If you want to stay in power for two hundred and fifty years you have to be crafty. One way the Tokugawa shogunate was able to maintain their rule over Japan’s slew of far-flung regional daimyo lords was to subject them to a system of sankin-kotai. Under this system (whose origins actually predated the Tokugawas) the daimyo were required to reside in the capital city every other year, a biannual mandate that was, among other things, a financial burden that prevented these regional lords from building up armies that could contest the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate.

The daimyo traveled to Edo using a network of roads called Kaido. The lords of Matsumoto would head north out of town on the Zenkoji Kaido and, at the nearby post town of Okada, turn east on the Edo Kaido, which took them up over Shinagura Pass and down into Shiga. This initial leg of the trek would often end with an overnight stay in the post town of Hofukuji-juku, at what is now known as Satoyama Villa. Today you can stay there too, at risk of only moderate financial burden.

The Honjin

 

According to records dated 1583, this building belonged to the Ogasawara clan, longtime rulers of Shinano and, for a time, the lords of Matsumoto Castle. At one point they transferred ownership of the property to the Ozawa family, wealthy and influential land owners here in Shiga. Even now, the Ogasawara family crest, the ‘sankabishi’, can be seen on the walls of the Honjin.

 

Tragically, that historic resting place of the lords of Matsumoto burned down in 1908. It was rebuilt in 1913, in the same style as the original, using Japanese ‘hinoki’ cypress wood. Today it is a rural retreat for people looking to revel in quiet luxury.

From Honjin to Hotel

Limited to three separate and spacious guest suites, Satoyama Villa Honjin is designed to recreate the feeling of living like royalty. The first floor suite is accessible directly from the large front room that once served as a private entrance hall for the daimyo. Boasting high ceilings and the largest living spaces, it is considered the most prestigious area of the Honjin.

 

One of the 2nd floor guest suites includes a raised tatami room where the daimyo would hold private meetings with his assistants and attendants. The other suite is unique in that it consists of two halves connected by a walkway that runs across the open atrium above the ground floor common guest area. One side offers a view of the northern alps; the sleeping quarters on the eastern side, with its low, sloping wood beam ceiling and windows overlooking the garden, offer a more intimate feel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Area

While many Buddhist temples were destroyed in the early years of the Meiji Era, and others subsequently abandoned with the abolition of government funding, some managed to survive. One of these is Hofukuji Temple, which occupies a slice of serenity up a long, attractive set of stone steps just across the river from Satoyama Honjin. In the woods behind the Honjin are the scant remains of Kakiage-jo Castle, built in 1502 by the Ogasawara ruling clan and destroyed by Takeda Shingen’s invading forces in 1553. Along the road to the west, where the old Zenkoji Kaido used to run, is the Shiga Fossil Museum, born of the 1986 discovery of a complete fossilized sperm whale skeleton in the Hofukuji River. Five and a half meters in length, it is one of only two of its kind in the world.

No doubt, a stay in one of the Honjin’s suites will relieve you of more than a few thousand yen. But hey, it’s not every night you get to live and sleep like the daimyo. And maybe eat like one too.

If you go: