STORY BY MAHMOOD FAZAL, PHOTOS BY CHRIS TURNER

I

n the shade of lush bushland, Shizuka Ryokan offers a zen Japanese experience in the heart of Hepburn Springs. 

“We have a number of cherry blossoms on site,” says owner Catherine Defina. “But my vision is to have a cherry blossom avenue up the driveway.”

Cherry blossoms are a central motif in the Japanese worship of nature, and they have also signified the short but colourful life of the samurai. Inside the wellness retreat, the delicate bloom offers guests a moment to consider the nature of themselves.

“It was actually built 24 years ago now by a Japanese guy,” adds Catherine. “I grew up in country Victoria. But through a series of synchronistic life events, and a bit of a romantic notion that I, at some point, would run a wellness retreat.”

In 2016, Catherine was at a crossroads in her corporate career. “I was in Sweden, my contract was coming to an end, I'd been before the three years in Sweden, living four years in Japan, and I had fallen in love with the country and the culture.” Catherine says, “I just fell in love with the whole way of being in Japan. There's something really unique about the culture that has been protected for hundreds of years.” 

Catherine says, “Mindfulness is really just woven into the fabric of their daily life. They notice, in a very natural way, much more about their surroundings, they're more connected with the seasons. It's woven through everything their architecture, their garden design, their way of being the hospitality, and that amazing care that they have for people and it's truly from the heart.”

After a trip to Chiva Som health spa in Thailand, the idea of owning a wellness retreat fascinated her. Catherine eventually stumbled across the sale of Shizuka Ryokan, “totally serendipitous it dropped into my junk email, which I never look at. And I happen to notice it…here I am six years later.”

Inside Shizuka Ryokan, guest rooms feature futon bedding, tatami straw matting, shoji rice paper sliding screens, tokonoma alcoves, zaisu chairs, zabuton cushions and kotatsu low tables.

The authenticity of the Japanese experience shines through the architecture, the gardens and the Japanese chefs who cook in the way that their grandmother taught them.  

“It's not only the nourishment of the nutrients in the food that's important that nourishment of the time that we pay for eating, and taking notice of the texture, flavours and the environment that you're sitting; perhaps in a beautiful garden or in a room with a beautiful flower arrangement or the way that light might be falling through the window and leaving shadows in the room.”

Omotenashi is word that we translate to hospitality, but in Shizuka Ryokan guests are gifted with a rich understanding of what hospitality means in Japan. “What it means is taking care of someone from the heart.”

Shizuka Ryokan      

info@shizuka.com.au           

shizuka.com.au                    

7 Lakeside Drive, Hepburn Springs