IKONA was selected as The World's Finest Spas with Rolex by the Leading Spas of the World 2005.
To discover the relaxing world of a Japanese onsen, travel back in time to the elegant Ikona resort hotel, a traditional spa about three hours and several centuries away from Tokyo. The rhythms of life around here have changed little since the Meiji era.
The sleepy spa town of Shimogamo in Shizuoka Prefecture, where foreign tourist faces are a rarity, is an easy trip by bus or train from Tokyo and Narita. It is as close as you can come to finding the old Japan, Where you will enjoy a warm welcome and gracious hospitality.
With over 140,000 square feet, Ikona is a place of leisurely relaxation, preserving the tradition of the Japanese Inn, or ryokan, and transmitting its essence to the present. There are three types of lodgings, Cameria Palace, Main Inn and Miyakedo.
The site of Ikona, originally known as Miyakedo, is interesting for its historical connections, as it was here that the Yamato royal family once lived in ancient times. The 6th century, a rich and plentiful period, saw the building here of Miyake castle. Also of interest nearby, a pleasing short excursion from Ikona on the Izu peninsula, is Shimoda, a small port that played a pivotal role in Japan's opening to the West 150 years ago.
Ikona's clientele includes some well know authors and scholars who come here for peace and quiet , such as Yasunari Kwabata. Here they are able to immerse themselves with ease in little cottaes set in a gorgeous garden to labour over their manuscripts. A few days at this elegant inn, with its tatami and sliding screens, its kimonoed attendants and its splendid hot spring pool overhung by cherry trees, is probably as close as the foreign tourist can hope of discovering the "real Japan", untouched by the bulldozers and concrete mixers that have devastatetd vast tracts of the Japanese archipelago.
Meals are an important part of the Ikona experience, The speciality is seafood, such as abalone, lobster, crab and sashimi, traditionally prepared and artistically presented.
Spend a little while at this old-style hot-spring inn where the waters, superb traditional messages and the all-prevasive peace and calm work wonders in restoring body and spirit. An interlude here will richly reward you.
