Kirishima Miyama Hotel
霧島みやまホテル
Does Kirishima Miyama Hotel allow tattoos? In a private bath
Kirishima Miyama Hotel runs every one of its five tubs as a private bath, two indoor and three open-air, free for staying guests at any hour. Day visitors can take one for 50 minutes.
The hotel publishes no tattoo rule. Its answer is in the plumbing: all five tubs, two indoor and three open-air, are run as private baths, free for staying guests at any hour and as often as they like, so there is no shared bath at all. Day visitors get one tub to themselves for 50 minutes.
The bath
The hotel's own spring is a weakly alkaline chloride water, clear, with a faint smell of sulfur that it calls rare for Kirishima. It is piped straight from the source and never recirculated, so every tub is 100 percent flow-through. The hotel calls it a beauty bath and lists skin, neuralgia, muscle and joint pain and fatigue as what people come for; some guests come from far away for a soaking cure.
There are five tubs and all five are private. Inukai-no-yu is the big open-air bath, room for about ten, under the night sky. Todorogi-no-yu and Hanabusa-no-yu are two smaller open-air baths built like mountain huts with a roof, so they work in rain, about three bathers each. Kirishima-no-yu and Maruo-no-yu are the two indoor baths on the first floor, about five each. The open-air baths are a one-minute walk from the building. Staying guests pay nothing extra, pick any tub at any hour, and come back as often as they like; the hotel says nobody will disturb you. Shampoo, conditioner, body soap and a dryer wait at every tub.
Day visitors can have one tub for 50 minutes: 800 yen for adults and 400 yen for children up to junior high age, reception 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Staying guests come first, and after 3 p.m. the desk may turn day bathers away when the house is full. A bath towel rents for 300 yen and a face towel sells for 100 yen.
The hotel
A three-story inn of eleven rooms reached by stairs, a minute's walk from the Kirishima Onsen Market and the tourist office. There are two 8-mat tatami rooms on the third floor, three western twins on the second, five 6-mat tatami rooms, and one deluxe western room with a loft bed and a private bath of its own. Dinner is a kaiseki (a multi-course Japanese meal) of Kagoshima black pork or black beef, served 6 to 7 p.m. in the restaurant hall or a tatami room, with breakfast 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Check-in 3 to 8 p.m., check-out 10 a.m. Parking is free for more than 50 cars. The desk takes cash and PayPay only.
Good to know
- No booking sheet: walk to any of the five tubs whenever it is free, as many times as you like.
- Two of the open-air baths have a roof, so a rainy night still gets an outdoor soak.
- Day visitors pay 800 yen for 50 minutes alone in one tub, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Bring cash or PayPay, or prepay through a booking site; the desk takes no cards.
Getting there
From Kagoshima-Chuo Station take the JR Nippo Line to Kirishima-Jingu Station, about an hour by the hotel's count, then the bus to the Maruo stop, about 35 minutes, or a taxi of about 20 minutes. The hotel is next to the Kirishima Onsen Market at the Maruo stop. From Kagoshima Airport take the Kirishima Iwasaki Hotel bus from stand 3 to Maruo, about 35 minutes, or a taxi of about 20 minutes. Another route runs Hayato to Kirishima-Onsen Station on the Hisatsu Line, then a bus of about 25 minutes.
Kirishima-Jingu STN · JR Nippo Main Line (limited express Kirishima)
Not walkable.
Bus about 35 minutes to the Maruo stop, then a minute on foot; taxi about 20 minutes.
Where it is
Maruo Onsen bus stop
- Kyushu Shinkansen 1 hr 18 min
- Kirishima express 48 min
- Kagoshima Kotsu bus 29 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 you’re coming from Hakata by train.
- Kyushu SunQ Pass Worth it if you’re riding buses around Kagoshima. It covers the airport bus to the spa villages and Myoken and the Kagoshima Kotsu bus from Kirishima-Jingu Station.
- Sakurajima volcano half-day tour Half a day on Sakurajima, the active volcano across the bay from Kagoshima.
- 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
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (the hot spring page says every tub is private, free and unlimited for guests)
Best for: couples and families who want a whole open-air bath to themselves in the middle of Maruo without booking a slot
Five tubs, all private: the open-air Inukai-no-yu for about ten people, the roofed mountain-hut style open-air baths Todorogi-no-yu and Hanabusa-no-yu for about three each, and the indoor Kirishima-no-yu and Maruo-no-yu for about five each. The open-air baths stand a minute's walk from the building; the indoor ones are on the first floor. Guests use them free, any tub, any time, repeatedly, with no booking. One deluxe western room with a loft has a private bath of its own. Day use 800 yen for adults and 400 yen up to junior high age, reception 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., 50 minutes in one tub, guests given priority after 3 p.m. Check-in 3 to 8 p.m., check-out 10 a.m.; the desk takes cash and PayPay only. The hotel's pages give its address as Takachiho 3900-22 on the access page and 3900-3 on the information page.
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