Hatago no Kokoro Hashimotoya
はたごの心 橋本屋
Does Hatago no Kokoro Hashimotoya allow tattoos? In a private bath
Hashimotoya carves some of its room tubs from Zao stone: six rooms in its Usagino wing have a bath of source water, and two private open-air baths go to just two groups a night.
Hashimotoya publishes no tattoo rule. Six rooms in its Hatago-gura Usagino wing have their own tub of source-fed water, most of them open-air, and two private open-air baths can be booked ahead for the evening outside winter.
The bath
The water is a sodium-calcium chloride-sulfate spring, hypotonic, weakly alkaline and hot, and the inn lists a long run of uses from the skin, cuts and burns to cold sensitivity, nerve and joint pain and recovery from illness. Both sexes have an indoor and an open-air bath, open 3 p.m. to midnight and 5 to 9:30 a.m. The halls are Yugura Ryusen and Yuya Hana-usagi indoors, and outside Manten, an open-air tub hollowed from a single Zao boulder, and the field bath Tama-usagi.
Six rooms in the Hatago-gura Usagino wing have a tub of source-fed water. Ajisai and Beninohana have a glazed ceramic open-air tub, Mansaku and Takekago a tub carved from Zao stone, Nagoriyuki an indoor cypress tub, and Nekoyanagi a semi-open-air tub. Two private open-air baths, Kaze-asobi and Tsuki-gomori, overlook the Yuamino garden. They are limited to two staying groups a day, and one booking covers unlimited use of either from check-in to 10 p.m. for ¥5,000 plus tax. Book ahead; they close for the winter.
The hotel
Sixteen rooms in two wings. Hatago-gura Usagino holds the six premium rooms with their own tub, five of them for adults only. Kakure-gura Hana-oboro holds ten Japanese rooms of about 10 mats with two semi-double beds, open to children. Every guest eats in a private dining room, Usagi Dining or Kakure-gura Dining, with Yamagata produce and wines from Kaminoyama. The Otogura lounge pours free beer, wine and cocktails from 3 to 6 p.m. and coffee in the morning. Check-in is 3 to 5 p.m., check-out 10 a.m.
Good to know
- Two private open-air baths, two groups a night, unlimited use until 10 p.m., booked ahead, closed in winter.
- Free drinks in the Otogura lounge from 3 to 6 p.m.
- Adults only in five of the six tub rooms; Nekoyanagi takes children.
Getting there
From Yamagata Station, take the JR Ou line or the Yamagata Shinkansen to Kaminoyama-Onsen Station; the inn publishes no time for that leg. The inn has no pickup. A taxi from the station takes about 7 minutes. The Yamako bus also takes about 7 minutes to the Takamatsu Hayama stop, then it is about 3 minutes on foot. Walking from the station takes about 25 minutes.
Kaminoyama-Onsen STN · JR Yamagata Shinkansen / Ou line
About 25 minutes.
No pickup; taxi about 7 minutes, or the Yamako bus to Takamatsu Hayama and a 3-minute walk.
Where it is
Kaminoyama-Onsen STN
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR East Pass from ¥35,000 · 5 or 10 consecutive days Covers the whole train ride: the Tsubasa, the Yamagata Shinkansen, runs from Tokyo to Kaminoyama-Onsen with no change.
- Zao Fox Village and Ginzan Onsen day trip The Zao Fox Village and Ginzan Onsen, from Sendai.
- 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
Skip the shared baths and reserve a private bath.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site: (the room pages and the hot spring page)
Best for: a couple who wants a carved Zao-stone tub outside their room and dinner in a private dining room
The six Usagino rooms: Ajisai and Beninohana with a ceramic open-air tub, Mansaku and Takekago with a tub carved from Zao stone, Nagoriyuki with an indoor cypress tub, and Nekoyanagi with a semi-open-air tub; all source-fed. Five of them take adults only; Nekoyanagi takes children and infants. The two private open-air baths, Kaze-asobi and Tsuki-gomori, are limited to two staying groups a day: one booking gives unlimited use of either from check-in until 10 p.m., at ¥5,000 plus tax, booked ahead only, and closed in winter. The ten standard rooms in the Kakure-gura Hana-oboro wing have ordinary baths. Check-in 3 to 5 p.m., check-out 10 a.m. No station pickup.
Book your stay
- AAgodaCheck availability
- TTrip.comCheck availability
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