Old pendant lights have been repurposed as lampshades, and the furniture are thoughtfully crafted to evoke a handmade artisanal quality. The wood has been given a naguri finish—a traditional Japanese woodworking technique in which the surface of the wood is carved or hammered,” says the design team on textures found on items like custom tables.

Unlike many other renovations of traditional Japanese buildings, this hotel features two new blocks as well. One clad in renga (brickwork) and the other finished in shikkui (Japanese lime plaster). Because of this, small pathways result in between, converging into a central courtyard that guests have to traverse to get from their rooms to the public spaces.

Such gestures were drawn from the city’s vernacular qualities. “We felt that there were two main architectural styles in Kurashiki: plaster-walled buildings built in the Edo period and vermilion brick buildings from the Taishō period. The bricks and lime plaster are an homage to these two,” highlights the design team.

The plaster-walled block contains four 560 sq ft maisonettes, and the renga block has three 517 sq ft maisonette-style rooms; both have internal courtyards for a sense of changing nature and light through the day. The two historic buildings side by side house a suite (818 sq ft), two junior suites (645 to 753 sq ft), and three 323 sq ft standard rooms on the second storey. The former has traditional timber-framed glass sliding doors with intricate details, which the Simplicity team has layered over with shoji screens for mitigating sunlight.

There are so many thoughtful moments throughout the hotel’s design that can only be truly appreciated in person, such as the rounded surface edges that enhance the tranquillity of the spaces, the flowing wood grains of both old and new structures, the crafted lighting features, and even the guestroom signage—pictures etched into solid timber panels to indicate names like Shima (island) rather than room numbers.

There is a residential feel to the guestrooms, as many are accessed via a low gate and outdoor foyer. Even the main courtyard, while also picturesque, offers an augmented sense of serenity due to the white plaster walls, the artful placement of large pots, the crape myrtle tree canopy and the steady rhythm of traditional low-slung roofs. The design team points out the main courtyard as the ma (space, or gap between things where the empty space is as vital as the subject).

“The existence of this space allows you to move to the next [space] smoothly. Also, there is a word hiyasai in Kurashiki that describes a narrow alley, and the flow of “front” to ma to hiyasai to “rear” s how you can experience a miniature version of Kurashiki’s streetscape,” it expounds.

The hotel is a Design Hotels member and operated by Naru Developments, a hotel development and management company founded by Yuta Oka and Fumitomo Hayase (Aman’s former Japan representative for many years). Oka created Yoruya together with Yuya Uenuma.

Naru Developments develops individualistic accommodations with genius loci and that foster connection with local communities. This ethos is embodied in the name of the hotel. Yoru (to gather) is derived from the idea of twisting hair or threads for greater strength; Yoruya is hence envisioned as one of these strands, joined to the thick ‘rope’ of Kurashiki and adding to its unique history.

The hotel is also a rare gesamtkunstwerk—a creation in which multiple art forms, such as architecture, interior design, craft, furniture, lighting, landscape, graphics, even culinary elements, are conceived as a unified whole. From the architecture, materiality and cuisine to the craft touchpoints, many of which are made in Okayama.

One’s body, mind and soul are enriched through using the wooden trays with finely etched grooves, drinking from handcrafted glasses in the guestrooms, and brushing aside the woven igusa (Japanese soft rush grass) noren at the hotel entrance to enter. This tribute—Kurashiki’s fertile soil historically nurtured the flourishing of igusa, Japanese soft rush grass used in many woven finishes like tatami and noren—marks the start and end to a stay at Yoruya.

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