小舞庵 Komaian

Our host Masai was especially accommodating during our stay. She offered to drive us to the property on the day of our check-in and drive us back to the station on checking out. She welcomed us with Tokushima barley tea, and later cooked us a wonderful breakfast with ingredients from locals she knows from around these parts. Her English is great too and we had some wonderful chats as she prepared breakfast. The property was built just four years ago (with a lot of love), and it's got a Muji-like decor. There's a separate space for a Japanese-style room and a western-style room.

My wife and I stayed with our 12- and 16-year old boys at Masae’s place for three nights and loved every minute of it. Masae is the most wonderful host who looked after our every need, speaking great English. She and her friend prepared three outstanding breakfasts for us which left nothing to be desired. While we are familiar with Japanese food, Masae introduced us to new and local flavours and textures which we enjoyed very much. She’s also an expert local guide being able to answer any question and offer options for excursions. Like I said, we were well cared for. Masae’s house is amazing. It’s purpose build with two beautiful and sizeable bedrooms (one Western style with beds and one Japanese style with futons). There is a large kitchen / living room area too which allowed our family to spend the evenings together. While new, the house has a traditional feeling about it and we appreciated how much thinking and effort Masae and her husband put into building this place. It’s even featured in a Japanese magazine about houses! The location worked very well for us too. It’s in a rural area which is quiet and allows easy access to the temples, our reason for visiting Shikoku (we had a rental car). Masae’s kindness combined with top notch accommodation was the winning formular for us and we were sad to leave. We had a unique experience and really hope that we can stay at Masae’s place again. Arigato gozaimasu! _/\_

Everything was wonderful!

The highlight of staying at this house is meeting the host Masae and chatting with her about all types of things. The house is beautifully set up and has a lovely garden to admire from the table. It is in a good location for taking a quiet walk as well as to quickly access restaurants and supermarkets and local attractions. Masae visited every morning to cook us a delicious breakfast which was a great way to start the day.

There was nothing to dislike

Second stay at Komaian and this time we stayed five days. If we only spent one night the first time, it's simply because we didn't know yet what was waiting for us. The place first. Komaian is a traditional Japanese house restored with rare taste — exposed wooden beams, paper lanterns, a wood stove, a garden with stepping stones, a stone lantern and sculpted trees. Everything is beautiful, everything is carefully thought out, yet nothing feels staged. You feel at home from the very first moment. And then there's Masae. She is what makes Komaian so much more than just a place to stay. She speaks English, she is genuinely kind, thoughtful, attentive without ever being intrusive. She truly takes an interest in the people who stay with her — their story, where they come from, what they're looking for. She organises activities to experience local culture from the inside, and every morning she prepares a traditional Japanese breakfast made with a care that says everything about who she is. Masae is generous in the truest sense — not in material ways, but in sharing, emotion, and the attention she gives to others. You can feel that her guests' well-being isn't a job for her, it's a way of being. She is open to people and to the world, and you feel it every moment spent in her home. At Masae's you don't visit Japan, you live it. Tokushima is far from the usual tourist routes and that is precisely what makes the experience so precious. We will be back. That's not a polite phrase, it's a promise.