Shukubo Hanashinobu
宿房 花しのぶ
Does Shukubo Hanashinobu allow tattoos? In a private bath
Hanashinobu has no shared bath of its own: three stone-walled family baths and an open-air bath built into an old storehouse are all taken privately and free, as often as you like.
Hanashinobu publishes no tattoo rule, and it has no shared bath of its own: all four of its baths, three indoor family baths and an open-air bath in an old storehouse, are taken privately and free. The village public baths next door are another matter.
The bath
Sujiyu's water is a sodium chloride spring that leaves the ground at 76.9°C. The inn lists it for constipation, cuts, skin trouble, bruises, sprains and rheumatism. The village takes its name from its public bath, the Utase bath, where hot water falls from three meters to pound stiff shoulders; the inn says the name means a bath for the muscles and that the spa dates back more than a thousand years.
Inside the inn every bath is private and free. The bath building holds three indoor family baths, and a detached storehouse has been turned into an open-air bath, so there are four in all, taken as often as you like from 3 to 11 p.m. and again from 6 a.m. The photos show an indoor tub walled and floored in honey-colored flagstone with a bamboo spout, and an open-air pool edged in grey stone, screened by tall bamboo fencing with trees above.
Staying guests also bathe once free at the Utase bath, open 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and free at the Iwan-yu and Yakushi-yu public baths a minute's walk away, where men and women swap days. Those are shared baths.
The hotel
Eight rooms: six six-mat Japanese rooms for two in an old farmhouse style, each with a veranda and an alcove, a twin room and a Japanese-Western room for up to five, the last two renovated in January 2024. All are non-smoking, with Wi-Fi, a fridge and a kettle. Dinner is a country kaiseki (a multi-course Japanese meal) built around Oita beef grilled on a rock-salt slab, trout sashimi and Kokonoe pork, with an irori hearth in the dining room. The inn lends a telescope free for the night sky at 1,000 meters. No children of elementary school age or younger.
Good to know
- All four baths are private and free, 3 to 11 p.m. and from 6 a.m.
- Adults and older children only; no guests of elementary school age or younger.
- A free telescope for the stars over the village.
- Come in by the T-junction at Yamatsubaki; the inn says some car navigation takes a narrow road.
Getting there
Ride the JR Kyudai line to Bungo-Nakamura, where a Kokonoe town community bus meets each train and takes about 50 minutes to Sujiyu Onsen, by the Sujiyu tourist association's count. The inn is in the middle of the village beside the Yakushi-yu bath. By car it is about 30 minutes from the Kokonoe interchange of the Oita Expressway.
Bungo-Nakamura STN · JR Kyudai Main Line, then the Kokonoe town community bus to Sujiyu Onsen
Not walkable.
Community bus about 50 minutes from Bungo-Nakamura; the inn is in the village center.
Where it is
Sujiyu Onsen bus stop
- Yufuin no Mori 1 hr 47 min
- JR Kyudai line 13 min
- Kokonoe community bus 50 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 Kuju is part of a longer Kyushu trip by train.
- 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. No reservation needed.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (: the hot spring page says every bath is private and free)
Best for: adults who want every bath in the inn to themselves, free, in a village of public baths
Four private baths, all free: three indoor family baths in the bath building and an open-air bath made from a detached storehouse. Hours 3 to 11 p.m. and from 6 a.m. Staying guests also get one free entry to the Utase public bath and free use of the Iwan-yu and Yakushi-yu public baths, which are shared. No children of elementary school age or younger. Check-in 3 to 6 p.m., check-out 10 a.m. Cash or card.
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