Kinosaki is a hot spring town on a willow-lined river near the Sea of Japan coast of Hyogo, which marked its 1,300th year in 2020. Visitors walk between its seven public bathhouses in yukata, the light cotton robes the inns lend, and wooden sandals.
One town where the answer is simply yes, 2 hours 40 minutes from Osaka. Kinosaki’s public bathhouses take tattoos of any size with nothing to cover. The town says so itself, in English. You stay at a ryokan and bathe in the bathhouses, which is why the usual question of what a property allows barely applies here.
Tattoos are welcome in every bath. Nothing to cover, nothing to book. What this means
御所の湯
No restrictions. Tattoos of any shape and size, nothing to cover.
All seven public hot springs in Kinosaki Onsen allow tattoos of all sizes, with no need to cover them up
Best for: bathers who want the grandest bathhouse, with an open-air bath against the wooded slope
一の湯
No restrictions. Tattoos of any shape and size, nothing to cover, no declaration. This is the town’s stated policy for all its public bathhouses, not a per-property exception.
All seven public hot springs in Kinosaki Onsen allow tattoos of all sizes, with no need to cover them up
Best for: first-timers who want a cave bath cut into the rock
地蔵湯
No restrictions. Tattoos of any shape and size, nothing to cover.
All seven public hot springs in Kinosaki Onsen allow tattoos of all sizes, with no need to cover them up
Best for: families who want a lukewarm children’s bath beside the main one
まんだら湯
No restrictions. Tattoos of any shape and size, nothing to cover.
All seven public hot springs in Kinosaki Onsen allow tattoos of all sizes, with no need to cover them up
Best for: bathers who want an open-air bath facing the wooded hill
柳湯
No restrictions. Tattoos of any shape and size, nothing to cover.
All seven public hot springs in Kinosaki Onsen allow tattoos of all sizes, with no need to cover them up
Best for: bathers who want a short soak in the smallest bathhouse
城崎温泉 旅館 つばき乃
The town’s public bathhouses take any tattoo with nothing to cover, and staying here gets you in free. The ryokan also has two private baths, booked on arrival.
Best for: couples who want a small, quiet base next to Jizo-yu
西村屋本館
Mandara-yu is two minutes away on foot, Goshono-yu five and Jizo-yu, the farthest, twelve.
Best for: couples who want the town’s flagship garden ryokan, 165 years old
西村屋ホテル招月庭
The town’s public bathhouses take any tattoo with nothing to cover, and staying here gets you in free. The ryokan publishes no rule for its own baths, so ask when you book if you want to use them too.
Best for: families who want more space and grounds than the old town allows
つちや
The town’s public bathhouses take any tattoo with nothing to cover, and staying here gets you in free. The ryokan’s own baths are private, so there’s no shared bath to worry about.
Best for: travelers who want room-only rates and to eat out in the town
つたや旅館
The town’s public bathhouses take any tattoo with nothing to cover, and staying here gets you in free. The ryokan publishes no rule for its own baths, so ask when you book if you want to use them too.
Best for: travelers who want a century-old inn hung with the work of painters and writers who stayed
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It is the town’s own stated position, published in English by the tourism association: the public hot springs allow tattoos of all sizes, with no need to cover them up. Nowhere else on this site is a whole town open. The same page is careful to add that ryokan baths may have their own rules.
Maybe, and the town deliberately does not answer for its accommodations. It tells you to ask them. It matters less here than anywhere else, because staying in Kinosaki normally comes with a pass to the public bathhouses, so you have somewhere to bathe either way. Ask when you book if the indoor bath matters to you.
The bathhouses cannot be booked. A day pass covering all of them is ¥1,500, bought at any bathhouse. Ryokan guests are normally given a Yumepa pass at check-in that covers them free. Confirm it is included in your rate rather than assuming.
About two and a half hours from Kyoto or Osaka by limited express to Kinosaki-Onsen station. The bathhouses are strung along one willow-lined street, walkable end to end in about fifteen minutes, and people walk between them in yukata, the light cotton robes the inns lend, and wooden sandals.
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