Sagiya Sansorai
三木屋 参蒼来
Does Sagiya Sansorai allow tattoos? In a private bath
Sansorai, the old Sagiya rebuilt in 2020 as a single-story inn, runs its own source into seven of its rooms, from a cypress open-air tub beside the garden to four small rooms with an indoor spring bath.
Sansorai publishes no tattoo rule. It has no reservable private bath, but seven of its rooms have their own tub of source-fed water: three with an open-air bath and four Kiyose rooms with an indoor spring bath. Those rooms are the way to bathe here without sharing.
The bath
The inn calls its water Takamatsu-no-yu, after the district where the family has kept a hot spring inn since the early Showa years. It is a sodium-calcium chloride-sulfate spring, hypotonic, weakly alkaline and hot, and the inn says it uses 100 percent source water with nothing else. It lists muscle and joint pain, rheumatism, neuralgia, bruises, cold sensitivity, digestive complaints, fatigue and skin conditions. The large bath has a stone tub looking out at the mountains, and the open-air bath faces the Zao range. The men's and women's sides are built the same, so they never swap. Hours are 5 a.m. to midnight, and there is a drinking fountain inside.
Seven rooms have a spring tub of their own. The Hana suite and the Inaho junior suite, each sold to one booking a day, have a source-fed open-air bath. Ren, a Japanese bedroom for two, has an open-air bath built of cypress beside the garden. The four Kiyose rooms, retro-modern rooms for two, each have an indoor bath of source water. There is no private family bath to book.
The hotel
Sagiya opened in 1931 and reopened in 2020 as Sansorai, a single-story inn of the Takamiya group with a Japanese garden at its center. The Kijine and Kiyose wings both look onto the garden. Rooms range from Hana, two connecting 12-mat rooms of 100 square meters, and Inaho, 24 mats with a bed area, to 30-square-meter Kiyose and Kijine rooms. Meals are served in dining rooms, with private rooms available. Check-in runs from 3 to 7 p.m.
Good to know
- Seven rooms with a spring tub, open-air on the suites and Ren, indoors in the four Kiyose rooms.
- The shuttle must be booked by phone, from Kaminoyama-Onsen Station, about 5 minutes.
- The shared baths stay the same all day, since both sides are built alike.
Getting there
From Yamagata Station, take the JR Ou line or the Yamagata Shinkansen to Kaminoyama-Onsen Station, about 12 minutes. The inn runs a free shuttle from the station, about 5 minutes; book it ahead by phone between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. A taxi takes about the same time. The inn publishes no walking time from the station.
Kaminoyama-Onsen STN · JR Yamagata Shinkansen / Ou line
Not walkable.
Free shuttle, about 5 minutes, booked ahead by phone; or a taxi.
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
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 rooms page names the spring tubs; the inn's FAQ says it has no private bath and points to these rooms)
Best for: a couple who wants a garden-view room with a cypress or stone tub of source water in a single-story inn
Rooms with a spring tub: the Hana suite (100 square meters, up to six, one booking a day) and the Inaho junior suite (80 square meters, up to six, one booking a day), both with a source-fed open-air bath; Ren, a 40-square-meter bedroom with a cypress open-air spring bath; and the four Kiyose rooms (Kaede, Ajisai, Sakura and Botan, 30 square meters for two) with an indoor spring bath. The Satsuki room and the four Kijine rooms have ordinary bathrooms. There is no private family bath. Check-in from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. No day visitors, for baths or meals.
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