The futon, and why some would rather not
In a traditional room you sleep on a futon: a mattress laid on the tatami in the evening, while you are at dinner, with a quilt over it, and folded away into a cupboard in the morning. Many guests sleep better on it than they expect. It is firmer and lower than a bed, though, and getting down to it and up again is hard on knees, hips and backs, for older travellers or anyone recovering from an injury.
Not every inn offers an alternative. Ryokan Yoyokaku in Karatsu says all its rooms are Japanese-style, with no Western rooms; at Nishimuraya Honkan your attendant lays the futons each night. If a bed matters, check before you book.
Beds on tatami, and Japanese-Western rooms
A washitsu is a Japanese room, floored with tatami. Many inns now put beds in it instead of a futon, usually low ones so the proportions of the room survive: Araya Totoan uses low beds on tatami throughout, and Sumiya has six twin rooms with low tatami beds, to be requested in advance.
A Japanese-Western room, wayoshitsu, goes further, pairing a tatami sitting room with a low table and a bedroom with beds. Araya Totoan has Japanese-Western rooms with a semi-open-air bath, Moku no Sho in Niseko Japanese-Western rooms, and Yufuin Tamanoyu turned Yamabuki into one in 2023. At Ryotei Hanzuiryo in Unzen, twin semi-double beds went into the bedrooms of four buildings in 2021 and a fifth in 2023; at Suimeiso a twin bedroom was added to Senshin in 2023.
Where the beds are
A few inns have no futons at all. At Yamagata The Takinami every room is a twin of two 120 cm semi-double beds, and at Araya Totoan every room has low beds. Beniya Mukayu comes close: only its four Japanese Premier rooms sleep on futons, and the rest have two 120 cm beds that can be pushed together. Ryokan Kurashiki has Western beds in every room but Yu-no-ma.
The French auberges on our list are built more like small hotels: The Hiramatsu Atami and The Hiramatsu Kashikojima, for instance, offer an extra single bed. Below are the inns whose records say where the beds are.
On our list
Beds in every room2
Beds in some rooms16
Ask for the room by name; the others sleep on futons.
The other 11
Myoken IshiharasoMyoken Onsen, Kirishimatwin double beds in Chigusa, Hanezu, Ouni and Suou, rebuilt in 2023
Niseko Konbu Onsen Tsuruga Besso Moku no ShoKonbu Onsen, NisekoJapanese-Western rooms and Deluxe Twins
Wasure no Sato GajoenMyoken Onsen, Kirishimaa bed beside the hot-spring tub in the 'ofuro living' rooms Keyaki, Sakura, Momiji, Beni and Tsubaki
What a room with beds may change
The room with beds is not always the same as the rest. At Kamenoi Bessou dinner is served in the room for cottage guests, but the six Western rooms are in the main building, whose guests eat in Keikaen. Beniya Mukayu's two Western rooms are up 18 steps; Bettei Senjuan's Western twin has a semi-open-air bath where the other rooms have open-air ones; Myojinkan's Otaka rooms take no children. Read the room's description, not only the inn's.
Chairs as well as beds
If knees are the reason for a bed, the two hours of dinner on the floor may matter as much. Kofuyuden Beniya serves kaiseki at table and chairs in every room; Kanamean Nishitomiya in a private dining room at table and chairs; Sekitei will change the low table for a table and chairs on request, and Hiiragiya can serve meals at a table with chairs. Many inns now serve dinner in dining rooms with chairs, as our guide to kaiseki explains.