Near Temple No. 31, Chikurinji Tosa Gyoen STAY UWU

The Story Held In the Guesthouse

The spirit of hospitality preserved by women, and a new challenge that extends into the town

Founded in 1964, the year of the Tokyo Olympics, Tosa Gyoen is an inn located in the center of Kochi City that has welcomed many visitors from across Japan. For generations, women have taken the lead in its management, and today it is run by siblings who carry on the founding family’s legacy. Since its founding, it has consistently upheld “comfort and Tosa-style hospitality.” Expanded over time, it now boasts one of the largest numbers of guest rooms in Kochi City and is cherished by many group travelers as something like “Kochi’s guesthouse of honor.”

However, times have changed, and so have travel styles. The era of group travel has shifted to one in which individuals travel freely with their own themes and purposes. In particular, more and more pilgrims crossing the sea to Shikoku are seeking experiences that allow them to engage deeply with the local way of life and culture.

“One effective way for international visitors to experience Japanese culture is to enjoy the town as a whole,” says Mr. Nagamori, the Managing Director and General Manager who has supported this inn alongside the founding family for many years. While preserving the traditions of a long-established ryokan, Tosa Gyoen made the bold decision to step beyond the usual boundaries of a ryokan. That decision gave rise to STAY UWU, a decentralized hotel made by revitalizing traditional houses and vacant houses scattered across Kochi City.

STAY UWU is not simply a place to stay. A gallery where you can encounter the art of Kochi-based creators, a retro house tucked away in a back alley, or an open penthouse—each has its own concept and serves as a showcase reflecting Kochi’s culture and everyday life. Built on the sense of security and culinary expertise cultivated by a long-established ryokan, while offering the freedom to spend time in a private space, it presents a new style of travel. Along the long journey of the pilgrimage, it promises a luxurious stay in Kochi City that feels like living there.

“We can no longer survive if we think it is enough if only our ryokan does well. Kochi, and Shikoku as a whole, must present their appeal as a unified area and welcome travelers that way. For that reason, we as a long-established inn must take the lead in presenting a new model.”

The Manager’s Thoughts and Philosophy

A expert with 40 years in the tourism industry looks to hospitality not as “points,” but as a “whole surface”

I was born and raised in Kochi, and I have spent about 40 years in the tourism industry. My career began during the hotel boom around the time the Seto Ohashi Bridge opened. Guests poured in, and it was so busy we could have used all the help we could get. That was how my life in hospitality began, working at the front desk. Later, I moved once to a souvenir shop at a tourist facility, where most work was during the daytime, but I think the atmosphere of this industry—with its deeper relationships with guests, including evening interactions—suited me better. Through a fortunate connection, I was invited to join Tosa Gyoen, and for the past 25 years, I have supported this inn through both sales and management.

I am not a member of the founding family. Tosa Gyoen is a historic ryokan that has been passed down from the female founder to her daughter, and then to her granddaughter. I have supported it from the side, so to speak, in a role like a head clerk, and now I have come to share responsibility for management. Perhaps because I am not the owner, I have been able to look objectively at the ryokan’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the challenges facing the local community.

We are very good at welcoming group guests, but for independent international travelers seeking a journey that feels personal, it may at times feel a little overwhelming. Yet Kochi has wonderful ingredients, fine local sake, and a warm-hearted banquet culture known as “okyaku.” It would be such a pity for people to pass through without experiencing these things. In this day and age, I want to design various kinds of “the experience of staying itself” to suit each guest.

That is why we came up with the idea of extending the functions of the ryokan into the town. In central Kochi, there are many appealing traditional houses and vacant properties that are no longer being used. By renovating them and bringing them back to life as private rental accommodations, we created the STAY UWU project. The moment guests step inside one of these buildings, it becomes their own private castle. They can walk through Kochi freely, drink side by side with locals at neighborhood izakaya, and enjoy the everyday life of Kochi itself. This is the new form of hospitality that we want to offer.

Passing the Baton of Osettai to the Next Generation

The food and baths of a long-established ryokan, enjoyed in a private space

STAY UWU is an unmanned accommodation, but that does not mean we have abandoned service. What it offers is the assurance and quality that only Tosa Gyoen, with its 60-year history, can provide.

One part of that is food. Exploring local restaurants while staying is one of the pleasures, of course, but for breakfast, we truly hope you will try the breakfast bento we prepare. Kochi is a treasure trove of mountain and sea delicacies. Our head chef, from a long-established ryokan, prepares a heartfelt bento using abundant local seasonal ingredients, and it is delivered to your room in the morning. Enjoying Kochi’s flavors slowly, without interruption, will surely make for an exceptional morning that soothes the fatigue of pilgrimage.

In addition, guests staying at STAY UWU may use the large public bath at the main Tosa Gyoen building (please confirm conditions and details). Stretching out in a spacious bath and washing away the sweat of the journey, while also enjoying the charm of an old townhouse and the comfort unique to a ryokan—this combination is exactly the style we aimed for.

The center of Kochi City is full of markets and alleyways, lively both day and night. Through these accommodations, we want to present Kochi’s culture, art, and the atmosphere of the city itself as a kind of showcase. Along the spiritual journey of the pilgrimage, if the city of Kochi, encountered along the way, can come to feel like a “second hometown” to our guests, nothing would make us happier.