100-Year Machiya House in Nara, 50 min to Koyasan | 2BR, 6 Beds

Two bedrooms: one with two queen beds in the same room, one with two single beds. Six real beds, two futon sets, one bathroom. The house is a machiya — a wooden merchant townhouse — 100 years old, single-storey, 124 m² (1,335 sq ft). Most guests drive: Asuka, Yoshino, the Kumano Kodo and Koyasan are all within an hour of the front door. You can also reach us by train.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Most guests use yoinn as a base — a place to come back to between Koyasan, the Kumano Kodo and Yoshino. Some end up going out less than they planned and don't mind at all. Both work here. Any group size is welcome, as long as you're not looking for an activity lineup.

The house sleeps up to eight, but the sleeping is arranged as two rooms, not six. Groups of two to four have the easiest time with that.

GETTING HERE

By car, about an hour from Kansai International Airport by expressway, then five minutes from the Gojo interchange. Two cars fit in front of the gate, so nothing has to go on the street. We meet you out front between 4:00 and 7:00 PM and hand you the key in person. If your flight puts you in later than that, up to 10:00 PM, you let yourself in with a code we send beforehand.

By train from the airport it is one change and about two hours and twenty minutes: the Kansai Airport Rapid to Tennoji, then a direct train to Gojo. Leave the airport by 9:45 PM and you will still arrive the same day. From Gojo Station it is a 15-minute walk, or a few minutes by taxi.

By car from the door: Asuka 25 minutes. Yoshino 30 minutes. The Kumano Kodo, 45 minutes. Koyasan, 50 minutes. Nara Park and Todai-ji, about an hour.

Gojo sits on the JR Wakayama Line, which runs to Hashimoto for Koyasan and to Yoshinoguchi for Yoshino and Asuka. By rail that is Asuka in 25 minutes, Yoshino in about 50, Koyasan in about an hour and a quarter. Trains run twice an hour in the daytime and the last one back leaves before 10:00 PM, so it is one place a day rather than three. The Kumano Kodo is the one that really needs a car.

Koyasan, the Kumano Kodo and Yoshino are not three separate World Heritage sites but three parts of one, the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. Asuka, 25 minutes north, was added to the list in July 2026.

Licensed accommodation. Registration No. 62403002.

WHAT'S IN THE HOUSE

A living room with a low sofa and a single-plank table, polished concrete floor, heavy beams overhead. Two queen beds in the main bedroom, two singles in the second. Real beds, not futons on the floor. No TV in the house, and the street is quiet after dark. There is a record player.

A full kitchen: induction and a portable gas burner, a microwave, a rice cooker, cookware, tableware and cutlery for eight, and oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Coffee we roast ourselves, tea and water, at no charge.

One bathroom — a standard Japanese unit bath — and a washlet toilet. Air conditioning. Wi-Fi. A hair dryer. Towels, toothbrushes and toiletries. No sleepwear, so bring your own. From October through March a wood stove heats the main room, and we supply the wood for it.

There is no washing machine in the house; a coin laundry is five minutes away on foot. Kongo-no-yu, a hot spring with an open-air bath, is a five to ten minute walk. It's open until 11:00 PM and costs about 800-900 yen for an adult, closed the first Tuesday of the month. With one bathroom in the house, most guests end up walking over.

THE COURTYARD

A gravel courtyard behind the house, walled on all sides, open to the sky. One corner is roofed, so the fire and the grill work in the rain. The fire pit, the grill, a low table and chairs are here. Bring your own charcoal, firewood and food. No fireworks.

THE STREET

Shimmachi-dori was laid out in 1608 as a merchants' quarter. By 1623 it had about 95 houses; today it has about 110, and people still live in them. The whole street is designated a Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

A short walk along it: the Kuriyama house, built in 1607 and the oldest private house in Japan with a confirmed build date — a family still lives in it, so it is seen from the outside only. Yamanao, a udon and soba diner open since 1882. GOJO GIROCCO, a bar inside a converted sake brewery. The Yoshino River is within walking distance too.

ARRIVING AND LEAVING

Check-in 4:00-7:00 PM, in person at the door. Arriving later, up to 10:00 PM, you let yourself in with a code we send beforehand; the registration form and a photo of your passport come back to us afterwards. Check-out by 10:00 AM. While you are here, no one else is in the house.