Glossary of Terms Related to the Japanese Ryokan
Ichigo-Ichie (a once-in-a-lifetime encounter)'Ichigo' signifies a person's lifetime from birth to death, while'Ichie' refers to an assembly of a religious nature such as h‐oy‐o(Buddhist memorial service). Although both are Buddhist terms
expressing the Buddhist spirit, the phrase 'ichigo-ichie' does noto (the art of tea
exist in Buddhist Scriptures. It was in Sad‐
ceremony) that 'ichigo-ichie' first came to be used as an idiom.
The Tea Master Yamagami S‐
oji, who was a follower of Sen-noRiky‐u, the Grand Master of tea ceremony, compiled the rules of
Sad‐o in his book entitled Cha-no-yu-sha Kakugo Jittei ( Ten
Rules for a Tea Master ). In this book, Yamagami writes: An
encounter over tea is essentially ichigo-ichie, in other words,
however many times the host and guest might meet over tea,
this particular encounter today may never be repeated again,
and so each encounter is a precious once-in-a-lifetime
occasion. He instructs that one should regard each encounteras the only such occasion in one's lifetime, and the host andthe guest alike must be thoughtful in every respect, treating one
another with the utmost courtesy. This philosophy can still befound underlying the spirit of Japanese hospitality today, forJapanese people treasure the wonders of an encounter
between one person and another, and the spirit of ichigo-ichie
continues to be respected by the large numbers of people
working at ryokans.

Wabi-Sabi'Wabi' refers to the aesthetic sense of finding tastefulness within
tranquility and quietude, whereas 'sabi' refers to the aesthetic
sense of finding elegance within an old, faded and witheredcalmness. Both can be described as spirituality unique to theJapanese and originating in tea ceremony. These terms, whenused in a Buddhist context, signify a world of serenity, liberated
from all sufferings, preoccupations and anxieties, lying beyond
enlightenment. The interpretation of the terms is left up to theindividual for they are considered extremely difficult concepts.
The term could be defined more simply as an appreciation of
tranquility and graceful old appearances. When gazing at thegarden of the Japanese ryokan, trees, teahouse, roji path, stonelanterns, kake-jiku scrolls, flower vases, figurines and otherornaments, or even just observing the very old Japanese-stylebuilding of the ryokan, if your heart perceives a special air orsense of beauty in these authentic ryokan features, then you
have experienced the essence of wabi-sabi deep within yourself.

Ishin-Denshin (from soul to soul)This is a famous Buddhist term expressing the mission of Zen.
The teachings of the Buddha are recorded in the Buddhist
Sutras, but enlightenment cannot be attained merely by readingthem. Rather, the essence of Buddhism is directly imparted
from one person's soul to that of another, instead of through8 9

the written or spoken word. In other words, the term ishindenshin indicates the importance of conveying from soul tosoul. This is the true concept or spirit underlying the essential
principles of hospitality taught in service industries including
ryokans. If one extends sincere hospitality, then the guest willsense this sincerity and will be touched. True hospitality
requires being alert and sensitive to the needs and wishes of
the guest.

Morijio
A mound of sea salt on a small plate orpedestal, normally placed under the eaves
by the entrance. The practice of morijio isthought to have originated in a legend
concerning the First Emperor of China. Qin
Shi Huangdi, who had many concubines
and who used to visit the house of each of
his concubines on his ox cart night after night. One of his
concubines, wondering how to become his favorite, came up
with the idea of heaping salt, a favorite of oxen, in front of hergate, upon which the ox would stop in front of her gate every
night and stay put. Ever since, a mound of salt has been
regarded as an auspicious means of attracting customers orbringing good fortune. A similar tale exists in Japan, too, andthe custom of placing morijio had already taken root in the
Nara-Heian Period. Today, you will find such small mounds ofotei and kapp‐o restaurants, ryokan, yose
salt at many ry‐(storytellers' house) and other places where traditional
Japanese culture continues. Moreover, as salt is believed tohave the power of purging impurities, the practice of morijio isalso regarded as a purification ritual.

Uchimizu (water sprinkling)
The practice of sprinkling water is generally carried out toprevent dust from scattering, to cool the summer heat throughevaporation, and to moisten dry ground. In Japan, however, thepractice has also been considered a significant courtesy. When
receiving guests, we not only clean indoors but also sprinkle
water by the entrance or the street outside as a gesture of thewarmest welcome to our guests in accordance with theJapanese spirit of hospitality. Uchimizu is also an expression ofrespect derived from the art of tea ceremony, and is believed tohave the power of purging impurities as in the case of salt (seemorijio). This practice has been faithfully passed down in manyryokans, where water is sprinkled every day without fail.

Roji
The garden outside the chashitsu (teahouse) iscalled roji . Literally, it refers to a plot of land
which is not covered by a roof, and signifies anarrow alley between one house and another or anarrow passageway within the grounds of a large residence.
First used to describe the pathway leading to the teahouse, itapparently came to be called roji. Sen-no-Rikyu defined roji as
the outside path in the mundane world , in other words, aboundary separating the world of cha-no-yu (tea ceremony) fromthe world of the mundane. At some ryokans there areteahouses in the gardens, allowing you to appreciate thestructural beauty of the roji which is evocative of wabi-sabi (seewabi-sabi ).

TsukubaiThis refers to the very low stone washbasin
for washing one's hands (also known astearaibachi and ch‐ozubachi) in a chaniwa (tea garden). The nametsukubai derives from the practice in tea ceremony of bending
oneself so low, almost crawling on the ground, to wash one's
hands and rinse one's mouth. There is a wooden ladle (hishaku)
for scooping up the water inside, but you must not touch it
directly with your lips. The tsukubai is often located close to theteahouse or in the garden of a Japanese ryokan.

Geta (traditional wooden clogs)
Two pieces of supporting wood are attached to each of thewooden boards to produce these traditional Japanese clogs foroutdoor use. Each clog board has three holes through which
the cloth thong called hanao is threaded, and you wear the geta
either in bare feet or wearing tabi socks, with your feet firmly
fixed by grasping the hanao between your big toe and yourori and setta are of similar design, but z‐
ori aresecond toe. The z‐
made by weaving plant fibers such as straw, rushes andbamboo sheaths, whereas the setta, apparently conceived by
Sen-no-Rikyu, originally had tatami-omote
coverings on the top with animal skin fixed
ori andon the sole with iron nails. Today, z‐setta are made of all kinds of materials.
Such footwear is provided at Japaneseryokans for when you take a short walk or
stroll in the garden in your yukata.

Tabi
These Japanese socks are designed in the shape of your feet,
to be worn with wafuku - traditional Japanese clothing such as
kimono. The big toe is separated from the other toes, so thato ri or setta (see geta). They open at the
you can wear geta, z‐
seam above the heel where there is a row of metal hooks forfastening the tabi.

Wagasacovering a bamboo framework with greased washi (traditional
Japanese paper). There are many types of wagasa such as
bangasa and janome-gasa. The large-sized bangasa is for thecommon people. The word janome-gasa derives from the roundring resembling the eye of a large snake when the umbrella isopened up, and is slender and graceful compared with the
bangasa. Some ryokans place these Japanese style umbrellas
ready for use by the guests on rainy days.

Toko-no-ma (Alcove)A traditional style of Japanese architecture, this is an alcove with a slightly raised
floor built in one of the walls of the tatamimat room ( zashiki ). The front wall isdecorated with shoga (or kake-jiku, hanging scrolls), and an ornamental article or aflower vase is placed on the floor of thealcove. Although modern standards
specify a width of 1 ken (about 1.8 meters) and depth of a ken(about 0.9 meter), it used to be wider and not so deep. You willfind toko-no-ma in the majority of Japanese-style zashiki rooms,
and the kake-jiku and flowers conveying the season form a fineinterior decoration.

Kake-jiku (hanging scrolls)
Mounted shoga (works and paintings of calligraphy) which canbe hung on the wall. The kake-jiku was first devised for thepreservation of shoga . The hanging scrolls are changed inaccordance with the season or traditional events, and arestored rolled-up.

Ranma (transom)
A ranma, installed between the upper part of a wall or a partition
and the ceiling, is a transom for allowing daylight to stream in,for ventilation, and also for interior decoration, and comes inlatticework or openwork. It is interesting to observe the motifs
symbolic of the traditional Japanese architectural style usedsince the Heian Period. A ranma is often used so as not to cut
off the adjoining room or the outside light. It plays an importantrole in the tatami-mat rooms of Japanese ryokans, and comes ina wide variety of styles such as osa-ranma (transom with closely
spaced vertical bars), take-no-fushi ranma (transom having posts
that are carved with knuckles resembling bamboo joints), itaranma (transom having thin boaojirds with openwork designs), sh‐ranma (small sliding window-typetransom covered with Japaneseokoku- ranma (sculptupaper), ch‐
red transom), and so on.

Japanese-style umbrellas, to be used
when wearing kimono , are made by

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Shy‐
oji (sliding screen)
Foreigners often describe traditional Japanese architecture as
oji, just likebuildings made of wood and paper. It is true that sh‐
the fusuma sliding doors, are interior fittings used in Japan
since a long time ago and are made of wood and paper withsome metal fixtures. The materials of wood and paper come inoji and the fusuma
a wide variety of types and designs. The sh‐
are both made by covering a wooden frame with paper, but thesh‐oji is made in such a way that light can filter in. This meansoji paper is easily discolored by sunlight, and needs tothat sh‐be replaced periodically with new paper. The washi (Japanese
oji and fusuma absorbs the impurities of thepaper) used in sh‐air, and helps to adjust the humidity by absorbing moisture. It
also enhances the insulation and illumination effects, and isideally suited to the climatic features of Japan. You will findsh‐oji and fusuma used in various forms in the traditional tatamimat rooms in Japanese ryokans.

Kokoro-zuke (Japanese-style tipping)
The practice of 'tipping' as in Western hotels has not taken root
among the Japanese, and basically there is no need to offer
tips since a service charge is added to the accommodation
charge. Nonetheless, there is the custom of handing overkokoro-zuke on special occasions (coming-of-age, marriage,
funeral and memorial service, and other ceremonial occasions)and when moving house to express one's gratitude, and someguests offer kokoro-zuke when staying at a ryokan. When doing
so, the guests usually wrap the money or place it in a smallogi (generous
envelope called a pochi-bukuro and hand it as sh‐tip), sunshi (small token of appreciation), or chadai (small tip)
usually to the room attendant. The kokoro-zuke is given atvarious timings, such as upon arrival, at dinnertime, or upon
departure. The amount is usually 10 per cent of theaccommodation charge, but as kokoro-zuke is at the discretionof each guest, there are no set rules. Some ryokans firmly
decline gifts of kokoro-zuke.

Kaiseki ry‐ori (tea-ceremony dishes)
Also called cha-kaiseki, this essentially refers to a meal in theworld of cha-no-yu (art of tea ceremony), served before the tea
itself to enable the guests to savor the tea all the better. As tea
is the main feature of a tea ceremony, the food is simple inu-sansai (literally, 'one
principle, and basically consists of ichij‐u refers to soup
soup plus three side dishes', besides rice). Ichij‐ozuke
served in a bowl whereas san-sai signifies the muk‐(appetizer), nimono-wan (dish of boiled food) and yakimono(grilled dish). The term kaiseki originates in the practice of Zenmonks carrying heated stones against their chests to withstand

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the cold and hunger during ascetic training. Today, you will findmany dishes arranged freely and called kaiseki style, but strictly
ori refers to the food served at tea
speaking, kaiseki ry‐
ceremonies.

ori (party dishes)
Kaiseki ry‐
As the name of this cuisine is homonymous with the teaori (or cha-kaiseki) in the Japanese language,
ceremony kaiseki ry‐
even Japanese people get confused over the two kinds ofkaiseki ry‐
ori. The kaiseki ry‐
ori here generally refers to full-course
meals served at restaurants and ryokans. As this cuisine isserved on occasions of drinking sake , it mostly consists ofrelishes which go nicely with sake, and the meal normally endsoriwith shokuji (rice). The key difference between the kaiseki ry‐
at tea ceremonies and this kaiseki ry‐
ori is that the former is aformal set of dishes prepared for specific guests whereas thisori refers to freely arranged sets of dishes served
party kaiseki ry‐ori
to large numbers of guests. The latter type of kaiseki ry‐
commonly starts with appetizers called sakizuke (also calledot‐oshi, or tsuki-dashi) and zensai, followed by wanmono (soup),
otsukuri (or osashimi - slices of raw fish), yakimono (grilled dish),nimono (boiled dish), sunomono (vinegared dish), and ends withshokuji (set of rice, pickles and soup). Depending on the menu,ot‐oshi (appetizer), nabemono or romono (kinds of casserole
dishes), mushimono (steamed dish), agemono (fried food),aemono (vegetables flavored with dressings), k‐
onomono (pickled
vegetables), and mizugashi (fruits or sweets) may be added. For
menus of more than five dishes, soup is served two or threetimes, and the dishes are increased by two, to seven dishes ornine dishes, so that the total number of dishes served is always
an odd number. The meals served at ryokans often tend todiverge from conventional rules and come in great variety.
Menus rarely seen in classical Japanese cuisine, original dishes
created by the chef, or Western dishes of meat arranged inJapanese style are also becoming more common.

Ita-ba (kitchen)otei and kapp‐oJust as chefs of Japanese cuisine at ryokans, ry‐
restaurants are called 'Ita-mae', 'Ita-ba' is a rather old term for theori-ba) used for cooking Japanesekitchen (also known as ch‐
food. Formerly, the ita-ba for Japanese cuisine was a hierarchical society in which a particularly rigid and absolute hierarchicalsequence was respected. Although this custom has become
more relaxed over the years, the conventional hierarchy still
exists in the role and assignment of each member. The chiefo' and 'Ita-mae', at the top are followed bychefs called 'Ita-ch‐
Nikata, Yakikata, Tachimawari, and Araikata in this order in the
Kant‐
o District. Depending on the size of the kitchen, the Ita-mae
might have Wakiita and Wakinabe and Morikata assisting him.
o' and 'Ita-mae' are qualified to stand before the
Only the 'Ita-ch‐mana-ita (chopping board) and slice raw fish into otsukuri orosashimi, and decide on the flavoring of the entire menu, for it
takes many years of training to be able to perform these tasks.
The Nikata prepares boiled dishes (nimono), and is assisted by
the Wakinabe . The Yakikata prepares the grilled dishes(yakimono), and the Morikata is in charge of arranging the grilled
food on the plates. The Tachimawari assists everyone else whilelearning his job. The Araikata rinses vegetables and fish withwater, performs initial preparations of the ingredients, and is incharge of miscellaneous chores in general. These job titles andthe authority involved differ slightly from one region to another.

Wagashi (Japanese sweets)
Western-style cakes and sweets were introduced into Japan in
the Meiji Period, and the conventional Japanese sweets that
had been known merely as kashi until then came to be called
wagashi in order to distinguish the two. Instead of using butter,ogashi), wagashi aremilk and eggs as in Western-style cakes (y‐made with cereal grains such as rice, oats, and buckwheat,starchy flours such as warabi (bracken root starch) and kudzu(arrowroot starch), beans such as adzuki beans and soybeans,and brown sugar and wasanbon (pale ivory in color), which aresugars produced in Japan. But there are also various sweetsthat reflect the influences of Holland and Portugal, and the bestu (beanknown and commonly popular wagashi, such as manj‐o kan (sweet bean-paste jelly), and senbei (ricejam bun), y‐
crackers) all originate from Chinese sweets. The skills forcreating wagashi developed together with the art of tea
ceremony (cha-no-yu), and the sweets became progressively
more refined and new varieties were devised. At the ryokan,wagashi are served to guests while they are relaxing after
arrival.

Mizugashi (fruits and sweets)
Mizugashi is not a type of wagashi sweet. In fact, the word kashi
originally meant fruit, but once the sweets now known as kashi
began to be made, fruit came to be called mizugashi, in order todifferentiate between the two. At the ryokan, mizugashi areserved at the end of the meal, and consist of fruit cut into bitesized pieces, as well as fruit made into fruit jellies or bavarois
mousse.

Onsen (hot spring)
Onsen , which is subterranean water heated geothermally,
comes in two types: a volcanic hot spring caused by volcanoes,
and a non-volcanic hot spring which is very hot water comingfrom deep underground. Volcanic hot springs are found almost
nationwide, whereas non-volcanic hot springs can be
categorized into two types, 'deep groundwater' and 'fossil

seawater' types. In Japan there is a law governing onsens called
the Hot Spring Law, and all hot springs must meet theprescribed definition in order to be officially recognized as an
onsen. Imperial visits to hot springs in the distant past arerecorded in the The Chronicles of Japan ( Nihon Shoki ),which means that the Japanese onsen dates back more than
1,000 years. Many of the old hot spring resorts located inremote mountainous and seaside regions still retain vestiges ofancient times when they were first founded, and there are also
many inns where you will find old ways still practiced, such as
guests cooking their own meals and kon-yoku (mixed bathing)with men and women sharing the same bath.

Sakura (cherry blossom)
Sakura has a very special meaning for the people of Japan. Thisis perhaps because the cherry blossom season in April
coincides with enrollment ceremonies marking the newacademic year and the start of the new fiscal year for public
institutions and companies. This is also the season for bidding
farewell to friends of old. From the time the cherry blossoms
first come out until the petals start to fall, huge numbers ofJapanese go to view cherry blossom all over the country (suchoutings are known as 'hanami'). Some ryokans have carefully
preserved cherry trees which had been planted at the time of
their foundation, and many ryokans are found close to famous
hanami spots. Although there are many species of cherry trees,
the most common Sakura in Japan is the Somei Yoshino species.
Dancing pale pink petals caught by the wind are likened to asnow blizzard and are called sakura-fubuki (cherry blossom
blizzard), and their fleeting nature makes the Japanese ponder
over the ephemerality of life.

Japan Ryokan Association
The Japan Ryokan Association (Kokkanren) was inaugurated in
1948, and was officially approved as an incorporated
association in 1953. In the post-war years, an increasingly large
number of foreign tourists started to visit Japan, and so the
Association was established with the objective of providing
safe and reliable accommodation facilities to overseas guests,
whereupon some 1,500 major, well-reputed ryokans and hotels
in agreement with our objective joined the Association. Theseryokans and hotels, with facilities, environment and services of
the highest quality, have since strived to ensure that guests
enjoy a pleasant stay. One of the leading nationwide associations among the numerous ryokan-related associations, weundertake a wide range of activities as an institution, including
providing instructions, conducting surveys, and acting as aliaison between our member ryokans and hotels.

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