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For full details and booking, please visit www.hana-mura.com/english/local-experience/yamanaka-onsen-retreat

This four-day immersion (April 26–29) in the culinary and craft culture of Yamanaka Onsen is hosted by Hannah Kirshner—a writer on Japanese food, craft and ecology—and Kohei Yamada, the 6th-generation owner of Hanamurasak ryokan, a hot spring hotel showcasing the height of Japanese hospitality. Guests stay in luxury at Hanamurasaki, while experiencing rustic activities in the open-air kitchen at Mokkei, and around Yamanaka. As the days pass, experiences layer to tell a story of Yamanaka, a mountain village with a long history of cultural exchange and sophisticated craft and culinary traditions.

Hosted by Hannah Kirshner and Clarissa Wei, with guest lecturer Bryan Washington | September 15–19 2025

Join us for a five-night, four-day food writing retreat in Yamanaka Onsen—a mountain hot spring town with centuries of history as a destination for rest and restoration as well as cultural exchange. Soak up the natural environment and delve into local foodways while honing your craft with an intimate group of writers. Each day, lectures and hands-on workshops in the open-air garden kitchen at Mokkei, a 100-year-old farmhouse, will explore the function, ethics and art of recipe writing, and how the same concerns apply to good writing in general.