Tsuchiya
つちや
Does Tsuchiya allow tattoos? Yes!
A ryokan built around Japanese cooking, art and architecture, with the painter Yamada Takeshi’s work placed through the building and a modern annex, UTSUROI, beside the old one.
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.
The bath
Tsuchiya has no shared bath hall. Its two indoor baths on the Kinosaki spring are private: take whichever is free, lock the door and stay as long as you like, with no booking. Neither is set aside for men or women. They are open 3 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
UTSUROI, the annex across the street, has a lockable private spring bath of its own on the same terms, open 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., with POLA toiletries. Its page gives the water as a salty high-temperature spring, and explains that because the source comes out at 81°C, water is added to bring it down. UTSUROI guests may use the two baths in the main building as well.
For the public bathhouses, the ryokan’s FAQ puts Mandara-yu about 70 meters from the door, Goshono-yu about 300 meters and Ichino-yu about 450.
The hotel
Dinner is served in a dining room on the first and second floors, Japanese cooking on Tajima seafood and mountain produce. Rooms range from the special rooms Ginkgo and Azami to Kiri, a six-mat room for one. UTSUROI occupies the town’s former fire station, built in 1970, with five rooms upstairs, each with a Tajima landscape painted across one wall. It is room-only or with breakfast in its cafe, and doesn’t take children aged 12 and under.
Good to know
- No bookings by telephone; reserve through the ryokan’s website or a booking site.
Getting there
Kinosaki-Onsen STN · JR San’in line
About 13 minutes on foot (1 km).
From Osaka, the Kounotori limited express reaches Kinosaki-Onsen in about 2 hours 40 minutes; the Kinosaki runs from Kyoto and the Hamakaze from Sannomiya and Himeji. Walk along the station street, through Yanagi-dori, to the far end of Yunosato-dori; the ryokan is on the left. The free inn bus meets limited expresses, with no booking: tell the driver “Tsuchiya.”
Where it is
Kinosaki-Onsen STN
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Kansai Wide Area Pass ¥12,000 · 5 days Worth it if you’re riding the Kounotori to Kinosaki and back.
- Japan Rail Pass from ¥53,000 · 7, 14 or 21 days For a trip that takes in several regions by Shinkansen and JR lines.
Why a ryokan appears under “nothing to cover”
Staying here is what makes the public bathhouses free: ryokan in Kinosaki normally hand a yumepa pass to guests at check-in. How Kinosaki’s Yumepa system works →
What happens when you arrive
Take whichever of the two private baths is free and lock the door, or pick up your Yumepa and walk to the public bathhouses.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (town policy for the sotoyu); the ryokan publishes no rule for its own baths
Best for: travelers who want room-only rates and to eat out in the town
Book your stay
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