Yumotoan Kiyohime
湯本庵 清姫
Does Yumotoan Kiyohime allow tattoos? In a private bath
Every room at Yumotoan Kiyohime has its own open-air bath of source-fed bicarbonate water, a rock tub in some and a tub with a rising floor for wheelchair users in others, and it runs all night.
The inn publishes no tattoo rule. Every room has its own open-air hot spring bath fed straight from the source and open around the clock, so a tattooed guest never needs a shared bath here; the inn names none.
The bath
The spring is a sodium bicarbonate water, weakly alkaline at pH 7.2 and 49.2°C at the source, the kind Hinatayama has long called a beauty bath. The inn lists skin, cuts, neuralgia, swellings, stomach and intestinal complaints, skin disease, women's complaints, hemorrhoids, muscle pain, fatigue and rheumatism, and it can be drunk from a tap at the baths. Every tub in the house takes it straight from the source, flow-through, with no shared bath to speak of.
The baths are in the rooms. The four cottages of the Moonlight Alley each have an open-air bath: Meigetsu-an and Fugetsu-an have rock baths under a roof open to the sky, Yugetsu-an and Saigetsu-an have tubs whose floor rises and falls so a wheelchair user can get in and out. The Milky Way wing has single-story rooms of 35 square meters and two-story rooms of 49, each in two versions: one with a reclining bath and one with an open-air bath. All of them run 24 hours, so the soak is at 2 a.m. if you like, and nobody else is in it.
The hotel
Kiyohime began as Kiyohime Onsen in 1916 and the present inn keeps the name. The room page lists the four cottages of the Moonlight Alley, from 73 to 80 square meters, two of them maisonettes with a loft, and the Milky Way wing of single-story and two-story rooms in two types each, every one with its own open-air bath. The inn pitches stays for couples, married couples and families, and says the room baths let families with small children bathe without worrying about others. Meals are served in the inn. Groups of ten or more can be collected at the ferry port by arrangement.
Good to know
- The room tub runs all night, source-fed, with nobody to share it.
- Two cottages have a tub with a rising floor so a wheelchair user can get in without a lift.
- Fifteen minutes from the airport bus stand 4 to the Himegi A-Coop stop, then three minutes on foot.
- Drink the spring: the inn says it tastes good and offers it at the baths.
Getting there
From Kagoshima-Chuo Station take the JR Nippo Line to Hayato Station, about 35 minutes by the inn's count, then a taxi of about 10 minutes; the inn publishes no walking route. From Kagoshima Airport the bus from stand 4 reaches the Himegi A-Coop stop in about 15 minutes, and the inn is about 3 minutes on foot from there; a taxi takes about 15 minutes. Groups of ten or more can arrange a pickup at the ferry port.
Hayato STN · JR Nippo Main Line (limited express Kirishima)
Not walkable.
Taxi about 10 minutes from Hayato Station; from the airport, bus to Himegi A-Coop-mae and 3 minutes on foot.
Where it is
Hayato STN
- Kyushu Shinkansen 1 hr 18 min
- Kirishima express 38 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 and room pages say every room has a source-fed open-air bath)
Best for: couples and wheelchair users who want an open-air tub inside the room, 15 minutes from the airport
Rooms in two groups: the four Moonlight Alley cottages Meigetsu-an and Fugetsu-an (rock open-air baths) and Yugetsu-an and Saigetsu-an (open-air tubs with a rising floor for wheelchair users), and the Milky Way wing of single-story and two-story rooms in two types each, one with a reclining bath and one open-air. All tubs are source-fed and open 24 hours. Spring: sodium bicarbonate, weakly alkaline, pH 7.2, 49.2°C. Founded in 1916 as Kiyohime Onsen. Groups of ten or more can be collected from the ferry port.
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