Kotaki Onsen
山峡のいで湯 小滝温泉
Does Kotaki Onsen allow tattoos? In a private bath
Kotaki puts a Shigaraki-ware tub on the balcony of ten rooms above the Arakawa, and on the roof, 22 meters up, a private barrel bath of koyamaki (Japanese umbrella pine) wood looks down the gorge.
Kotaki publishes no tattoo rule. Ten of its rooms have a ceramic open-air tub of source-flowing water on the balcony, and two rooftop open-air baths are kept for private use, so a tattooed guest can bathe without sharing.
The bath
Kotaki uses Tsuchiyu's water, an alkaline simple spring drawn from several sources. The inn lists it for neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, frozen shoulder, partial paralysis, stiff joints, bruises and sprains, chronic digestive complaints, hemorrhoids, cold sensitivity, recovery after illness, fatigue and general health. The women's bath, Taki-no-yu, and the men's, Sawa-no-yu, each have an indoor and an open-air tub, and both stay open from check-in to check-out, through the night.
The private baths are on the roof of the Nibankan. Mori-no-yu is a barrel tub of koyamaki wood 22 meters above the ground, looking up the wooded valley of the Togano-mori stream with the Arakawa below. Yama-no-yu is a granite tub facing Mount Minowa in the distance, and the inn says the night sky over it is full of stars. Neither carries a published fee or time limit. The ten rooms with a bath are built almost alike: a 12-mat Japanese room and a balcony with a Shigaraki-ware tub of source-flowing water.
The hotel
The inn has two buildings. The Ichibankan holds the ordinary rooms, without a bath, and the dining room; the Nibankan holds the ten rooms with a balcony tub, the large baths and the rooftop private baths. Dinner is a local kaiseki (a multi-course Japanese meal) of char and hot pots, grilled over charcoal at tables in the Irori Chaya on the ground floor of the Ichibankan. A coffee corner on the passage between the two buildings serves free self-service coffee from 8 to 10 a.m.
Good to know
- Ask for a Nibankan room; those are the ten with a balcony tub.
- The large baths never close for the night, from check-in to check-out.
- Free morning coffee from 8 to 10 a.m.
Getting there
From Fukushima Station's east exit, take the Fukushima Kotsu bus bound for Tsuchiyu Onsen, about 40 minutes. The inn publishes no walking time or pickup from the bus stop. Drivers leave the Tohoku Expressway at Fukushima-Nishi and head about 12 km west, about 20 minutes.
Tsuchiyu Onsen bus terminal · Fukushima Kotsu bus from Fukushima Station (east exit)
The inn publishes no walking time.
Bus about 40 minutes from Fukushima Station; no pickup is published.
Where it is
Tsuchiyu Onsen bus stop
- Tohoku Shinkansen 1 hr 35 min from Tokyo
- Fukushima Kotsu bus 42 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR East Pass from ¥35,000 · 5 or 10 consecutive days Covers the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Fukushima, the Yamabiko or the Tsubasa.
- 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 ()
Best for: couples who want a Shigaraki-ware tub on the balcony and a rooftop barrel bath over the gorge
The ten rooms with a bath are all in the Nibankan (second building), 12-mat Japanese rooms with a Shigaraki-ware ceramic tub of source-flowing water on the balcony; the rooms in the Ichibankan (main building) have a toilet and washbasin but no bath. Two private open-air baths on the Nibankan roof: Mori-no-yu, a barrel tub of koyamaki wood 22 meters above the ground, and Yama-no-yu, a granite tub facing Mount Minowa. The inn does not publish a fee, a time limit or how to book them. The men's and women's baths, each with an indoor and an open-air tub, are open from check-in to check-out, through the night. Free self-service coffee from 8 to 10 a.m.
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