Wafu Ryokan Shiroyamaso
和風旅館 城山荘
Does Wafu Ryokan Shiroyamaso allow tattoos? In a private bath
Shiroyamaso's family bath is walled in red-brown flagstone, free to staying guests, and when the banquet hall is empty its rock-and-palm open-air bath can be had privately too.
Shiroyamaso publishes no tattoo rule. Staying guests can have the family bath to themselves free of charge, and the open-air bath attached to the banquet hall can also be taken privately on nights the hall is not in use, so a tattooed guest can bathe without sharing.
The bath
The family bath is reserved for private use, and staying guests take it free. The inn's photos show a square tub with a tiled rim, walls of red-brown flagstone set in white mortar, and a rock spout pouring in at one corner. Beside it is a cooling-off corner where you can rest after bathing or wait for your turn. The family bath keeps the same hours as the main baths, 3 p.m. to midnight and 6 to 9 a.m.
The second private option is the open-air bath built onto the banquet hall: a rock pool among boulders and cycads under a wide timber eave. It is a mixed bath for parties using the hall, and when no banquet has the hall it can be reserved for private use.
The inn says it has the most plentiful flow in Kikuchi Onsen, and every bath runs straight from the source. The water is an alkaline simple spring, 48°C at the source and pH 9.0, with a slippery feel the inn compares to skin lotion; it says it is gentle enough for children's skin. Listed uses include chronic stomach and skin complaints, insomnia and nervous exhaustion. The men's and women's indoor baths have glass walls onto small gardens and black-and-white pebble mosaics.
The hotel
A ten-room inn built with plenty of wood, which the inn likens to a walk in a forest. The rooms are Japanese, from 8 to 12 mats, all with a washlet toilet and air conditioning; the Kiri room on the ground floor has two connecting six-mat rooms and nothing above it. The lobby is furnished with carved wooden pieces the previous owner shipped from Taiwan and Hong Kong, and there is a book corner. Meals can be served in a private dining room depending on the size of the party. The inn sells its own rice and sweet-potato shochu (a distilled spirit).
Good to know
- Phone from the last bus stop and the inn will come to collect you.
- Last check-in is 9 p.m.; check-out is 10 a.m.
- Try the house shochu, made for the inn from rice or sweet potato.
Getting there
From Kumamoto Station, the Kumamoto Dentetsu bus runs to Kikuchi Onsen in about 1 hour 20 minutes. Coming from Hakata, the inn suggests a faster route: the Hinokuni Super Non-Stop highway bus from the Hakata bus terminal to Nishi-Goshi, about 70 minutes, then a taxi of about 20 minutes or a local bus of about 30 minutes from the Minami-shogakko-mae stop to Kikuchi Onsen. Phone from the end of the line and the inn will pick you up.
Kumamoto STN · Kumamoto Dentetsu bus to Kikuchi Onsen
Pickup from the bus terminus on request.
From Hakata, the inn recommends the Hinokuni highway bus to Nishi-Goshi, then a taxi or local bus.
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
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 hot spring page)
Best for: travelers on a budget who want a free private bath of source-fed water and a host who will fetch them from the bus
Family bath: private use only, free for staying guests, 3 p.m. to midnight and 6 to 9 a.m. A cooling-off corner beside it doubles as the waiting area. The banquet hall’s open-air bath is a mixed bath that can be reserved privately when no banquet is using the hall. Men’s and women’s indoor baths keep the same hours. Check-in 3 to 9 p.m., check-out 10 a.m.
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