Very nice personell

Very nice and extraordinary

Stayed in July 2025

I enjoyed my stay the breakfast was great and really nice quiet village . Lika who works there was great with helping me organise my activities

Stayed in June 2025

Even if I think very hard, I could not point out a single negative thing about this property.

The whole experience from the beginning until the end was amazing. We had a great introduction about the facilities and the room and food were excellent. I could not point out a single negative thing about this property.

Stayed in June 2025

The restrooms are shared but that didn't really bother us.

Location is of course quite remote, but this ensures a peaceful environment. Close to the temple, you can really wind down and relax. The hotel is very authentic and traditional in an old (but renovated) house. Personnel takes their time to explain and are very friendly. Super clean. Get up early and experience the monks chanting in the temple!

Stayed in May 2025

It wasn't an issue for me really, but as it's more in the countryside, there are stores/restaurants which really only speak Japanese. However, the hotel staff were able to reserve spots for you over the phone anyways, so it works out fine.

The staff are phenomenally kind and helpful with anything you might need. They helped me reserve restaurants, gave me recommendations for places to go and see in the area, and were flexible on breakfast times. There are staff who speak Japanese, English, and French at least, and perhaps more. They were very nice about helping me practice my Japanese as well. I would get back to the hotel at 8 pm and they would happily chat with me about my day :) The building was incredible as well. It's a converted training hall, I believe, and is directly adjacent to a historic Buddhist temple, at which you can attend morning services. The rooms felt super clean and nice, and the windows were super cool, with paper screens which slid over frosted glass, which could also slide to open the window. Overall probably the best hotel I've stayed at. The location is great as well. It's a bit of a rural town, with rice fields, mountains, rivers, and waterfalls all around. I ended up exploring the town, visiting the historic Ainokura village, biking/climbing up to Nawagaike pond and the peak of the mountain past it, and exploring the neighboring towns. They were all super fun experiences.

Stayed in June 2025

The shower room was small, and there was no private or public bath available, which I was hoping for in a traditional setting. The dining room was extremely cold in the morning, and the food was rather simple.

It was at a historic Buddhist temple, which was a unique and memorable experience. The room was clean and tidy, and the hostesses were very welcoming and spoke fluent English, which made communication easy and comfortable.

Stayed in April 2025

Nothing

The rooms are comfortable and light and the breakfast is good quality and filling. It is also well located and has decent bus and train connects ions if you don’t have a car. It is very easy to visit nearby towns and also to visit the traditional villages nearby. However, the things that really sets the property part is the team that run it. Each day the lady who manages it would check with guests if they needed any advice and personally gave us a lot of amazing recommendations including some traditional festivals that were happening nearby, not trying to sell anything, genuinely just helping us to make the most of our stay. If you have any questions she will have the answer for it!

Stayed in May 2025

No curtains in the room so I woke up very early. No bath tub just a small shower.

Great place, secluded and very calm with a very strong spirit. Nice shojin Ryori breakfast. Amazing staff. Great beds

Stayed in May 2025

The room did not have it’s own toilet, you needed to go in the corridor to find a toilet and the shower space is probably too narrow

Located next to the main temple the hotel has been renovated in 2024 & the room looked very crisp & clean, nice comfortable bed, and brand new shojis (paper screens)

Stayed in April 2025

Rooms have individual showers/bathing room but toilet facilities are shared. This is not really clear in the descriptions. We think of bathrooms having separate toilets but that is not the case here. The shared toilets are clean and well maintained. The rooms are traditional style and lovely but light comes in as the sun rises, screens are opaque but do not block light. We suggested they may think of adding traditional tatami roller blinds so guests are not woken too early, particularly in the summer.

The Hotel is part of an old temple that is almost 500 years old. It is very new hotel about 1 year old. The staff are very nice and helpful. The little town of Johana is lovely and there is the constant sound of mountain streams in the town drainage system. It is a very Japanese town, very few people spoke a foreign language and signs were almost all in Japanese, Morito-Sha was a bit of an exception in welcoming visitors. The rooms are clean and spacious. Tea and coffee are provided downstairs to the side of beautiful old rooms that were part of the temple school. The building is very atmospheric. Food is good, mostly Japanese though a western option is available with eggs, bread, jam etc if requested.

Stayed in April 2025

No downsides to this place. Our only regret is that we mussed the float festival scheduled for May.

We had a traditional Japanese breakfast. Coffee was available before breakfast. The location was excellent, in the town and attached to the shrine complex. We were able to observe the morning prayers at 6:30 AM at the shrine, next door to the ryokan. In the evening we drove to the Sakurgaike public onsen on the edge of Johana for a good soak. Our hostess Mariko was awesome. She oriented us to Johana and told us about how the rykoan came into being from its former role as the dormitory for the monks. (Worth mentioning that there is a also decent tourist office at the train station in Johana). Markiko also made restaurant reservations for us, which would haven us much longer. Johana is worth touring on foot. We missed out on the float museum here by timing, but it appears to be worth a visit. We used Johana as a our jumping-off point to visit Gokoyama and Ainokura, two gassho villages south of Johana by about 30 minutes. Pro tip: make sure to visit Gokoyama and Ainokura if time permits; Shirakawa-go can be very busy and you'll see everything in these small villages, including interpretive exhibits in English. Shirakawa-go gets may more bus tours that the two towns mentioned here. Gokoyama and Ainokura are also closer to Johana. If you have the transport, you can also stop at the Iwase House, just south of Gokoyama, where the husband and wife are incredibly welcoming, speak excellent English and can give you a tour of one of the great homes in the area, once visited by the Emperor and more recently also by the Crown Prince.

Stayed in April 2025

Nothing. It was perfect.

This hotel is a perfect hidden gem in a discreet village that gave us a real flavor of Japan, far from the crowds. The building is beautiful, a restauration of the original monks dormitory, and every detail is perfectly simple and charming. Makiko is the greatest host, she was helping us in everything, from dinner reservations to forgotten items. The gentleman who greeted us in the evening was also most kind and helpful. It was such a moving stay and we are deeply thankful.

Stayed in April 2025

The toilet was not in the room, but it was very close so it was still good.

The staff was very kind. The bathtub was great. The traditional Japanese breakfast was delicious and something to look forward to.

Stayed in March 2025

A very old and authentic Japanese house nicely decorated and simply beautiful. Special mention to the staff, very nice people who help me to film the bell's ringing of the temple. Thank you to Reika and Osasha.

Stayed in March 2025

Ichi-go ichi-e. This is a concept we later learned at a tea ceremony in Kyoto, but the experience at Morito-Sha felt as the embodiment of this concept! From the moment we arrived and even after we departed, our hosts at Morito-Sha made sure we felt at home. We got treated as equals and were accepted with welcoming arms to the embrace of this amazing institute. The rooms were just as depicted in the images if not prettier, the beds felt welcoming in our long journey throughout Japan, the breakfast was absolutely amazing, we loved every bite! The area of the shrine is truly beautiful, and the shrine itself is amazing to behold inside and out! Thank you very much to all who are involved in the being of this special hotel. P.S. Oh and I almost forgot, make sure you arrive on time to see the craft display in the hotel. There's plenty of kitchen utensils there, so if you want something unique you could find it here! We bought a hashi-oki, and a bunch of bottles of scented sprays made from local trees that have very unique purposes and utilisations

Stayed in March 2025

No toilet in the room, but the shared toilet is near and very clean

The staff were super helpful and friendly, they took time to explain things to me, helped and checked up on me. The room was nice, clean and spacious.

Stayed in February 2025

Nothing!

It was an extraordinary experience to stay in the training hall of the temple that the renovated in a hotel. The design was stunning and it was a great mix of modern and traditional japanese design. The breakfast was delicious. The host the most hospitable. And they even had a cute shop.

Stayed in February 2025

Absolutely nothing.

First of all this is not one hotel or an accommodation: is much much more. It’s a wonderful experience. The pictures are extremely accurate so you get exactly what you see. As a family we chose the 3 bed room which included a private bath and basin (toilet are shared). As we arrived we have been welcomed by Makiko with a tea and cookie. She was really super caring and attentive to all our needs, giving all the information you may need for nearby interesting activities as the Temple morning chant, restaurants, local shops and how to visit the UNESCO landscape in Shirakawa-go. We have been stayed couple of days during a very big snow storm which transformed the place so that we found ourself in a magical fairytale. All the staff are so gentle and kind that it will make you feel at home and unwilling to leave. We will surely come back!

Stayed in February 2025

Nothing.

Authenticity, Location, confort, kindness of the staff.

Stayed in February 2025

Moritosha is an extraordinary place! I can highly recommend this place. Hotel is clean, breakfast was yummy, and the hotel caretaker - Maki? She is absolutely professional and so kind. Also - Johana town has so many to offer! That was one of my two best hotel in Japan on this trip :)

Stayed in November 2024

Everything was perfect

Beautiful rooms and common spaces Comfortable beds Thoughtful and friendly staff Attention to detail Tasty breakfast

Stayed in January 2025

Authentic Japanese breakfast, delicious teas in the lobby, room was impeccably clean and comfy. Johana is a nice and quiet little town for a day visit to Shirakawa. Thank you Maki for making the experience so memorable.

Stayed in December 2024

The rooms are very nice and clean, excellent staff and great traditional breakfast. Highly recommended!

Stayed in October 2024

Absolutely beautiful. Every room was exquisite. Our hosts went out of their way to help us with ideas of where to visit and what to do. We had wonderful experiences: sounding the gong for morning temple; touring the temple buildings; making prayer bead bracelets; tasting food made with incredible care and expertise both in Morito-Sha and in the tiny local sushi restaurant. Everything was just lovely. Can’t recommend more.

Stayed in July 2024