Yunohama, a short walk down the front from the sand bath hall Ryokan

Hotel Shougetu

指宿温泉ホテル翔月

Does Hotel Shougetu allow tattoos? In a private bath

Private bath only

An inn that has been on this stretch of front since 1917, with nine rooms whose balcony bath is filled from the source, and a bus to the town sand bath leaving every quarter of an hour.

Shougetu publishes no tattoo rule. It does publish that nine of its ocean-view rooms have an open-air bath on the balcony running on water from the source, which is the answer for a tattooed guest. The large bath and its sauna are shared and unaddressed. The free shuttle, meanwhile, goes to the one operator in town that has published a rule, so the sand bath at the other end of the ride is covered as well.

Where it is

Hakata to Ibusuki is about 3 h 25: the Kyushu Shinkansen to Kagoshima-Chuo, then the Ibusuki Makurazaki line down the coast, which the sightseeing train Ibusuki no Tamatebako also runs. Ureshino is about 1 h 20, a limited express to Takeo-Onsen and the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen one stop further. Kurokawa has no railway at all: the coach from Hakata takes about 2 h 40 by way of Hita and Tsuetate. Hotel Shougetu · 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, bath structure rather than a tattoo policy (the operator’s room page, which lists nine ocean-view rooms with their own open-air bath fed from the source)

Read on: shougetu.co.jp/reservation/

Best for: A balcony bath over the water, with a free ride to the town sand bath

Nine rooms with a private open-air bath, 24 standard ocean-view Japanese rooms, 12 twin rooms and 4 suites. The hotel runs a free bus to Saraku every fifteen minutes, which matters here because Saraku is the one operator in town with a written tattoo rule. Founded in 1917. The house keeps a guide to Saraku on its own site, including the days the sand bath hall closes.

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 Ibusuki Onsen with private bath only

GinsyoYunohama, on the seafront two doors from the sand bath hall → Ibusuki SyusuienYunohama, a five-minute walk from the sand bath hall → Ryokan KawakyuOmure, by the river a few streets back from the seafront → Ibusuki Seaside HotelJucho, at the northern end of the seafront → Ibusuki Phoenix HotelJunicho, on the coast road toward Yamagawa → Ibusuki HakusuikanHigashikata, on its own stretch of beach north of the town →

All Ibusuki Onsen listings →