Yanagi-Yu
柳湯
Does Yanagi-Yu allow tattoos? Yes!
The smallest of the seven, and the one with a story: the water rose under a willow transplanted from West Lake in China.
No restrictions. Tattoos of any shape and size, nothing to cover.
The bath
Yanagi-yu is a two-story wooden house facing the river, with a tiled roof, a round lattice window upstairs and a willow in front. Tradition makes it the bath for fertility and safe childbirth.
Inside it is a single room of wood. Board-lined walls rise to a timber ceiling, the one rectangular tub is made of cypress, and granite runs around the washing places and under a frosted window that looks onto a small lit planting. The tourism office calls it cozy. A sign at the tub warns that the water is hot. The spring is the one every bathhouse in Kinosaki shares, a salty hot spring.
This is an afternoon bath: it opens at 3 p.m., sells its last ticket at 10:30 p.m. and closes at 11 p.m., and it doesn’t open on Thursdays. Tickets cost ¥800 for an adult and ¥400 for a child. A ¥1,500 Yumepa, sold at the window, gets you into Yanagi-yu and all the others for the day.
Getting there
Kinosaki-Onsen STN · JR San’in line
By the willow bridge, a short walk.
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. All seven bathhouses are within walking distance of each other.
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.
The town’s policy, not the building’s
This is one of Kinosaki’s public bathhouses, and the rule belongs to the town rather than to this particular building. How Kinosaki’s Yumepa system works →
What happens when you arrive
Buy a ticket at the window, or show your Yumepa, and go in. There’s nothing to cover.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (Toyooka City / Kinosaki tourism association, English)
Read on: visitkinosaki.com/plan/visitor-info/guides/tattoos-in-kinosaki-onsen/
All seven public hot springs in Kinosaki Onsen allow tattoos of all sizes, with no need to cover them up
The operator’s own wording. Show it if anyone asks.
Best for: bathers who want a short soak in the smallest bathhouse
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.