I still remember my high school Japanese sensei edifying us in the unspoken rituals of Japanese culture—be it the honorifics used to address someone with respect, a silent head nod to indicate appreciation, or even the simple salaryman lunches (as a counterweight to the humble California roll, sushi isn’t even something you eat on the regular for a Japanese local).

But perhaps one of the most powerful rituals associated with Japan is the weekly visit to the onsen 温泉, both to cleanse oneself and in some ways also as a social gathering spot. The quiet you feel is the same whether you’re at your local community onsen or staying at a historic onsen ryokan. The ritual of moving between hot baths and cold plunges does more than cleanse your skin. It can feel, in some small but unmistakable way, like it purifies your soul as well.

In our last essay, we introduced Sansou Murata in Yufuin, an exemplary onsen stay tucked in a corner of Kyushu island where you easily form a ritual of inhabiting time: rinse, soak, eat, sleep, wake, repeat. And in the historic villas representative of different eras of Japanese architecture, you get to literally breathe and live with the past, not just look at it.

Here are a few other places where old Japan still soaks in onsen, sleeps sometimes on a tatami floor, and dines on incredible kaiseki cuisine:

Asaba, Shuzenji Onsen
Established in 1484, this 12-room family-run (still!) ryokan features an iconic waterfront Noh drama stage. Read more on Architectural Digest.

Sekizenkan, Shima Onsen
The oldest surviving wooden onsen ryokan in Japan, with the main building dating back more than 300 years. Less a preserved monument than a working bathhouse with centuries still in its walls.

Nishimuraya Honkan, Kinosaki Onsen
Located in one of Japan’s great onsen towns, enjoy beautiful private gardens and a hot bath in a 165 year old ryokan. Don a yukata to visit any of the town’s public onsen as well.

Gora Kadan, Hakone
A former imperial-family villa turned ryokan, set in one of Japan’s most storied hot spring regions. It brings a more aristocratic version of the same idea: old architecture, ritual, and bathing as atmosphere.

Take your pick between restored farmhouses at Sansou Murata, the oldest surviving onsen ryokan in Japan, or even the preferred summer estate of royalty—but in this collection you’ll find yourself respectfully partaking in the same onsen ritual core to the Japanese experience.

Save Old Ryokan, Living Waters for your future trip through Japan’s history onsen ryokan.

Save Old Ryokan, Living Waters

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In those days, the best hospitality these travelers could find were spartan boarding houses and, if you were well connected, an invitation perhaps to stay at the private mansion of someone local.

The Sarkies Brothers—four enterprising Armenian siblings hailing from Isfahan—sensed this shift towards eastward travel and established the first circuit of grand hotels in key port cities across Southeast Asia to serve travelers of means: largely wealthy Europeans, Americans, as well as colonial officials furthering the business of imperialism.

Penang, The First Door

In 1884, Tigran Sarkies, opened the Eastern Hotel in Penang, Malaysia followed by his brother Martin, who opened the Oriental Hotel next door in 1885. They eventually combined the two properties to form the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, which still stands proudly today along a long stretch of water in George Town, Penang. Advertised as “The Premier Hotel East of the Suez,” the Eastern & Oriental Hotel quickly established itself as a social hub in Penang.

Singapore, The Myth-Maker

Following this, the Sarkies Brothers opened Raffles in Singapore in 1887. As Singapore grew into the most important port in the region, Raffles as the pre-eminent hotel in the city quickly rose in status as well. The hotel was first in the city to have electric lights and fans and soon, Raffles and Singapore were tied so tightly together you couldn’t visit one without the other! If you were passing through Singapore, you stayed at Raffles. Had an important meeting? Probably rendezvous at Raffles.

Rangoon, The River Stage

The Strand opened in 1901 on Strand Road, near the riverfront of Rangoon (Yangon today), then one of the great ports of British Burma. Like the other Sarkies hotels, the hotel offered the same promise: a traveler could step off a long journey and enter a comfortable world already arranged for them, with polished service, familiar rituals, and the reputation of a grand hotel.

Together, the Eastern & Oriental, Raffles, and The Strand are relics of the colonial era, but they are also something more specific: a surviving map of how travel once moved through Southeast Asia by sea.

More than a century later, the Sarkies Circuit still traces a particular idea of arrival: Penang, Singapore, Rangoon. Three port cities, three grand hotels, and one Armenian family’s instinct for turning movement into mythology.

If you want to keep the route, save the Sarkies Circuit in SAO.

Save the Sarkies Circuit