The nostalgic wooden school building, built in 1958, has withstood heavy snowfalls for more than 60 years and is still carefully protected by the people. Eighty clean beds (5 classrooms, 16 beds each) are provided in the space that used to be a classroom. In the dining hall, the partitions between the classrooms have been removed, allowing all guests to gather together. In addition, there is a gymnasium for seminars, lectures, and sports events, a library, and a schoolyard that is covered with snow in winter. For bathing, please use the one-day bathing facilities of Matsunoyama Onsen, one of the three major medicinal hot springs in Japan (10 minutes by car).

About the area

Echigo Matsunoyama, where Sansho House is located, is known as one of the snowiest areas in Japan, with an average snowfall of over 3 meters in winter. The lifestyle of the people who live on this mountainous land has created a landscape of terraced rice paddies that is said to be the original landscape of Japan, and has been selected as one of the “100 best terraced rice paddies in Japan” and the “100 best villages in Japan. The beech forests, represented by the beautiful forests, are home to rare plants and animals such as the akashobin and bubkoso. Matsunoyama Onsen is one of the three best medicinal hot springs in Japan for its high salt content, hot water temperature, and moisturizing effect.

Meals

Please enjoy delicious rice cooked with rice grown in the terraced rice paddies of Matsunoyama, based on local home cooking.