IchiEnSou Reviews

An absolutely charming little guesthouse right in the middle of the Gion district. The owner and family (including the cutest baby ever!) are very friendly and invited the guests out for a picnic on the river bank one night, which was a great way to soak up the atmosphere of this city. Very funky lounge area with cool antiques and jazz playing, a nice place to hangout after sightseeing. Dorm room was spacious and stylish. Very close to trains, convenience store, cafes/bars. Recommended.

great location in traditional Gion, and along convenient bus routes - you need to take the buses to get arounf Kyoto. the house is small and traditional but rooms are spacious. English speaking host Yachi is really helpful and knowledgable, and took us for a night on the town one eve which was great. jazz playing in the cozy common room, which is also the family's living room :) don't get put off by complicated sounding directions, it's easy to find. highly recommended!!

My favorite little guest house in Japan! This place is amazing!

The staff were friendly and the place was clean we had some other guests always making a mess but the staff did there best to take care of it :D nice place to be stationed can get to many great places from here.

this is a very nice place to stay in. small but cosy, rooms are spacious (for japan standards) and clean, meeting people is very easy. hope i'll be back some day

I really liked the laidback nature and my comfortable futon in the traditional Japanese room (women's dorm). I thought that everything was completely lovely. I got a great recommendation about bike hire from the proprietor.

Stayed here four nights and loved it, Yashi was so accommodating and made the place feel like home. Very clean and a great location. Highly recommended.

I've spent a significant amount of time staying in hostels over the past 3 year (5 months total travel time) and IchiEnSou is the best of any place I've stayed. A clean, quiet, comfortable room is a given (and the small number of beds is a bonus) -- but IchiEnSou far exceeds that. Yashi, the owner, went out of his way to introduce his entire group of guests to the city, taking us out to hidden bars, walking us through an evening street festival, and sharing a glass of shōchū after a long day.

Thank you for everything Yashi-san! Enjoyed my stay! Did send you an email earlier at welcome@ichiensou.com requesting a copy of my receipt for my stay...seemed to have misplaced it. Would really appreciate it if you get a chance!

Such a great hostel in a really nice location in Gion. I stayed in the mixed dorm and felt completely at home. The room was clean, comfortable and spacious! The common room always had great music playing and the place had a very cozy and homey vibe. I will definitely stay here again when I travel back to Kyoto!

What a lovely place! Perfect location - Gion is right in the middle of everything. Cute guesthouse. We stayed in the 7 bed dorm. Everyone was really lovely and respectful. Would absolutely stay here again!

This is the golden hen of hostels. A beautiful little guesthouse run by a gorgeous young Japanese family. Yashi-san will look after you really well and offer you some great advice about what to see in Kyoto. The house is incredible too - everything you imagine when you think of Japan!

Clean, spacious, and great location. And the owners are so nice!

Great guest house in Gion, friendly and helpful staff with lots of advice to give on what to do in Kyoto. Great location, comfortable and spacious rooms. I was really happy with my stay.

IchiEn Sou is the loveliest guest house. It´s a cute place with good location. It feels quite homely since it´s small and the owners and their baby are also living at the property. The owner even took as out to experience the Japanese New Year in a temple. I had a great time and I would recommend anyone staying here.

Great hostel in a great location. This is already the second time I've stayed there and it's an awesome place.

More like a home away from home. Gives you a very homely vibe, and the hostel owners were very friendly. Some nights Yoshi (hostel owner) would take everyone out for dinner at places you might never know off. And his baby girl, cutest baby i have ever seen, period.

Fantastic! Wish I had stayed longer!

Really really beautiful guest house in an old-fashioned building in one of the busiest areas in Kyoto but still away from the people and noise. Yashithe boss was really helpful and his daughter is the cutest baby around! I am gonna stay there again when I go back to Kyoto if they are not booked out.

This was one of the nicest guesthouse we have stayed in so far, the owner was such a great guy and had the sweetest little Japanese baby! They had this dinner the day we arrived and it was easy to meet other travelers, the common area played lovely music and it was nice to hang out in. The guest house was also in the heart of Gion, Kyoto without being were all the people walks! we just loved it!