Hitoyoshi Onsen Ayu no Sato
人吉温泉 あゆの里
Does Hitoyoshi Onsen Ayu no Sato allow tattoos? In a private bath
Ayu no Sato redrilled its own Ayuri source after seventy years and pipes it to the balcony tubs of six Spa Suite types that look across the Kuma river to the castle walls.
Ayu no Sato publishes no tattoo rule, and it has no reservable private bath. The answer here is a Spa Suite: six suite types from 40 to 110 square meters each have an open-air bath on the balcony piped straight from the inn's own Ayuri source, usable from check-in to check-out.
The bath
Everything here runs on the Ayuri source, which the inn redrilled on the grounds after the first bore had run about seventy years. It is a sodium chloride and bicarbonate spring, hypotonic, weakly alkaline and hot, listed for neuralgia, joint and muscle pain, stiffness, bruises, sensitivity to cold, digestion, fatigue, cuts, chronic skin conditions and hardening of the arteries. It is also a certified drinking spring; the one tap for drinking is beside the lobby entrance, open at all hours, and the inn says drinking it helps constipation, digestion and diabetes.
The large baths are on two floors and do not swap. Yamanami-no-yuya for women, on the third floor, is a sukiya-style hall with an indoor bath, a rock open-air bath, a cypress open-air bath and a sauna, looking out at the mountains of southern Kyushu. Kura-no-yudono for men, on the fifth floor, is styled after the castle walls and has an indoor bath, a rock open-air bath, a ceramic tub, a lying bath and a sauna. Both run 3 p.m. to midnight and 5:30 to 9 a.m.; day visitors are taken 3 p.m. to midnight, last entry 10 p.m., for ¥2,000 adults and ¥1,000 schoolchildren, towels lent. A free foot bath lit by bamboo lanterns sits at the entrance.
The Spa Suites are the private answer. Six types, from the 40-square-meter Twin to the 110-square-meter Panoramic View, each have an open-air bath on the balcony, piped straight from the source with automatic temperature control and usable from check-in to check-out, with the river, the castle walls and the morning mist in front of it.
The hotel
Ayu no Sato opened in 1941 on the Kuma bank facing the castle ruins and now runs 74 rooms in a modern Japanese style, from 25-square-meter business rooms to the Spa Suites. Dinner and breakfast are served in two dining rooms, Sagara Hanakoji and Sakura, with ayu (sweetfish) and other local food; breakfast 7 to 9 a.m., dinner 5:30 to 9 p.m. A shochu (a distilled spirit) lounge pours more than 200 Kuma shochu from 27 local distilleries, a sky terrace opens in fair weather, and morning yoga runs on the terrace. The lounge Amanogawa is for guests, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Good to know
- Only the Spa Suites have a spring bath in the room; the other five room types use the large baths.
- Drink the spring at the lobby tap, the one place the inn allows it.
- A free foot bath by the door, 3 p.m. to midnight, with towels beside it.
- The Tsubame Airport Liner from Kagoshima Airport stops at the door; from the Hitoyoshi IC bus stop it is 7 minutes by taxi.
Getting there
From Kumamoto Sakuramachi bus terminal take the Sanko highway bus down the Kyushu Expressway to Hitoyoshi, about 1 hour 50 minutes by the city's count. The inn's own route is the Kyushu Shinkansen to Shin-Yatsushiro, the B&S Miyazaki express bus to the Hitoyoshi IC stop, then a taxi of about 7 minutes; it names two local taxi firms. Drivers leave the expressway at Hitoyoshi IC or the Hitoyoshi-Kuma smart interchange, 7 minutes to Kokonoka-machi. The Tsubame Airport Liner runs from Kagoshima Airport to the inn. No walking time from Hitoyoshi Station is published.
Hitoyoshi STN · Sanko highway bus from Kumamoto Sakuramachi; B&S Miyazaki bus from Shin-Yatsushiro to Hitoyoshi IC
The inn publishes no walking time.
Taxi about 7 minutes from the Hitoyoshi IC bus stop; Tsubame Airport Liner from Kagoshima Airport; free parking.
Where it is
Hitoyoshi Sanko bus stop
- Kyushu Shinkansen 40 min
- highway bus 1 hr 50 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Kyushu Rail Pass from ¥12,000 · 3, 5 or 7 consecutive days Worth it only if the rest of the trip is by train.
- Kyushu SunQ Pass Hitoyoshi’s railway has been cut since the 2020 floods, so the way in is the highway bus from Kumamoto. Worth it if you’re riding buses elsewhere in Kyushu too; it covers that bus and the island’s highway lines.
- Japan Rail Pass from ¥53,000 · 7, 14 or 21 days For a trip that takes in several regions by Shinkansen and JR lines.
What happens when you arrive
Use the bath in your room, or reserve a private bath.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (: the hot spring and rooms pages list the Spa Suites' balcony baths on the inn's own source, usable check-in to check-out)
Best for: a balcony tub above the Kuma river with the castle walls opposite, in a full-service hotel with 200 shochu
Spa Suites: Panoramic View (110 m2), Luxury (90), Premium (70), Family (50), Japanese Modern (50) and Twin (40), all with an open-air bath on the balcony fed directly from the source with automatic temperature control; room counts per type not published. The other five room types have no spring bath. Large baths Yamanami-no-yuya (women, 3rd floor: indoor, rock open-air, cypress open-air, sauna) and Kura-no-yudono (men, 5th floor: indoor, rock open-air, ceramic tub, lying bath, sauna), 3 p.m. to midnight and 5:30 to 9 a.m.; day use 3 p.m. to midnight (last entry 10 p.m.), ¥2,000 adults, ¥1,000 schoolchildren, towels lent. Foot bath at the entrance 3 p.m. to midnight. The Ayuri source is drinkable at the lobby tap only. Opened 1941; 74 rooms.
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