Hotel of Lion, but Named Kame-ya (= Turtle Inn)

We stayed at a hotel named Kame-ya in Yunohama Onsen. The direct translation of the name is Turtle Inn.  Why turetle? Ok, legend has it that Yunohama Onsen was discovered by a turtle.

The story briefly goes like this;

A long long time ago, a fisherman found a injured turtle on the Yunohama beach and saw the turtle staying on the the same spot for the next couple of days.  He wondered what the turtle was doing without any move on the beach and curiously put his hand into the sand.  He then found out there was a hot spring underneath it and realized the turtle was healing him(her)self with it.  It's said that is the beginning of the Yunohama Onsen history.

Kame-ya is one of the top-class hotels at the Yunohama district, but the fees are still reasonable considering their total services.

But the most interesting feature of the hotel was neither meals nor bathing facility. We found a quite big statue of lion in front of the hotel.  A staff member of the hotel told us the founder of the hotel put a lion statue on the rooftop and it came down to the ground when they renovated the building before.

"Why did he put a lion on the rooftop?" , we asked.
"He got that idea from the lion statue of Mitsukoshi Department Store they use it as a corporate symbol. He thought putting a lion on the rooftop would help our business prosper like Mitsukoshi", the employee explained.
"But their lion welcomes customers in front of the main entrance, not on the rooftop. Why on the rooftop?", we replied.
"No idea about it", she said.

That's the story of the lion statue.


FYI:

• About Yunohama Onsen: http://yamagatakanko.com.e.db.hp.transer.com/onsendetail/?data_id=2781
• About Kameya Hotel: http://japanican.com/en/hotel/detail/3105001/
• Kameya Hotel Website (Japanese) : http://www.kameya-net.com/index.html
• About Mitsukoshi Department Store: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsukoshi
• History of Mitusukoshi Lion Statue (Japanese): http://www.mitsukoshi.co.jp/store/1010/history/list02.html

Exterior of Kame-ya Hotel
The lion statue used to be
on the rooftop. 

Courtyard of Kame-ya Hotel

  

Kame (=turtle) & Daikoku-ten (FYI:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daikoku-ten)

Main Entrance

  

Is this shrine? No clue what this is
exactly. A guy behind the lion is the
founder of the hotel.
Definitely not a god. 

Funny cute face

My wife really loved this lion.  

A turtle was at the shrine-look place.
This guy should be at the center stage. 

Founder, lion, and turtle.
All-in-one tourist attraction. 

  

In front of the hotel.