Monzen Okagero dates back to 1916 when it functioned as a restaurant and inn; however, it had to close down and was reintegrated as a local event venue. Renovated in 2014, the property hosted the Nara Prefecture Art Festival before it re-opened in 2015 as a ryokan accommodation.

Design and Architecture

The property has the hallmarks of Taisho-era construction and embraces traditional Japanese aesthetics with its rooms fitted with tatami mats, shoji doors, chabudai, and tatami chairs. The large rental room used for events also follows the same aesthetics with tatami mats and shoji doors and windows. The overall design of the rest of the ryokan's public spaces follow the same aesthetic dedication to traditional Japanese architecture, and the structure is still composed of wood.

The on-site restaurant, Rokkon-tei, is inspired by the ideals of "rokkon seiho-shoku": that the six roots (root vegetables such as daikon radish, burdock, carrot, lotus root, mountain yam, and water chestnut) are pivotal in purifying the body, so you'll find these vegetables aplenty in the dishes here. The eatery is small with a long Western-style dining table where the guests can have communal lunches and dinners and other standalone tables.

The restaurant uses fresh buckwheat (sourced from all over Japan) to make their noodles. The buckwheat is ground into flour in-house and the soba is made without binders, so you can savor the freshest Juwari soba here! Their stock is made from dried bonito flakes, dried mackerel, and dried urume (sardines), and chemical seasonings are not added.

Note: Reservations are required for dinner and you need to make them at least by noon the day before. For parties of two or more people, reservations must be made the morning of the day before. Rokkon-tei will be closed on Mondays.

Lunch

You can either have a la carte meal options or set menus. Dishes served here include tempura soba, duck steamed soba noodles, herring soba, and chicken namba soba, to name a few. Set menus are added on to your soba, and you have the option of getting a seasonal dish with buckwheat rice balls and pickles or a dessert option with buckwheat cake, cookies, and ice cream. A la carte options include shrimp tempura, chicken tempura, sweet simmered herring, deep-fried porridge, and grilled Yamato chicken.
Serving hours: 11 am - 3 pm

Dinner

Meal options include vegetable dishes, otsukuri (a type of sashimi that's hinged on aesthetic presentation), nabeyori (a hotpot dish), and mizumono (a dessert dish composed of fresh fruit, confectionaries, or cake!). The menu can change according to the season and what's in stock. Sake will be provided.
Serving hours: 6 pm - 7 pm

Okage-ro has an art gallery where exhibitions are organized every now and then by local artists. You can find some of these paintings all over the property. Coupled with their event rental space, the property allows guests to immerse themselves in the contemporary art scene of Ikoma. Some of the exhibitions and events held here in the recent past include a retro photo contest, exhibits of Sumi ink painting, and an exhibition by Masaya Kato with his photographs of Ikoma.