Higashiyama, Yumoto Kawamukai, four minutes on foot from its sister inn Chiyotaki Ryokan

Kutsurogijuku Shintaki

会津東山温泉くつろぎ宿新滝

Does Kutsurogijuku Shintaki allow tattoos? In a private bath

Private bath only

Shintaki puts nothing in its water and takes nothing out of it, and after seven in the evening it rents the rock bath by the slot.

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.

Show this at the front desk

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。

The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.

Where it is

Sendai is the door to all of these. Akiu is 43 minutes on one bus from the station, with no change. Nyuto is the Komachi, JR’s Shinkansen across to Akita, as far as Tazawako, then a bus of 47 minutes, about 2 h 20 in all. Naruko is twelve minutes on the Shinkansen to Furukawa and three quarters of an hour up the Rikuu East line. Zao is the Senzan line rapid over the mountains to Yamagata, then a bus of 37 minutes up to the ski village. Hanamaki is the Yamabiko to Kitakami, one stop on the local line and a bus, about 2 h 10. Higashiyama is the long one: the Shinkansen to Koriyama, the Ban-etsu West line over to Aizu-Wakamatsu and the loop bus, nearly four hours with the waits, and easier from Tokyo. Kutsurogijuku Shintaki · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · open in Google Maps

What happens when you arrive

Skip the shared baths and reserve the private one the way this page describes. Once the door is closed, the bath is yours.

How we know

Confirmed from official site (the 湯めぐり page, which carries the rule twice and covers both Shintaki and Chiyotaki)

Read on: kutsurogijuku.jp/yumeguri.html

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.

Check availability

Booking through this button costs you nothing extra and sends a small commission our way — it’s what keeps this guide free for our tattoo community, and every policy on it checked. Thank you.

Others in the same group

More places in the higashiyama with private bath only

MukaitakiHigashiyama, Kawamukai, on the far bank of the Yugawa a few minutes above the bus stop → Kutsurogijuku ChiyotakiHigashiyama, Yumoto Terayashiki, on the high ground over the strip → Irori no Yado AshinaHigashiyama, Yumoto Shimohara, at the upstream end of the strip → HaratakiHigashiyama, Yumoto, on the Yugawa beside the Harataki falls → Higashiyama Park Hotel ShinpugetsuHigashiyama, Yumoto Tsumori, on the road in from the samurai residences → Hanare MatsushimakakuHigashiyama, Takinoyu, the suite annex next door to Takinoyu →

All higashiyama listings →