"I Never Even Knew It Had a Name": What the Chairs by the Window in Your Ryokan Room Are Actually For

What Japanese visitors said — picked from the top 200 of 366 comments

• Basically it's a space for drying the towels and things you used in the bath.

  大体風呂で使ったタオルなどを干すスペース

  — @SuzuDXMost liked470 likes

• There's a towel rail out there for hanging up towels, right. By morning they're dry, which is a help.

  タオル干すタオル掛けがありますよね、朝には乾いてて助かるね

  — @まほ-a824 likes

• It's where you get out of the way while the nakai lays out your futon.

  仲居さんが布団を敷いてくれる時に待避する場所。

  — @tyama1224240 likes

• If you're staying with family or friends, it's good to have even after the futon are down, because the ones still awake can sit there and talk or play without bothering the ones already asleep.

  家族や友人と泊まるなら 布団を敷いてくれた後も、ここがあると起きている人同士で布団で寝ている人の邪魔をせずにお話ししたり遊んだり出来ていいですよね。

  — @慎吾高杉26 likes

• I love relaxing in the hiroen so much.

  広縁で寛ぐのめっちゃ好き

  — @nattosaint391 likes

• Straight after the bath, or late at night, that mystery space is honestly the best part of the whole trip.

  風呂上がりや深夜の、この謎スペースが一番の旅行の醍醐味まである

  — @oktaro2806113 likes

• So it's called a hiroen. I had no idea! That space is great though. It feels like something only a ryokan has.

  広縁って言うのか。知らなかった！ でもあのスペース良いよね。旅館ならではって感じ

  — @Chi-the-Cat90 likes

• So it's called a hiroen. I didn't know. I thought it was just an engawa. I always figured it was a handy spot for drinking a beer, having tea or smoking once the futon had been laid out in the room.

  広縁って言うのか。知らなかった。 ただの縁側だと思ってた。 部屋にお布団敷かれた後に、ビール飲んだり、お茶飲んだり、タバコ吸ったりするのに丁度良いスペースだと思ってました。

  — @あほたん-aho61 likes

• Fresh out of the hot spring in a yukata, legs crossed, sipping a bottled Bireley's like a proper grown-up. That's the bliss zone.

  温泉あがりに浴衣で足をくんで瓶のバヤリースを小粋に飲む大人な男の至福スペース

  — @atsunori1833107 likes

• The hiroen is great. When I wake up in the middle of the night I make tea and take my time out there looking at the scenery. When I was younger I preferred western-style rooms in business hotels, but lately I like tatami rooms in ryokan. They cost more than a business hotel, though.

  広縁、いいよね…夜中に目が覚めたとき、お茶入れて、外の景色を眺めながらゆっくりするのが好き。 もっと若かった頃はビジホとかの洋室が好きだったけど、最近は畳の和室の宿が好きだわ〜。 ビジホより高めだけど…。

  — @花宮_p2p58 likes

• You wouldn't miss it if it weren't there, but having one makes you feel like you got a little extra. Get to your room, look at the view from the hiroen, put on some chill afternoon music and drink your tea. It's the best.

  無くても別に困らないけど、あるとちょっと得した気分になるスペースだよね。 部屋に着いたら広縁で景色を見ながら、午後の旅立ちとかのチルい曲を聴きながらお茶を飲むのが最高なんすよ。

  — @山本秀一-t1z62 likes

• Apparently the sweet that comes with the room isn't only to take the edge off the journey or to get some sugar in you before the hot spring. It's also a sample of a local specialty. Old ryokan have a shop counter, so if you like it, that's a chance for them to sell you a box.

  お付き菓子は、旅の疲れを癒したり、温泉（に限らず大浴場）に入る前の準備だったりするだけでなく、名物の試食の意味合いもあるとか 昔ながらの旅館では、売店コーナーがあるから、気に入ってもらえたら、そこで買い求めてもらえるチャンスが生まれるらしい

  — @user-さわ336 likes

• I think the washbasin at one end of the hiroen and the fridge at the other are what make it feel like a mystery space.

  広縁の突き当りに洗面台と、反対側に冷蔵庫あるのが謎スペースぽくなる原因と思う

  — @だんごさん-m6z37 likes

• When I hear hiroen I picture a novelist writing out there.

  広縁といえば文豪が執筆してるイメージ

  — @UDON2364185 likes

• In the old days writers would get shut away in a place like this to finish a manuscript.

  昔は、作家がこういうところで缶詰状態で執筆したりとか、ありましたね。

  — @刑部獅子丸-i5w72 likes

• I don't want to work where I've gone on holiday. Don't let them fool you by dressing it up in a foreign word like workation. A day off is a day off, a trip is a trip, work is work.

  旅行先で働きたくない… ワーケーションなんて横文字で誤魔化されてはいけない 休みは休み、旅行は旅行、仕事は仕事だ

  — @娘ちゃんねる抹茶味z149 likes

• The hiroen really is handy. Hang your towels, look at the view, sit in the chair with a drink, get changed in a bit of privacy.

  広縁便利なのよね。 タオル干したり、風景みたり、ゆったり椅子に座って飲み物飲んだり個室着替えしたり。 マイホームでも、乾燥部屋、ベランダ、縁側を広縁にすれば以外に使える

  — @山田洋-z6q13 likes

• It's the place to quietly drink a beer early in the morning while everyone else is still asleep.

  朝早くまだみんなが寝てる時にこっそりビール飲む場所

  — @秋葉のきつね124 likes

• On an autumn or winter night, getting warm in the hot spring and then opening the window a little in the hiroen, with the good view, to drink or read. That's the good stuff.

  秋とか冬の夜に温泉入って温まって、眺めのいい広縁で少し窓開けて酒飲んだり読書したりするのが良い

  — @m640koko12 likes

What is the space by the window in a ryokan room called?

It is called a hiroen (広縁), literally a wide engawa, the veranda-like strip that runs between a tatami room and the outside. The usual dividing line is depth: about 3 shaku (roughly 91 centimetres) is an engawa, while anything from 4 shaku (about 120 centimetres) counts as a hiroen. Don't feel bad for not knowing it, plenty of Japanese guests say the same in the thread (249 and 90 likes).

Sources: weblio.jp · sotetsu-hotels.com — checked 2026-08-18

What is the hiroen for?

Four jobs, in the order Japanese guests rank them. Drying the towel and yukata you used in the bath, on the rack that is usually at one end (470 and 24 likes). Sitting somewhere while staff lay out your futon on the tatami (240 likes). Giving the room chairs, so you are not stuck kneeling on tatami with a view. And, historically, it was the corridor: these strips began as passageways and entrances before they turned into a place to sit.

Sources: sotetsu-hotels.com — checked 2026-08-18

Why are there sweets and tea waiting on the table in a ryokan room?

They have a job, not just a welcome. One much-liked explanation (336 likes) is that the sweet is sugar before you go and sit in a hot bath, a taste of the local specialty, and a quiet advertisement: old ryokan keep a shop counter downstairs, so a guest who likes the sweet may buy a box on the way out. Eating it before the bath rather than after is the intended order.

Can you smoke in the hiroen?

Assume no unless the room says otherwise. The hiroen used to be exactly that, the spot with the heavy glass ashtray where you shut the paper screen, opened the window and smoked (249, 17 and 8 likes), but guests in this thread note that ryokan rooms have gone almost entirely non-smoking, with smokers sent to a designated room or an outdoor area (23 likes). Check the room description when you book, not the ashtray-shaped hole in the layout.