I just wanted to give my recent experience at Takefue one night stay about a week ago. My only previous Ryokan experience was at Yama No Chaya.

I got lucky with a one night opening up (booked through booking.com) cost me about $1500 for one night, in the Takekiri room. I believe this is probably the most basic room? but it was still awesome and nice.

The positives:

• Awesome area Kurokawa was amazing in general as I took the bus to get here the ride was smooth and scenic
• Bamboo trees and the environment Takefue was in was super awesome, secluded, right in nature
• The room itself was great, everything seemed up to date / new (yamanochaya seemed more dated).
• Private bath connected to the room was massive, with an awesome view in the trees.
• The complex it self is quite large and I enjoyed walking around it going down to the garden area and what not.
• I really enjoyed the flute show at night which I thought was a super nice touch

The negatives / on the fence about:

• I thought the food was OKAY, nothing blew my mind and if anything I thought some of the sushi was pretty average. It was a lot of food so I didn't go hungry and for the most part I enjoyed it, but I think anyone gassing the food up too much is giving alot to be desired
• I chose the Western breakfast in the morning and I thought it was really good actually. Previously at Yamanochaya I did Japanese both for dinner and breakfast and was kind of overwhelmed in the breakfast portion
• The host or caretaker for our room was good but I didn't think he adequately explained the facility to us, for example where the reservable onsens were and how to get there he gave us a map but didn't show us around on foot which I woudl have preferred. The area is kind of large and not the easiest to navigate.
• Host English wasn't the best which I have nothing against, but I felt like it held him back from explaining some of the facilities better to us. He was super helpful in general though
• I think staff was stretched because there was a Lul in our service during dinner for almost 20 minutes!! We sat (my partner and I) waiting for the next round of food but it came super late. Again I wouldn't have minded if there was a headsup but there wasn't....

Overall I thought it was a great experience, I need to try some more Ryokans for a better comparison for now I think the money was well worth it!