View from Tayuta's back lawn

For our Southern Kyushu tour, we always intended to save the best for last. Originally, though, that “best” was not supposed to be Tayuta. We were excited to have booked the top accommodation at Amanojyaku, an 11-room luxury ryokan opened in 2023 by the same owners as nearby Amakusa Tenku no Fune. We stayed two nights at Tenku no Fune back in 2021 and found the overall experience outstanding: the cuisine was incredible and the service first-rate. The property was let down only by a dated hard product and the lack of onsen. Amanojyaku promised everything we wanted: even better cuisine (if that was possible), a fresher and more luxurious build, onsen straight from the source, and those same mesmerizing views of island-dotted sea. It was roughly double the price of its older sister, but we were more than willing to pay for the upgrade.


View from lounge area

Earlier this year, we learned about Tayuta, an even newer property (opened in 2024) that, at least on paper, promised an even more compelling experience. Tayuta’s top room was twice the price of Amanojyaku’s. We agonized over whether to give up Amanojyaku, especially knowing that guest feedback was stellar and the food there was practically guaranteed to be fantastic, even if it would not be Italian like at Tenku no Fune. In the end, we literally flipped a coin, and it landed on Tayuta.


Lounge area

Tayuta is unusual in that the owner has no prior ryokan operation experience, and many of the staff come from outside the traditional hospitality world. The parent company, Marrygold, based in Kumamoto City, runs a thriving wedding business with venues in several locations across Japan, including Kitakyushu and Niigata. They handle everything from ceremonies and receptions to photography and banquets, and they operate multiple high-end bridal boutiques as well as a division specializing in custom dress design and production. According to GM Koichiro Tsubahara, the owner saw that Japan’s declining population and changing attitudes toward marriage would eventually erode the core wedding business and felt a strong need to diversify. He could have hired seasoned hotel professionals, but instead he chose to redeploy motivated existing staff into this new venture, believing their skill set would translate well to a luxury ryokan. If our stay is any indication, he made a very smart move.


Amakusa Suite, 110mē


Amakusa Suite, 110mē

In some ways, Tayuta’s hardware evokes the gorgeous Amanemu in Shima, Mie Prefecture. While it is smaller in both scale and ambition than Kerry Hill’s creation, there are clear similarities: the building and roof lines, the landscaped grounds, the way the villas are arranged in duplex-style pairs (except for the highest-tier accommodations), and the sweeping ocean views. That is where the overlap ends, though. Tayuta feels more intimate, with fewer rooms, each featuring free-flowing, source-fed onsen; the views are arguably better; the service far more personal; and the cuisine so refined that Amanemu’s offerings feel almost casual by comparison. Amanemu still has the edge in certain interior aspects: vaulted ceilings that make the spaces feel expansive, somewhat more upscale furnishings, and lighter color tones that create a warmer, airier atmosphere than the darker palette at Tayuta. Tayuta sits closer to the ocean than Amanemu, though not quite as close as Amanojyaku, which all but hovers over the water, yet the seascape at Tayuta still feels wonderfully immediate. On chillier days, guests can linger in the outdoor lounge around the bonfire pit.


Amakusa Suite, 110mē


Amakusa Suite, 110mē - Onsen with a view


Amakusa Suite, 110mē - View from terrace

We stayed in the Amakusa Suite, the top category at 110mē, with heated floors, a lovely open-air onsen, and a private pool and sauna on the terrace. Only the Sunset Suite and Amakusa Suite feature both a pool and sauna, but even the entry-level Harbor Suite is a generous 86mē and offers the same superb onsen. The spring is sourced on-site: the reddish-brown Kinsen hot spring gushes from 820 meters underground and is initially colorless and transparent. Once exposed to air, the iron ions oxidize and the water turns golden. Reviews frequently praise how gentle the water feels on the skin, and after soaking in it, I count myself among the believers. One odd design choice in an otherwise indulgent top suite: there is only a single sink, which feels like a small miss for a newly built luxury property.


Amakusa Suite, 110mē


Amakusa Suite, 110mē - sauna

Meals are served in the main restaurant, but we managed to reserve Amata, the only private dining room on the property. The main dining room tables are spaced out enough to allow for a relaxed meal, but Amata was a real treat. It is large, in a separate structure, with counter-style seating and great views. It is ideal for a romantic occasion or for lingering conversations with the server, which is exactly the kind of dining experience we enjoy.


Freshly picked seaweed salad with wild-caught Japanese flounder, Atsuba seaweed, Lightly-fried Aso Apple wrapped in parsley, organic herbs, seaweed jelly


Sushi - Wild-caught Thread-sail Filefish with fresh Filefish liver paste; Amakusa gizzard shad; Amakusa wild-caught Japanese Amberjack; Japanese Tiger Prawn from Amakusa


Daio chicken consomme with simmered Amakusa beef tail, wax gourd, bok choy, winter truffles and yuzu (citrus) chunks

Dinner itself left us stunned. Over the course of 16 dishes, each portion kept deliberately small, we sampled an array of highly creative, immaculately plated courses. It was haute cuisine at its finest and difficult to pin down to a single culinary label. Executive chef Yuuki Nakano continually surprised us with beautiful presentation, unexpected combinations, and a constant play of textures and flavors. The meal began with an amuse-bouche of foie gras formed into a sphere, coated with edible volcanic ash, and topped with persimmon meringue and candied Banpeiyu, a Japanese pomelo cultivar known for its enormous fruit. From there, the highlights kept coming: a just-harvested seaweed salad with wild-caught Japanese flounder; lightly fried Aso apple wrapped in parsley; organic herbs from a local orchard; and seaweed jelly. A four-piece sushi course showcased wild-caught thread-sail filefish topped with its own liver paste, wild Japanese amberjack nigiri with daikon wrapped in nori cultivated in the Ariake Sea (the nori was spectacular), and the plumpest, sweetest, most umami-rich Japanese tiger prawn we have ever tasted.


Tayuta salt ramen with clams, green onions, kankitsu (a citrus fruit) and green onions


Breakfast

One soup course was a consomme made from Daio chicken stock, built around stewed Amakusa kuroishi beef tail, winter melon, bok choy, winter truffles, and chunks of yuzu. The grilled Kagoshima beef, paired with pesticide-free vegetables, red wine sauce, and Amakusa salt, was equally memorable. Then came a surprise: ramen. This was a shio (salt) ramen with Daio chicken broth, clams, and green onions, the noodles made at a nearby factory. Even someone like me who tries to limit carbs would be hard-pressed to leave any of it behind; my bowl was emptied without hesitation. Of the three dessert courses, the most intriguing was a caramel custard pudding made with “Tamango,” eggs laid by chickens fed on mangoes. I was told each egg costs around 70 cents. Could I taste a dramatic difference? Not really - but it certainly makes a good story. Breakfast was nearly as ambitious and just as delicious, with a strong emphasis on seafood - sashimi, grilled, simmered, and boiled - all executed with the same precision. There was also a fried Tamango egg and more of that superb Amakusa nori to pair with the fragrant steamed rice.

Throughout our stay, the staff constantly watched over us in the best possible way - always nearby, never intrusive. They were consistently cheerful, energetic, and genuinely enthusiastic. Their wedding-industry background clearly serves them well; one can only imagine the level of organization, passion, and warmth required to flawlessly orchestrate a couple’s once-in-a-lifetime day. That same attention to detail, instinctive empathy, and desire to make Tayuta “the happiest place on earth” shines through in every interaction.


Sunset view from our Amakusa Suite

Our meal servers exemplified this. Ms. Miki Sato described each course with such joy that she seemed almost as excited as if she were about to eat the dishes herself, all while maintaining a high level of professionalism and command over every component. Likewise, Mr. Koma Toda, a kitchen apprentice who served us breakfast, beamed with pride as he explained the chef’s creations and the story behind each ingredient and seasoning. His enthusiasm made it feel as though he were the head chef. The GM was a regular presence as well, always approachable and happy to engage in small talk or answer questions.

If another personal top 10 ryokan list ever materializes, Tayuta would comfortably be on it. I am not sure which property would have to make way, but space would be found. It is that good. Even so, there is still a strong desire to return to Amakusa to finally experience Amanojyaku.

One last note: it is not widely known, but Amakusa is home to perhaps the world's best uni (sea urchin). It does not enjoy the same fame as Hokkaido uni because the catch volume is much smaller and the season is limited. Murasaki (purple) uni is in season from around March to May, while Aka (red) uni has a short window from mid-July until late August (the Obon period). Aka uni, in particular, has a serious reputation (and price tag) and is considered by many to rival or surpass the best Bafun uni from Hokkaido. Whether that is true or not, a summer visit to Amakusa for Aka uni is now firmly on our wish list.