Concept
Concept
Philosophy
Where Senses Intertwine with the Land's Memories.
Wakatsuki's brand concept is to savour the time of a place with all five senses.
The particular time held by a place — its nature, culture and townscape — gently dissolves the boundary between visitor and surroundings, weaving the two together through the senses. We have shaped our concept around the wish that every guest carry away this feeling.
Wakatsuki aspires to be an installation that lets you feel the time of a place. The hospitality business followed this thought, not the other way around. Rather than aiming for a fixed answer or goal, we invite you to enjoy the process itself — a principle that lives at the very heart of the brand.
Our Story
A Story of Inheritance
Tsuwano, a small town nestled in the mountains of Shimane Prefecture, still bears the traces of an Edo-period castle town and is known as the “Little Kyoto of San'in”. At its centre stood Hashimoto Honten, a sake brewery that had been crafting sake for three hundred years before a lack of successors left time itself standing still.
Yoshida, in the mountainous interior of Shimane, was once home to fourteen centuries of tatara iron-making and has since been designated a Japan Heritage site. Here, the locally-formed Iron History Village Inc. operated “Tourism Inn Wakatsuki-ya”.
Wakatsuki began by inheriting the buildings and the names of both regions from the people who had cared for them — to give visible form to the memories that once lived in these places, and to layer new ones upon them.
Wakatsuki is a stage that connects past, present and future. We engage deeply with the centuries of context resting in each piece of land, weaving present thought toward a future a hundred years ahead, anchored in the past.
Values
What We Hold Dear
Heritage
Inheriting Memory
From Hashimoto Honten in Tsuwano, where sake had been brewed for over three hundred years, to Wakatsuki-ya in Yoshida, long run by the local community — we have taken on these historic buildings to pass the memories layered into each region on to our own time.
Land
Resonance with the Land
We engage deeply with the centuries of context resting in each place. Ingredients come from local producers, and the care of our spaces is shared with local artisans. Wakatsuki's way is to add ourselves quietly to layers of memory already in place.
Future
Weaving Toward the Future
Beginning in the past and weaving thought a hundred years ahead. What Wakatsuki offers is a stay experienced as a timeless installation — a moment in which every visitor adds a new memory to this land.