Japan Tattoo Friendly
Onsen Guide
Ehime · 41 min from Matsuyama · Bridge islands

Tattoo friendly onsen in Imabari and the Shimanami islands

One operator on this stretch of the Shimanami Kaido publishes a way into a shared bath, and it is a chain. Hotel Route Inn Imabari admits a tattoo a cover seal hides completely, into a bath fed by the Kiyomasa no Yu spring and open until two in the morning. The rest of the answer is structural. Azumi Setoda, a restored merchant house on Ikuchijima, ends every room in a cypress tub, and Kadoya Besso in the Nibukawa gorge rents a private bath at 1,080 yen a person for sixty minutes and refills it for each party that books it.

1 property

Cover seal required

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

Illustration of Hotel Route Inn Imabari in Umagoecho, on the inland side of Imabari toward the expressway
Umagoecho, on the inland side of Imabari toward the expressway Business hotel with a natural hot spring daiyokujo ★★★☆☆ Confirmed

Hotel Route Inn Imabari

ホテルルートイン今治

The only published way into a shared bath in this city. The Route Inn group FAQ refuses tattooed bathers and then admits anyone whose tattoo a cover seal hides completely, and the Imabari property page adds nothing to contradict it. No size is named in the FAQ, so bring a sheet big enough and confirm at the desk.

入れ墨(タトゥー)のある方のご入浴はお断りしております。ただし、カバーシールを用いて入れ墨(タトゥー)が完全に覆えている場合に限り、大浴場をご利用いただけます。

Best for: The one shared bath on the Shimanami Kaido that publishes a way in

Real spring water, unlike the Route Inns in Niihama and Saijo: the bath, 旅人の湯, runs on the 清正乃湯 source, a sodium chloride spring, hypotonic, alkaline and low temperature. Open 15:00 to 02:00 and 05:00 to 10:00. Free buffet breakfast and free parking. About 15 minutes on foot from JR Imabari station, or a short drive from the Imabari interchange.

Hotel Route Inn Imabari tattoo policy → Check availability
2 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 Azumi Setoda in Setoda on Ikuchijima, a few steps from the Setoda shopping street
Setoda on Ikuchijima, a few steps from the Setoda shopping street Ryokan in a restored merchant house, rooms with their own cypress tub ★★★★★ Confirmed

Azumi Setoda

アズミ セトダ

The bath is in your room, so the question never comes up. The house says every room ends the day in a hinoki cypress bath and lists a hinoki bathtub among the room amenities, in rooms built in sukiya style around a courtyard. The public bathhouse across the street, yubune, is also open to guests, and that one is a shared bath with no published rule, so keep to your own tub if you would rather not ask.

Note: Not a hot spring: the cypress tubs in the rooms are ordinary heated water, and the house makes no spring claim.

Best for: A cypress tub of your own in a 140-year-old merchant house on a lemon island

The building is the former Horiuchi family house. Four room types around a marigaki-fenced courtyard, Hollywood twins that can be made a king, some with a second-floor balcony daybed and a Fukumitsu stone floor. Guests bathe free at yubune across the street, 07:00 to 22:00. Not a hot spring: the in-room tubs are ordinary heated water in cypress, and the house makes no spring claim.

Azumi Setoda tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Kadoya Besso in Nibukawa Onsen, in the Tamagawa hills twenty minutes inland from Imabari
Nibukawa Onsen, in the Tamagawa hills twenty minutes inland from Imabari Ryokan with a reservable private bath ★★★☆☆ Confirmed

Kadoya Besso

鈍川温泉 カドヤ別荘

Rent the bath and the shared rule does not apply. The inn takes reservations for a private bath at 1,080 yen per person for sixty minutes, first come first served, and says the water is changed for each party. Nothing is published about tattoos in the two shared baths, so book the private one and do not assume the rest.

Best for: An hour of pH 9.8 beauty water to yourself in a river gorge

Alkaline simple spring drawn from the source, colorless and odorless. The women’s bath 美人の湯 is built around a single large natural boulder, the men’s is a rock bath. Baths and the private bath both run 15:00 to 22:00 and 06:00 to 09:00. Guest rooms are formal Japanese rooms looking over the Nibukawa gorge; most share a bathroom. Free pickup and a table-tennis room.

Kadoya Besso tattoo policy → Check availability
Traveler’s note

Shimanami Onsen Kisuke no Yu, two minutes from the station, refuses tattooed visitors outright and has the only bath in its building, and Imabari Kokusai Hotel shuts them out of its large bath, its open-air tub and its sauna alike. Azumi’s in-room tubs are ordinary heated water in cypress rather than a spring. yubune, the bathhouse across the street from Azumi that guests may use free, sets no tattoo rule on any page of its own site.

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

Imabari and the Shimanami islands questions

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

Only at Hotel Route Inn Imabari, where the group rule admits a tattoo a cover seal hides completely. No size is named, so carry a sheet large enough and confirm at the desk. The Kisuke no Yu refusal covers stick-on decorative tattoos rather than cover seals, but the bath offers no seal of its own either way.

Which places here have a bath I do not share?

Two, in opposite directions. Every room at Azumi Setoda has a hinoki bathtub, so the shared bath question never arises. Kadoya Besso takes reservations for its private bath between 15:00 and 22:00 and again from 06:00, first come first served, and says the water is changed for each party.

Is there anywhere to bathe on the Shimanami islands?

Very little, and none of it published. Setoda Tarumi Onsen calls itself the only natural hot spring on Ikuchijima and sets no tattoo rule. Mare Grassia Omishima, the seawater bathing house, gives hours and prices and nothing else. Nibukawa Onsen Hotel has a family bath but no working website, so nothing there is confirmed.

How do I get to Imabari from Matsuyama?

The Shiokaze limited express, 41 minutes with no change; a Yosan line local covers the same stretch in 1 h 14 for the ticket alone. For Setoda on Ikuchijima, take the Shimanami Liner bus from in front of Imabari station, 42 minutes, or from Fukuyama on the mainland, 43 minutes.

More places to bathe

Other guides

All twenty-three guides are live.

Tokyo area69 places → Osaka area39 places → Kyoto area15 places → Sapporo area11 places → Sendai area8 places → Kanazawa area12 places → Nagoya area16 places → Hiroshima area9 places → Hakone23 places → Kinosaki Onsen10 places → Kusatsu Onsen9 places → Nikko6 places → Atami7 places → Shirahama7 places → Arima Onsen8 places → Yumura Onsen3 places → Nachi-Katsuura2 places → Awaji Island4 places → Beppu Onsen32 places → Yufuin Onsen13 places → Kurokawa Onsen17 places → Ibusuki Onsen14 places → Ureshino Onsen14 places → Noboribetsu Onsen8 places → Jozankei Onsen13 places → Niseko12 places → Lake Toya5 places → Akiu Onsen7 places → Naruko Onsen10 places → Zao Onsen8 places → Nyuto Onsen4 places → Higashiyama Onsen10 places → Hanamaki Onsen10 places → Takayu Onsen4 places → Yamashiro Onsen14 places → Yamanaka Onsen14 places → Katayamazu Onsen6 places → Awazu Onsen3 places → Awara Onsen10 places → Unazuki Onsen6 places → Kawaguchiko17 places → Isawa Onsen18 places → Karuizawa13 places → Bessho Onsen6 places → Yudanaka and Shibu22 places → Nozawa Onsen10 places → Hakuba14 places → Myoko8 places → Echigo-Yuzawa13 places → Gero Onsen17 places → Okuhida Onsen14 places → Shuzenji Onsen8 places → Ito Onsen8 places → Shimoda12 places → Tamatsukuri Onsen6 places → Misasa Onsen11 places → Kaike Onsen8 places → Yunotsu Onsen4 places → Miyajima8 places → Yubara Onsen7 places → Yunogo Onsen4 places → Yuda Onsen3 places → Nagato-Yumoto Onsen4 places → Dogo Onsen20 places → Kotohira7 places → Takamatsu5 places → Iya Valley3 places → Hakodate and Yunokawa13 places → Lake Shikotsu5 places → Otaru and Asarigawa5 places → Daisetsuzan and Furano7 places → Tokachigawa Onsen5 places → Lake Akan4 places → Kawayu and Lake Kussharo3 places → Utoro, Shiretoko4 places → Naruto and Tokushima4 places → Shodoshima3 places → Imabari and the Shimanami islandsYou are here Kochi and the Ashizuri coast5 places →