Yama no Yado Kanjigoku Ryokan
山の宿 寒の地獄旅館
Does Yama no Yado Kanjigoku Ryokan allow tattoos? In a private bath
Kanjigoku, the cold hell, is a 13-degree sulfur spring that bathers sit in, in swimsuits, until they shiver; the ryokan heats the same water with firewood for its three private family baths.
Kanjigoku Ryokan publishes no tattoo rule. Its three half-open-air family baths, of cypress, rock and cut stone, are for staying guests and free to use whenever they are open, so a tattooed guest can bathe privately.
The bath
Kanjigoku Onsen opened in 1849, the inn says, after a hunter saw a wounded monkey soaking its wounds in the water. The spring is a simple sulfur cold spring at 13 to 14°C, more than two tons a minute, running free around the clock. In season you sit in the cold spring itself, in a swimsuit, in a mixed bath: the first minute or two stings, then the sting fades, and when you begin to shiver you get out and warm up, without drying off, in a heated room or sauna. The inn lists it for athlete's foot and skin trouble, rheumatism and neuralgia, digestive and women's complaints, and says it is good to drink for the gut.
The hot baths use the same water heated with firewood. The men's and women's baths, Gokuraku-yu, are cypress and cut stone, and swap daily; a lukewarm tub of the cold spring stands beside them to cool down.
The three family baths, of cypress, rock and cut stone, are for staying guests only and free to use as you please. They were rebuilt as half-open-air baths in June 2017 and each fits two adults. The photo of the rock bath shows a tall window frame opening onto a slope of fallen leaves, bamboo grass and a mossy stone wall, with a rough timber post in the middle.
The hotel
A wooden inn founded in 1928 on the site of the old cure baths, with 12 Japanese rooms: four in the main building, looking onto a courtyard and stream, and eight in the new wing, a renovated cure house done in black. The corridors keep the look of an early Showa bath house. Meals are served around irori hearths in the dining room Yaeki, with Kokonoe pork grilled on lava stone and sake and shochu the owner chooses. Free Wi-Fi. Closed Wednesdays.
Good to know
- Bring a swimsuit for the cold spring bath, which is mixed.
- Three family baths, free, for staying guests only.
- Closed on Wednesdays. Plan around it.
- Warm up after the cold plunge in the heated room or the sauna.
Getting there
The nearest station is Bungo-Nakamura on the JR Kyudai line. The Kokonoe tourism portal gives a bus of about 50 minutes or a taxi of about 30 minutes from there; from Fukuoka, a highway bus from Tenjin toward Makinoto Pass takes about 3 hours. By car, about 25 minutes from the Kokonoe interchange.
Bungo-Nakamura STN · JR Kyudai Main Line, then the bus toward Chojabaru
Not walkable.
Bus about 50 minutes or taxi about 30, by the Kokonoe tourism portal.
Where it is
- Yufuin no Mori 1 hr 47 min
- JR Kyudai line 13 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
Skip the shared baths and use a private bath.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (: the about and hot spring pages list three family baths for staying guests)
Best for: a 13-degree cold spring plunge in a swimsuit, then a private wood-heated bath
Three half-open-air family baths (cypress, rock, cut stone), staying guests only, free; each is sized for two adults. The hot baths are the same cold spring heated with firewood through a heat exchanger. The cold spring bath is mixed and taken in a swimsuit; in the off season it becomes a foot bath. Closed Wednesdays. The inn belongs to the Association of Japanese Secluded Hot Spring Inns.
Book your stay
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