We practice an Ichiju Issai way of life in the satoyama of Ayabe, Kyoto.
Ichiju Issai no Yado Chabu Dining is a private, one-group-per-day farm stay accommodation where travelers can take part in everyday life in rural Japan.
Here, we share the story behind the name “Chabu Dining” and the kind of stay we hope to create for our guests.
A journey can be about more than visiting famous places.
We believe that travel can also be enriched by experiencing everyday life in a place, meeting local people, and sharing meals around the table.
We both worked as company employees in Tokyo. As we began to feel that something was missing from the way we lived and worked in the city, we developed a deeper interest in small-scale farming and food, and eventually moved to Ayabe, Kyoto.
Opened in 2021, Chabu Dining grew out of our everyday life in this satoyama.
The name “Chabu Dining” reflects the kind of place we hope to create.
A round “chabudai”, a traditional Japanese low dining table, has no seat of honor or inferior seat. Everyone sits around the same table as equals.
A dining space is also a place where family and friends gather around a table to talk about everyday life, share what is on their minds, and dream about the future.
“Chabu Dining” is a coined word that combines “chabudai” and dining.
We hope “Chabu Dining” can be a place where travelers, local people, and we, the hosts, can sit around the same table and share our different ways of life and perspectives.
That is the wish behind the name “Chabu Dining.”
What we want to share with our guests is the life we live here in the satoyama.
For us, Ichiju Issai is a phrase that symbolizes this way of life.
We grow our own rice and vegetables, enjoy the seasonal harvest, and share meals around the table. It represents our everyday life as a whole-a life connected by farming, food, and relationships with others.
That is also why we have chosen to welcome just one group per day.
By spending time with each group of guests and welcoming them into our life while continuing to live much as we normally do, opportunities arise for natural encounters with local people and for unexpected moments unique to each day.
We hope that by taking part in small parts of daily life here, you will experience how people live in this area and perhaps find an opportunity to reflect on what makes life rich and meaningful.
From staying overnight to living the rural life.
That is the kind of stay we value at Ichiju Issai no Yado Chabu Dining.
We met in Tokyo and both spent more than ten years working as company employees. As we began to feel that something was missing from the convenient and stimulating life of the city, we moved to Ayabe, Kyoto, seeking a way of life that places greater value on farming, food, and connections with people.
Today, we run Chabu Dining together as a couple while cultivating our fields, connecting with people in the local community, and sharing our everyday life with travelers.
Because we have welcomed many French-speaking guests, we are also learning French using the Duolingo app.
Before moving to Ayabe, we had the opportunity to take cooking classes taught by Tomoko Wakasugi. What we learned there became the foundation of the Ichiju Issai meals we practice today.
Originally from Miyoshi, Aichi prefecture. After working in sales and marketing for a food import company in Tokyo, he moved to Ayabe in 2019.
Today, while running the farm stay accommodation, he also cultivates rice fields and vegetable gardens, practicing a way of life rooted in the local land through farming and food.
He enjoys meeting local people and discovering how people live in the places he visits. He looks forward to sharing meals with guests and talking about each other’s lives and cultures.
Registered inbound local guide with Woodland Kyoto DMO
Originally from Mito, Ibaraki prefecture. After graduating from International Christian University (ICU), she worked in administrative, sales, and executive assistant roles at medical device company and other organizations before moving to Ayabe in 2021.
She spent one year abroad in Bolivia as an exchange student during high school and speaks Spanish. Through conversations with guests, she enjoys rediscovering Japanese culture and the appeal of everyday life in Japan from a new perspective.
Registered inbound local guide with Kyoto by the Sea DMO
Chabu Dining is for travelers who want more than sightseeing-those who want to experience everyday life in rural Japan.
Would you like to join us and experience life in the satoyama?
一汁一菜の宿 ちゃぶダイニング
〒623-0364
京都府綾部市西坂町浄土寺40
TEL：090-4186-6264（山根）
Ichiju Issai no Yado Chabu Dining
40 Jodoji, Nishisaka-cho, Ayabe,
Kyoto 623-0364, Japan
TEL: +81-90-4186-6264
(Akira Yamane)
*I am using WhatsApp
一汁一菜の宿 ちゃぶダイニング
〒623-0364
京都府綾部市西坂町浄土寺40
TEL：090-4186-6264（山根）
Ichiju Issai no Yado Chabu Dining
40 Jodoji, Nishisaka-cho, Ayabe,
Kyoto 623-0364, Japan
TEL: +81-90-4186-6264
(Akira Yamane)
*I am using WhatsApp
©chabudining
