Mochizuki Ryokan
望月旅館
Does Mochizuki Ryokan allow tattoos? In a private bath
Four of Mochizuki Ryokan's 23 cypress-built rooms have an open-air tub of their own, filled with Kikuchi spring water that the inn neither heats, dilutes nor recirculates.
Mochizuki publishes no tattoo rule. Four of its rooms have their own open-air bath fed straight from the spring, so a tattooed guest who books one of them can bathe in private for the whole stay and skip the shared garden bath.
The bath
Four of the 23 rooms are special rooms with an open-air bath on their own terrace. The inn's photo shows a deep, dark glazed ceramic tub on a floor of stone paving, with a rock wall and wooden fencing around it and a spout running fresh water in. Like every bath in the house, it is fed straight from the source: the inn says it does not heat, dilute or recirculate any of its water. Book the room type with the open-air bath to get one.
The water is Kikuchi Onsen's alkaline simple spring, 48.2°C at the source and pH 9.4, flowing at 373 liters a minute. The inn calls it a skin-softening water, clear and gentle on the skin, and says a soak before bed keeps you warm all night. It lists neuralgia, frozen shoulder and smoother skin among its uses. The breakfast page adds that the spring water is clean enough to drink.
The shared bath is a roomy garden open-air bath with a falling-water shower for the shoulders. It is open from 7 a.m. to midnight, and day visitors may come in just to bathe. Closing days are irregular.
The hotel
A traditional inn built throughout of Japanese cypress, which the inn calls chic and purely Japanese in style, with 23 rooms in all. Rooms have towels, yukata (a light cotton robe) and work clothes, a fridge and individual air conditioning. Meals lean on Kikuchi's produce: Shichijo rice, Kikuchi beef, Kumamoto horse sashimi and fish from around Kyushu, and the inn says the angler owner sometimes serves his own catch. Its most popular plan pairs a Kikuchi beef steak with horse sashimi.
Good to know
- The garden bath is open until midnight, from 7 a.m., with a falling-water shower.
- Day visitors are welcome in the garden bath; ask the inn for the fee.
- Check-in 3 p.m., check-out 10 a.m., with towels, yukata and work clothes in every room.
Getting there
From Kumamoto Station, take the Kumamoto Dentetsu bus to Kikuchi Onsen, about 1 hour 20 minutes, and get off at Kikuchi Onsen Shimin-hiroba-mae. The inn is in the center of the spa near Kikuchi Shrine. It publishes no access page beyond a map link, so it gives no walking time from the stop.
Kumamoto STN · Kumamoto Dentetsu bus to Kikuchi Onsen Shimin-hiroba-mae
The inn publishes no walking time from the stop.
Bus about 1 hour 20 minutes from Kumamoto Station.
Where it is
Kikuchi Onsen bus stop
- Kyushu Shinkansen 40 min
- Kumamoto Dentetsu bus 1 hr 20 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Kyushu Rail Pass from ¥12,000 · 3, 5 or 7 consecutive days Worth it if Kikuchi or Ueki is one stop in a longer Kyushu trip by train.
- 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.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site: (the rooms page and the hot spring page)
Best for: a couple who want a ceramic open-air tub on their own terrace and horse sashimi at dinner
Four special rooms have an open-air bath of unheated, undiluted, non-recirculated spring water; book the room type with the open-air bath. The shared bath is a garden open-air bath with a falling-water shower, open 7 a.m. to midnight and also to day visitors (no fee published). Closing days are irregular. Check-in 3 p.m., check-out 10 a.m.
Book your stay
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