This is a great location and home base for exploring downtown Kyoto. Just around the corner from the Fish market. And from there the covered street continues to lead to the shopping district, night life and an easy walk across the river to the Gion district. The hotel itself is clean and has the simple Japanese style. The desk staff speaks enough English to be helpful. They had us leave our room key at the front desk which was handy as our group of 4 split up. And They were friendly even when we came stumbling in late at night. They don't have parking, but do offer a discount $18/night parking at a lot 5 blocks away.
Most rooms don't have their own bathroom but instead share a hallway bathroom and of course the onsen in the basement. We spent a little more to include the private bath in our room, which was a deep short tub. The tatami mat room was simple and clean. Beds are the futon mattresses which they roll out in the floor for you. Comfy enough for a couple of tired tourists. Smelled strongly of green tea (scented burner in the corner). There were cookies, tea leaves and a hot water pitcher waiting for us, which was very nice. I do wish they had the tea already made though, simply because I didn't know how much to use in the pot or what to do with our used tea leaves when we were done brewing so I made ours too bitter. We spent $230 for 1 night /5 people on a Saturday night. Though 1 member if our party got sick and couldn't come. Our room would have been the same room but $30 less expensive if booked for 4 people. The Japanese typically charge hotel rooms per person and because they roll out only the specific amount of mats, cookies, chairs, teacups that you need, it's good to be truthful about your number of guests.
