Sekiyo

Nestled on the forested slopes of Wakakusa-yama above Yugawara, Sekiyo has operated quietly since 1964, when proprietress Komatsu Mineko converted three rooms of a private villa into a ryokan. The name, meaning stone and leaf, refers to the mossy garden where stones endure beneath the seasonal canopy, and signals a philosophy the property has sustained across six decades: nothing about the experience announces itself, yet nothing is left unconsidered.

The buildings retain the character of the original sukiya-style villa, designed by an architect from the office of Yoshimura Junzo. Antiques and works by artists with ties to Yugawara are arranged without ceremony along the corridors; fresh ikebana arrives each morning; the rooms carry a low note of sandalwood that registers only in retrospect. Nine distinct rooms face the Hakone mountains or the garden below, the smallest arranged around a moss-covered cherry tree, the detached Kangenan annex positioned at the highest point of the property with a moon-viewing terrace and a bath in Izu stone.

The proposition at Sekiyo rests entirely on the kaiseki of head chef Kase Yasuyuki. Trained in Ginza before returning to Sekiyo as sous-chef, Kase was appointed head chef in autumn 2014 and has since held consecutive Michelin two-star recognition, one of the few ryokan kitchens in the Kanto region to sustain that level. The menu centers on seafood from Sagami Bay, including horse mackerel and abalone from Manazuru, and pesticide-free vegetables from the surrounding hills. One component of Sekiyo's morning meal has been adopted into ANA international first-class service. Courses arrive when the nakai and the kitchen have agreed on the moment, not at a guest's signal.

The baths draw from a kakenagashi sodium-chloride spring that flows without filtration or recirculation. A rotenburo looks out through the seasons: plum blossoms in late winter, wisteria over the stone garden wall in May, persimmon-red foliage in November, white camellia against snowfall in January. The indoor stone baths and reserved private baths serve guests at any hour. With nine rooms and a nakai-to-guest ratio calibrated for precision, a birthday guest receives a cold towel and a welcome drink before a word is spoken; a returning guest in a different season finds the second stay exceeds the first.

Sekiyo does not present itself. What a guest carries home is almost certainly the memory of a single kaiseki course: a pale lacquer bowl, a piece of Sagami fish in clear dashi, arriving at a temperature only the nakai knew to serve it at, the broth cooling slowly as the moment held.