Ueki Onsen Hotei-yu
植木温泉 ほてい湯
Does Ueki Onsen Hotei-yu allow tattoos? In a private bath
Hotei-yu runs its spring water at about 40°C straight from the well into twelve private tubs, each two tatami mats wide with a shallow ledge for lying down, and charges the self-service rooms by the minute.
Hotei-yu has no shared bath: every one of its twelve baths is rented as a private room, and its own Q&A says guests with tattoos may bathe. The two Premium buildings must be booked ahead; the ten Self buildings take no bookings and are paid by the minute.
Show this at the front desk
Ｑ３：混浴は可能？ 水着着用は可能？ タトゥーがあるけど入浴可能？ はい、可能です。貸切湯ですので、家族や友人等での混浴はもちろん可能です。また水着の着用や、タトゥーがある方も可能です。
The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.
The bath
Hotei-yu is a bathhouse made only of private rooms, twelve in all. Each has a tub two tatami mats across, big enough for four or five adults, with a shallow section for lying back and floating. The bathhouse says the spring comes out of the ground at about 40°C, so it is never heated, diluted, filtered or recirculated; it runs from the well straight into the tub. It calls it a double skin-beauty water: a weakly alkaline sodium bicarbonate spring, with fluoride and metaboric acid above the legal marks. Leave the plug in when you go.
The two Premium buildings, Shichifukujin and Hoteison, are booked ahead and cost ¥2,800 for 50 minutes or ¥4,200 for 80 minutes per building, not per person. Each comes with a 17-mat living room in view of the bath, a choice of shampoos, a Dyson or Nanocare dryer and five free items from about forty rentals, from towels to children's toys.
The Self buildings, nine all year and a tenth in spring, need no booking. Buy a ¥1,600 card at the machine; it runs for up to 50 minutes at ¥32 a minute and keeps any unused minutes for next time. Their tubs are tile, rock or hinoki cypress. Bring shampoo or buy it for ¥100.
The hotel
A modern bathhouse of separate bath buildings in Ueki, Kumamoto's Kita ward, run on a small staff with no telephone. There are no rooms to stay in and no shared bath. Premium buildings open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to midnight on Saturdays and holidays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays; Self buildings open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to midnight on weekends and holidays, last entry an hour before closing. It closes on Wednesdays and takes cash only.
Good to know
- Tattoos and swimsuits are both fine, but keep towels out of the water.
- Pay only for the minutes you use in the Self buildings; leftover minutes carry over to your next visit.
- A solo bather on a weekday gets 50 minutes for ¥980 if they check in by 7 p.m.
- Air conditioning in the changing room costs ¥100 per 50 minutes; it is not left running.
Getting there
Hotei-yu gives car directions only: about 5 minutes from the Ueki interchange on the Kyushu Expressway, and about 30 minutes from Kumamoto Station by the western bypass. It publishes no bus or train route. JR Ueki Station on the Kagoshima main line is about 20 minutes from Kumamoto, but the bathhouse gives no taxi time from there. Search the map for the bathhouse by name; it says an address search leads to a slope you cannot use.
Ueki STN · JR Kagoshima main line
Not walkable.
The bathhouse gives car times only: 5 minutes from the Ueki interchange, 30 minutes from Kumamoto Station.
Where it is
- Kyushu Shinkansen 40 min
- JR Kagoshima line 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
There's no shared bath here, so every bath you use is private.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (the Q&A page, answer 3 under facilities, and the services and prices page)
Read on: hotei-yu.com/qanda/
Best for: a tattooed bather who wants a private tub of unheated, undiluted spring water by the minute, no booking
Premium buildings Shichifukujin and Hoteison: booking required through the YUASOBI site, ¥2,800 for 50 minutes or ¥4,200 for 80 minutes per building, with a 17-mat living room. Self buildings: nine all year plus one in spring only, no booking, a prepaid card of ¥1,600 buys up to 50 minutes at ¥32 a minute and unused minutes carry over; weekday solo plan ¥980 for 50 minutes with reception by 7 p.m. Closed Wednesdays (Thursday when Wednesday is a holiday). Cash only. No telephone: questions go through the contact form or Instagram. Swimsuits allowed; towels must stay out of the water.
The map shows every hotel close by. We haven’t checked their tattoo rules: sleep there, bathe here. Search Booking.com instead
Booking through this link costs you nothing extra and earns us a small commission, which keeps this guide free and up to date for our tattoo community. Thanks for your support.
For current hours and prices, see the official website.