Japan Tattoo Friendly
Onsen Guide
Fukushima · above Aizu-Wakamatsu · Onsen town

Tattoo friendly onsen in Higashiyama

Higashiyama is a gorge of old ryokan fifteen minutes by bus above Aizu-Wakamatsu, the castle town most visitors come for. Nobody here publishes permission. One hotel takes a cover seal, and nine houses answer with a bath you do not share, including a registered cultural property whose three family baths are free and need no booking.

1 property

Cover seal required

Smaller tattoos accepted when fully covered by a waterproof patch. What this means

Illustration of Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Higashiyama Grand Hotel in Higashiyama, Kamiyumoto, at the top of the gorge past the dam turn
Higashiyama, Kamiyumoto, at the top of the gorge past the dam turn Hot spring hotel Confirmed

Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Higashiyama Grand Hotel

大江戸温泉物語 東山グランドホテル

This is the one place in the gorge that sells a way in. The hotel refuses tattooed bathers the large baths, then says that a tattoo completely covered by a cover seal the hotel sells is admitted. The same sentence is printed on the bath page and again on the day-visit page, so it holds for a walk-in as well as a guest. No size limit is published, so a large piece is a gamble worth settling at the desk first.

※入れ墨・タトゥーのある方は大浴場をご利用いただけません。ただし、当館指定のカバーシール（有料）を貼って、入れ墨、タトゥーが完全に覆える場合に限り、大浴場をご利用いただけます

Best for: Buying a cover seal at the desk and getting into a shared bath the same afternoon

Two bath halls, Tenkyo-no-yu and Horisato-no-yu, each with an indoor and an open-air bath, swapped between men and women; the water is diluted and recirculated. Day bathing needs no reservation, 07:00 to 10:00 and 15:00 to 24:00 with last entry at 22:00, 1,000 yen on weekdays, 1,100 at weekends and 1,650 on peak days, towel 330 yen. Dinner is a buffet with free drinks. The hotel has posted a full closure for maintenance from 23 to 29 November 2026.

Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Higashiyama Grand Hotel tattoo policy → Check availability
9 properties

Private baths only

Tattoos are fine in a private or in-room bath. The communal baths are restricted, or the policy is unconfirmed. What this means

Illustration of Mukaitaki in Higashiyama, Kawamukai, on the far bank of the Yugawa a few minutes above the bus stop
Higashiyama, Kawamukai, on the far bank of the Yugawa a few minutes above the bus stop Ryokan Confirmed

Mukaitaki

会津東山温泉 向瀧

Mukaitaki publishes no tattoo rule at all, in Japanese or in English, and the site is large enough that the silence looks deliberate rather than accidental. What it does publish is three reservable family baths that cost nothing, need no reservation and run on no clock, so a tattooed guest can bathe alone as often as they like. Three of the 24 rooms are filed under 温泉付きの客室 and have a spring-fed bath of their own. The two shared baths, Kitsune-yu and Saru-yu, are not addressed, and nothing here should be read as permission to use them.

いつでも、無料でお使いいただけます。面倒な予約や、時間制限などございません。お好きなときにお好きなだけお使い下さい。

Best for: Bathing alone for free, for as long as you want, inside the first ryokan Japan registered as a cultural property

Three family baths, Tsuta-no-yu, Hisago-no-yu and Suzu-no-yu, each with a carving in the ceiling. The inn says every tub in the building runs on its own spring with no added water, no heating and no recirculation, and that all of them are emptied, scrubbed and refilled every morning from 09:30, so the family baths fill again around 12:00, Kitsune-yu around 13:30 and Saru-yu around 14:00. The three rooms with their own bath are Matsu, Take and the Hanare. Dinner is served in the room. Parking at the door holds only seven cars and staff move guests’ cars to a separate lot.

Mukaitaki tattoo policy → Find a hotel nearby →
Illustration of Harataki in Higashiyama, Yumoto, on the Yugawa beside the Harataki falls
Higashiyama, Yumoto, on the Yugawa beside the Harataki falls Ryokan Confirmed

Harataki

自家源泉の宿 原瀧

Harataki is the rare operator that says different things in different languages, and the two cannot both be followed. Its Japanese bath page refuses tattooed bathers the large bath and the open-air bath, then makes an exception in the next breath for foreign visitors whose tattoos are fashion, local custom or religion, and says it allows them into the large bath. Its own English page tells guests with tattoos to stay out of both and points them at the reserved bath instead. Book the reserved view bath, or a room with its own, and the contradiction stops mattering.

当館では刺青を入れたお客様の温泉施設（大浴場および露天風呂）のご利用をお断りいたしております。日本では刺青を入れた方の多くが反社会的勢力（暴力団等）に属する方々と認識されているためですが、一方、外国人観光客のなかにはファッションの一部として、または地域の風習や宗教上の理由によりタトゥを入れている方々もいらっしゃいます。これらの方々はもちろん反社会的な方々ではありません。当館では、外国人の観光客で、上記の理由でタトゥを入れている方については大浴場の利用を認めております。

Best for: A reserved view bath over the falls at 2,200 yen, with the shared-bath question left behind

The English page says: “We ask guests with tattoos to refrain from using our open-air baths and large baths for other guests may not be comfortable with tattoos even if the purpose may be for fashion or religion. We thank you for your understanding and apologize for causing any inconvenience. The private panoramic bath is available for guests with tattoos.” Four reserved view baths, Takimi, Tsukimi, Yukimi and Hoshimi, at 2,200 yen for 50 minutes per room, from 14:00 with the last slot at 23:30 and again 06:00 to 08:00. Rooms with a view bath use the inn’s own source and an Aomori hiba tub. The spring is one of the few private sources in the valley, 56.5°C at 550 liters a minute, and the inn sells day bathing 13:00 to 20:00 at 1,080 yen.

Harataki tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Konjakutei in Higashiyama, Yumoto, three minutes upstream of its sister inn Harataki
Higashiyama, Yumoto, three minutes upstream of its sister inn Harataki Ryokan Confirmed

Konjakutei

会津東山温泉 今昔亭

Konjakutei carries two rules on its own site and they do not agree. The multilingual manners page refuses tattooed bathers outright and says fashion and religion make no difference; the hot spring page carries the sister inn’s wording, which allows foreign visitors with tattoos into the large bath. The way past both is the room: three grades come with a bath of their own, a hiba or stone view bath, an open-air tub in hiba or Shigaraki ware, or a Western tub plumbed with spring water, all free-flowing from the group’s own source.

誠に申し訳ございませんが、当館では入れ墨（刺青）・タトゥーのあるお客様のご入浴はご遠慮頂いております。ファッション目的、宗教的理由による入れ墨であっても、他のお客様に不快な思いを与えてしまう恐れがありますので、何卒、ご理解・ご協力いただきますようよろしくお願いいたします。

Best for: Dinner in a private room and a bath on the balcony, at a 25-room inn that keeps its indoor bath small on purpose

The hot spring page says instead: 当館では、外国人の観光客で、上記の理由でタトゥを入れている方については大浴場の利用を認めております。 The room page counts the bath grades itself: 自家源泉を贅沢に一人占めできる温泉付きの客室タイプはなんと3タイプ。 Konjakutei has no open-air bath of its own, so guests walk three minutes to Harataki, where the shared baths are free to them and the reserved view bath costs 2,200 yen for 50 minutes. Dinner is served in a private dining room or in the guest room, and the indoor bath is kept small so the water stays fresh.

Konjakutei tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Shosuke no Yado Takinoyu in Higashiyama, Takinoyu, beside the Fushimigataki falls
Higashiyama, Takinoyu, beside the Fushimigataki falls Ryokan Confirmed

Shosuke no Yado Takinoyu

庄助の宿 瀧の湯

The shared baths are closed to tattooed guests, and the inn says so in Japanese and in its own English. The seven reserved baths are a separate system with a separate booking page, and the rule as written names only the large baths and the open-air baths. That is where a tattooed guest bathes here: 45 minutes from 3,000 yen before tax, bookable online from 90 days out, and included in the price on plans that come with one.

当館の大浴場・露天風呂をご利用の場合、タトゥー・刺青のある方はご入浴をご遠慮下さい。また、浴場内に携帯電話・カメラ等の持ち込みはご遠慮ください。

Best for: Choosing between seven reserved baths, including two on the roof and one built from a sake brewery’s koji vat

The English FAQ says: “If you have tattoos, please refrain from using the large communal bath or open-air bath at this facility.” Reserved baths run 13:00 to 24:30 and 05:30 to 09:30 and are booked in 45-minute blocks; guests on a plan that includes one pay nothing extra. Several have no washing area, only a rinse shower, and the two rooftop baths are reached by an outside staircase that ices up, so the inn tells guests to wear their own shoes. Day bathing is 1,200 yen, weekends and holidays only, 13:00 to 15:00, by email the day before, and day visitors with tattoos are refused entry outright: タトゥー・刺青のある方はご入場出来ません。 The inn also notes that Aizu-Wakamatsu raised its bathing tax from 150 to 350 yen on 1 October 2025 for ten years.

Shosuke no Yado Takinoyu tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Hanare Matsushimakaku in Higashiyama, Takinoyu, the suite annex next door to Takinoyu
Higashiyama, Takinoyu, the suite annex next door to Takinoyu Ryokan Confirmed

Hanare Matsushimakaku

はなれ 松島閣

Every suite in this annex has its own open-air bath on its own terrace, so the shared-bath question never arises unless you choose to walk into the main building, where tattoos are refused. The rooms are large, 64 to 120 square meters, and the tubs are custom Shigaraki ware or hiba. Staff are told to stay out of the rooms, which suits a guest who would rather not explain anything.

当館浴場ご利用の場合、タトゥー・刺青のある方はご入浴をご遠慮下さい。また、浴場内に携帯電話・カメラ等の持ち込みはご遠慮ください。

Best for: A private open-air tub on your own terrace, with nobody knocking on the door

Ten suites: Hana, Tori, Kaze, Tsuki, Mizu, Ishi, Koushi, Hikari and the paired Sanshi and Suimei. Each lists 客室専用露天風呂 in Shigaraki ware or Aomori hiba, a terrace and, in most, a separate shower booth; Tsuki-no-ma is the top-floor pair room with a city view and its own lounge. The annex is run by Takinoyu and shares its front desk and reserved baths, and its notice tells guests the room is a private room the staff will not enter.

Hanare Matsushimakaku tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Irori no Yado Ashina in Higashiyama, Yumoto Shimohara, at the upstream end of the strip
Higashiyama, Yumoto Shimohara, at the upstream end of the strip Ryokan Confirmed

Irori no Yado Ashina

いろりの宿 芦名

Eight rooms and no large bath to be turned out of. Between 20:30 and 23:10 the men’s and women’s baths stop being men’s and women’s and go to one room at a time for 40 minutes, booked at check-in. A day visitor can buy the same thing: one group a day, 18:30 to 20:00, 2,200 yen a head. Outside those hours the baths revert to separate men’s and women’s bathing, and the inn says nothing about tattoos in either language.

夕食後の20:30～はお部屋ごとの貸切となります。貸切でご利用いただける時間は1部屋40分となります。

Best for: Buying the whole bath for 40 minutes at an eight-room inn that cooks dinner over a hearth

The inn’s English page says: “Although there is no large communal bath, both an indoor and outdoor bath are available. The men’s and women’s baths may be used privately for 40 minutes by each room after dinner from 20:30 to 23:10.” The water is 56.1°C at 21.6 liters a minute, drained and refilled daily, and the inn says it can cool it with added water. Day-use private bathing is weekdays only and needs two people or more. Dinner is grilled at the hearth: Okuaizu beef, Aizu chicken on a crystal plate, wild game in season, and rice grown without agricultural chemicals.

Irori no Yado Ashina tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Kutsurogijuku Shintaki in Higashiyama, Yumoto Kawamukai, four minutes on foot from its sister inn Chiyotaki
Higashiyama, Yumoto Kawamukai, four minutes on foot from its sister inn Chiyotaki Ryokan Confirmed

Kutsurogijuku Shintaki

会津東山温泉 くつろぎ宿 新滝

The house rule bars tattooed guests from the large baths, in those words, and it covers both inns in the group. It does not mention the reserved baths, and after 19:00 the Sennen-no-yu baths are sold by the slot: the rock bath for 50 minutes or the marble-and-open-air pair for 25, at 1,500 yen either way. That is the route in, and the operator has not been asked to say whether it agrees, so ask when you book.

当館の大浴場では全てのお客様の快適と安全・安心を維持するため、「泥酔のお客様」、「刺青（タトゥーを含む）の入ったお客様」はご利用できません。

Best for: A thousand-year-old rock bath booked by the hour once the day trippers have gone

Every bath at Shintaki is free-flowing with no added water, no heating, no recirculation and no filtering. The Sennen-no-yu baths run as men’s and women’s bathing by day and as reserved baths from 19:00 to 23:55; they have no washing area, no shower and no soap, so wash in Watari-yu or Saru-no-yu first. Reserved slots are first come, first served by phone on 09:00 to 20:00 before arrival or at the desk after check-in. Guests may walk four minutes to Chiyotaki and use its baths too.

Kutsurogijuku Shintaki tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Kutsurogijuku Chiyotaki in Higashiyama, Yumoto Terayashiki, on the high ground over the strip
Higashiyama, Yumoto Terayashiki, on the high ground over the strip Ryokan Confirmed

Kutsurogijuku Chiyotaki

会津東山温泉 くつろぎ宿 千代滝

Same owner as Shintaki, same sentence: the large baths are closed to tattooed guests. Chiyotaki’s way around it is Fumoto-yu’s reserved bath, 1,500 yen for 50 minutes, booked ahead by phone or at the desk, with a shower, a tap and shampoo, which the group’s other reserved baths do not have. The tub holds two adults and the inn asks parties of three or more not to book it.

当館の大浴場では全てのお客様の快適と安全・安心を維持するため、「泥酔のお客様」、「刺青（タトゥーを含む）の入ったお客様」のご利用は出来ません。

Best for: A small reserved bath with a real washing area, then the view of the castle town from the top floor

Reserved slots start on the hour from 15:00 to 23:00, and on holidays and long weekends also 06:00 to 10:50. The top-floor Yuzuki-no-yu view bath and its open-air bath, and the half-open-air bath at Fumoto-yu, are shared and closed to tattooed bathers. Dinner is a buffet of Aizu home cooking with more than 30 local sakes. Checkout is 11:00, later than most of the valley.

Kutsurogijuku Chiyotaki tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Higashiyama Park Hotel Shinpugetsu in Higashiyama, Yumoto Tsumori, on the road in from the samurai residences
Higashiyama, Yumoto Tsumori, on the road in from the samurai residences Hot spring hotel Confirmed

Higashiyama Park Hotel Shinpugetsu

東山パークホテル新風月

The large bath is closed to tattooed guests in one line on the hotel’s own bath page. One room type answers it: a 10-mat Japanese room with its own open-air bath, fed free-flowing from the hotel’s own source, which the hotel says can be used whenever you like. Every other room type has a shower booth and no bath at all, so the room grade is the whole decision here.

※入れ墨・タトゥーのある方のご入浴はご遠慮いただいております。

Best for: The cheapest room with its own open-air bath in the valley, in a hotel that pours free drinks with dinner

The room page describes the bath room as: お好きな時にいつでも入れる露天風呂を備えた10畳の和室のお部屋です。自家源泉かけ流しの温泉を十分にご堪能くださいませ。 The hotel has 85 rooms, a sulfate spring from its own source, and buffet dinners with free alcohol. The large bath is closed 10:00 to 15:00 for cleaning. A free shuttle runs to the Higashiyama Onsen and Aizu Bukeyashiki bus stops if you call from the stop.

Higashiyama Park Hotel Shinpugetsu tattoo policy → Check availability
Traveler’s note

One rule in this town depends on which language you read it in. Its Japanese page admits foreign visitors whose tattoos are fashion, custom or religion; its own English page tells the same visitors to use the private bath instead. This guide lists it as a private bath, because the English page is the one a traveler will be held to at the desk. You will also walk past empty buildings in the gorge: the city raised its bathing tax in 2025, for ten years, to pay for demolishing at least six abandoned inns.

Getting there

Tickets for the ride in

Sold on Klook. Booking through these links costs you nothing extra and sends a small commission our way.

Common questions

Higashiyama questions

Can I use a shared bath in Higashiyama with a tattoo?

At one hotel, with a cover seal. Nobody else publishes permission, and a group that owns four houses here writes its refusal to cover the baths of its sister inns too, so moving to the building next door does not help.

Is there a public bathhouse?

No. Day bathing is sold by the inns themselves, at their own hours and prices, from about 700 yen to 1,400. One inn rents a private bath to a single group of day visitors a day.

Is Higashiyama easier from Tokyo or from Sendai?

From Tokyo, honestly. Both routes use the Ban-etsu West line from Koriyama, but from Sendai the connections are thin and the trip takes nearly four hours. From Tokyo the Shinkansen to Koriyama is faster and more frequent.

How do I get from Aizu-Wakamatsu to the onsen?

The Akabee loop bus from the station runs up the gorge in about fifteen minutes for 250 yen. A taxi is about the same time.

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