Info/tips on early ryokan reservations

My girlfriend and I are planning to go to Kawaguchiko during next spring (April 8th-10th 2019) to enjoy sakura season. However it seems it is too soon to book our stay at Kozantei Ubuya or Onsen Konanso, which we were told are the best places to be in Kawaguchiko.

It also seems that it is very difficult to find any date whatsoever in those two ryokan to book, even this year. Kozantei Ubuya's website also does not provide an e-mail address for questions. So we are unsure of when we should worry about dates and booking our stay.

We'd like to ask if anyone here knows when is the "sweetspot" moment to make a reservation at a ryokan, because we are aware that during April they are always full of guests.

Thanks in advance.

Hi. Given the practise of a number of people to quadruple book places 6 months out and then cancel three of them immediately before departure (yes, I couldnt believe it myself...) I have used a travel agent this time as they have rooms allocated to them. I've just booked a few nights at Fuji Osenji Yumedono for late October through the agent no problem.

It also seems that it is very difficult to find any date whatsoever in those two ryokan to book, even this year.

You are doing it wrong, then. On Rakuten Travel there were available rooms at Kozantei for every day I tried, even on weekends.

So we are unsure of when we should worry about dates and booking our stay.

Reservations, in general, are accepted up to six months in advance. you are a wee bit too early.
Check this out:
https://www.japanican.com/en/hotel/list/?navcheckin=20181115&navchecko...

If you need to book in advance, Rakuten Japanese sites tend to have hotels available really early, you can check if they have them for your staying hotel, the site is only available in Japanese language, although you can select the site in English, but the availability is very limited.

For the hotels that an average foreign tourist is likely to be willing to consider, the Japanese and English versions of Rakuten Travel are about the same. Where they differ is mainly on budget options (hostels, capsule hotels, low-end business hotels, etc.); they tend to not bother putting them on the English version, probably under the assumption that foreign tourists would not be interested anyway.