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It is our pleasure to welcome you to Juhachiro Ryokan.
Juhachiro Ryokan, a traditional Japanese style hotel, established more than 150 years ago.
At the end of Edo era in 1860, the age of the Samurai, which is also known as the year of Convention of Beijing was concluded,
Japanese style hotel “Yamamotoya” located here at Minato-machi changed its name to “Juhachiro”.
The reason of rename dates further back to 1688, when Matsuo Basho stayed in Gifu at the invitation of cultured people in those days. His name was already well known to the public as an expert of a Haiku composer then. Haiku is the shortest poem in the world.
During his stay he was so fascinated by the beautiful scenery in Gifu that he wrote the famous essay “Juhachiro-no-ki”.
In his essay he says, “I would like to call this place Juhachiro.” (Juhachi means eighteen.)
He felt the refreshing scene looked as if it were combined with beautiful eight sceneries at ” Sho Sho” and ten lands of “Saiko” in China.
In those days, well-educated men who had learned Chinese history, literature, and culture had a longing for scenic spots in China, too.
Basho praised that the view of Gifu was equal to the China”s famous sceneries in his essay “Juhachiro-no-ki”.
The local people were very proud of this literature and had handed it down from generation to generation as a local honor.
Whenever you may read this passage, “Juhachiro-no-ki”, you will feel how much Basho appreciated this place, Gifu.
However, after many years have passed, the close friendship between Basho and Gifu people had been forgotten.
The owner of “Yamamotoya” felt sorry for this, and proposed to change the name of his Ryokan to “Juhachiro” to revive the treasures of the area.
It was in 1860, the end of Edo era.
The Nagara River was fully used as water transportation traffic then.
The neighborhood of Juhachiro had supported the development of Gifu as river ports over the long time. However, as the railroad spread, the mission of the river ports was over.
Still this town hasn”t lost its vigor and it kept the beauty of Japanese historical climate as the old days without being destroyed by any big earthquakes and the fires of war.
And now, we never forget the passion of our ancestors who tried to hand down the honor of the community.
We strongly believe that it is our mission to preserve this scenery that was loved by Matsuo Basho.
Therefore, we brought our old storehouses, which were more than 120 years to life and rebuilt them into the public bath and restaurant.
Our aim is to stay in harmony with the old town and keep genuine traditional Japanese.
We will continue to keep the spirit of “Omotenashi” which our eight family heads have taken over since its establishment. On the other hand we will try to meet our customer’s expectations, which change with the times.
We will strive to seek for the unchanged value which live up to tradition.