Next to the second floor restaurant stretches a black hallway. At the end of the hall, you will find this artwork.

It was made by Itoh Hirotoshi, a Matsumoto artist who started out processing rock for construction, and went on to expand the medium of stone. Looking at this piece, one can feel their preconceived notions of stone as an unyielding medium crumble away. Parts of your relaxation experience at Myojinkan may also fly in the face of your own image of a traditional ryokan inn.

Take, for instance, the fact that Myojinkan has no set menu. It changes just about every day, much like a plant’s shoot and bark may be cooked in different ways at different stages of its life. Not picking from a menu full of photos, but instead anticipating and savoring the flavor of the day may be part of Myojinkan’s brand of therapy.

While we’re here, look at this tone and imagine for a moment the underside of this ryokan. Myojinkan is built atop a large portion of stratified bedrock. It keeps the building steady even during local earthquakes in Matsumoto City. Landslides are also rare in this region thanks to the bedrock. Despite that, Matsumoto City is located on the Itoigawa-Shizuoka tectonic line, at the border between two tectonic plates. Here the land collides, crumbling easily and allowing microbes to proliferate, which in turn enriches the soil for plants. On top of that, temperatures here dramatically change between hot and cold, and UV radiation is more intense because this basin is so far above sea level. This supposedly makes the plants store nutrients to protect themselves, which results in even more nutritious vegetables. Now, what’s cooking today?

In ancient times, Nagano was once located deep within the Fossa Magna under the sea. Volcanic activity from 3 million years ago is said to have created the land all at once, explaining the size and hardness of the bedrock and the granular earth above it. However, water frequently drains into this huge bedrock just below the ground. Grapevines dislike water, so why are they cultivated in this region? The reason is the frequency of that drainage. The seepage under the bedrock then also gushes plentifully inside Matsumoto City. Now we know that the spring water here is rich in minerals due to this land’s undersea history.