Yuyuan
優湯庵
Does Yuyuan allow tattoos? In a private bath
Yuyuan's day-use bath turns tattoos away, but all of its rooms, four in the main building and fifteen cottages, have their own source-fed open-air tub, and the day-use wing rents private bath rooms by the hour.
Yuyuan's day-use bath, You-yu, refuses bathers with tattoos or any body art, including paint and stickers. The way in for a tattooed guest is a room: all four main-building rooms and all fifteen cottages have their own source-fed open-air bath. The day-use wing also rents eleven private bath rooms by the hour, and that page carries no tattoo rule.
The bath
The spring is a bicarbonate water that rises under its own pressure, colorless and odorless, and the inn runs it flow-through without heating. It calls the water gentle enough for sensitive skin, pregnant women and babies, and says it leaves skin fair and smooth.
The day-use bath You-yu has an indoor tub of cypress and an open-air bath set among rocks and greenery within earshot of the Amori River. It opens to the public 10 a.m. to midnight with last entry at 11 p.m., and staying guests use it free from 6 a.m.; others pay 700 yen on weekdays, 900 yen on weekends and holidays, and 350 yen on the 26th of the month. Its notes refuse anyone with tattoos or body art, and the sides are capped at eight bathers each.
The rooms are where a tattooed guest bathes. Every room in the main building and every cottage has its own open-air tub of the same water. In the same wing as You-yu, eleven private bath rooms rent by the hour, each with two tubs except room 111, a toilet, a sink and a rest space, some with jets, blowers or a bath television. Weekday rates run from 1,700 yen an hour to 4,000 yen for three hours, weekends from 2,000 to 6,000 yen, and staying guests pay 1,500 yen. They take bookings only through the inn's LINE account or Jalan, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. last entry, and anyone under 18 must come with a guardian.
The hotel
The main building's third floor holds four rooms for two: the Japanese-western Sakurajima and Takachiho at 50 square meters with a blower bath and semi-double beds, and the Japanese Kirishima and Hayato at 40 square meters with a tatami-floored bath area. The cottage wing has fifteen rooms: the two-story Sho, Raku, Cosmos, Iris and Lily, and single-story rooms in types A1, A2 and B, their tubs in lava stone, granite, Kirishima stone, marble, tile or cypress, with a barrel sauna at the new cottage. Dinner is served in the room; children's meals are offered. Check-in 4 p.m., check-out 10 a.m. Parking is free and outdoors.
Good to know
- Skip You-yu: the day-use bath refuses tattoos and body art, your room tub does not.
- Private bath rooms book only by LINE or Jalan, 1,500 yen for staying guests, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
- No shuttle; a taxi from Hayato or Kokubu Station takes about 15 minutes.
- The spring goes in unheated, so expect the tub a little cooler than a boosted bath.
Getting there
From Kagoshima-Chuo Station take the JR Nippo Line to Hayato or Kokubu Station; the inn gives no train time. From either station a taxi takes about 15 minutes, and the inn runs no shuttle. From Kagoshima Airport it is about 15 minutes by car or by bus, though the inn names no stop; drivers leave the expressway at the Mizobe Kagoshima Airport interchange, about 15 minutes away. Parking is free.
Hayato STN · JR Nippo Main Line (limited express Kirishima)
Not walkable.
Taxi about 15 minutes from Hayato or Kokubu Station; no shuttle.
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
Use the bath in your room, or reserve a private bath.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (the refusal is in the notes on the day-use bath page; the room pages give every room an open-air bath; the private bath room page has no tattoo line)
泥酔者、暴力団関係者、刺青、ボディーアート（タトゥ・ペイント・シール）のある方、 伝染性の病気（皮膚病・性病）を患っているお客様のご入浴はご遠慮いただいております。
This is the rule for the shared baths. It doesn’t apply to the private baths.
Best for: couples who want a cottage with a stone open-air tub of unheated spring water and dinner in the room
Main building, third floor: two Japanese-western rooms (Sakurajima, Takachiho, 50 square meters) and two Japanese rooms (Kirishima, Hayato, 40 square meters), each with a 100 percent source-fed open-air bath. Cottages: fifteen rooms, two-story Sho, Raku, Cosmos, Iris and Lily and single-story types A1 (five rooms), A2 (two) and B (three), with open-air tubs in Sakurajima lava stone, granite, blue granite, a round 160 cm granite tub, Kirishima stone, Kajiki stone, marble, tile barrels and cypress. The day-use bath You-yu has a cypress indoor tub and a rock open-air bath, 10 a.m. to midnight (last entry 11 p.m.), staying guests free from 6 a.m.; 700 yen weekdays, 900 yen weekends, 350 yen on the 26th; it refuses tattoos and body art. Eleven private bath rooms, each with two tubs except room 111, 100 percent spring without heating or dilution: weekdays 1,700 yen an hour, 2,200 for 90 minutes, 3,000 for two hours, 4,000 for three; weekends 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and 6,000; staying guests 1,500 yen; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. last entry; booked only through the inn's LINE account or Jalan; under-18s with a guardian. Check-in 4 p.m., check-out 10 a.m. No shuttle.
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