Matsumoto Jujo: Matsumoto Honbako and Koyanagi
松本十帖 松本本箱・小柳
Does Matsumoto Jujo: Matsumoto Honbako and Koyanagi allow tattoos? In a private bath
At Matsumoto Jujo the old inn Koyanagi, founded in 1686, has become two hotels around a bookstore, and every room in both comes with its own open-air bath of Asama spring water.
Matsumoto Jujo publishes no tattoo rule. Every room type in both of its hotels is sold with its own open-air bath filled with Asama's spring water, so a tattooed guest can bathe in the room. The one shared bath, Koyanagi-no-yu, is a small half-open-air tub for staying guests and is not a private bath.
The bath
The baths here are in the rooms. Each room type in Matsumoto Honbako and in Koyanagi is sold with an open-air bath, and the hotel says they are filled with Asama's spring water, clear and without taste or smell, fed through a storage tank. In Honbako's standard twins the tub is cypress and stands on the terrace. The Yuzaka Twin, a corner room over the Yuzaka slope, has its cypress tub on one terrace and a sofa on the other. The Corner Suite's bath looks onto garden trees and an old storehouse. The top-floor Grand Suite has the widest tub on the site, with a ledge where two can sit. In Koyanagi the garden twins have a separate shower booth with the open-air bath beyond it.
Koyanagi's universal two-room unit can be fitted with an electric lift on a ceiling rail over the open-air bath, used with a bathing wheelchair. Ask for it when you book.
The one shared bath is Koyanagi-no-yu, a changing room and a plain half-open-air tub at the center of the grounds. It is for staying guests, 3 p.m. to 11 a.m., and its water comes straight from the source pipe. It has a single shower and no soap. The hotel asks that three or four people share it at busy times.
The hotel
Matsumoto Jujo is the remaking of Koyanagi, an inn founded in 1686, by the publisher Jiyujin, which took it over in 2018. Matsumoto Honbako is a book hotel: the inn's former large baths now hold shelves of the bookstore, and every room has a small library chosen by a writer or artist. Koyanagi is the family hotel, with diatomaceous earth walls, tatami or wood floors and baby gear on request. The site also holds two restaurants, a bakery, a shop, a bar and a cider brewery.
Good to know
- Check in at the cafe, not the hotel. Oyaki to Coffee, 1 minute from the Asama Onsen bus stop, handles check-in from noon; rooms open at 3 p.m.
- Bring the pail from your room to Koyanagi-no-yu. The bath supplies no towels, soap or shampoo.
- The Grand Suite is for ages nine and up, and Honbako's rooms have no television.
- No parking at the hotel. Cars stay beside the reception cafe, and a shared car runs guests up between 3 and 6 p.m.
Getting there
From Shinjuku take the JR Chuo Line limited express Azusa to Matsumoto, about 2 hours 30 to 40 minutes. From stand 23 at the station's Oshiro (castle) exit plaza, ride the Asama line about 30 minutes, by the hotel's count, to the Asama Onsen stop. The reception cafe Oyaki to Coffee is 1 minute on foot from the stop, and the hotel is 3 minutes on from there. From Nagoya the limited express Shinano reaches Matsumoto in about 2 hours.
Matsumoto STN · JR Chuo Line (Azusa limited express)
Not walkable.
Asama line bus from stand 23 at the station's Oshiro exit plaza, about 30 minutes to the Asama Onsen stop; reception is 1 minute from the stop, the hotel 3 minutes farther.
Where it is
Asama Onsen bus stop
- Azusa limited express 2 hr 35 min
- Alpico bus 25 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR East Pass from ¥35,000 · 5 or 10 consecutive days Covers the Azusa, JR’s limited express from Shinjuku to Matsumoto, with a reserved seat.
- Miso factory tour and lunch in Matsumoto A guided half day at Ishii Miso, a miso maker more than 150 years old, with lunch.
- 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
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (: both room pages list every room type as having an open-air bath, and the Koyanagi-no-yu page says the room baths are spring water)
Best for: an open-air spring tub on your own terrace, in a hotel built around a bookstore
Matsumoto Honbako has eight room types, from standard twins with a cypress open-air tub on the terrace to a top-floor Grand Suite with the largest tub on the site; the Grand Suite takes guests aged nine and over only. Koyanagi has nine room types, one of them a universal two-room unit with an electric ceiling lift over the open-air bath (book the lift ahead). The hotel says the room baths are fed through a storage tank, while Koyanagi-no-yu takes water straight from the source pipe. Koyanagi-no-yu is open 3 p.m. to 11 a.m. to staying guests only, has one shower and no soap or shampoo, and guests bring the towel and wooden pail from their room. Check-in is at the cafe Oyaki to Coffee, a 3-minute walk from the hotel, and the hotel has no parking of its own.
Book your stay
- BBooking.comCheck availability
- AAgodaCheck availability
- KKlookCheck availability
Booking through these links costs you nothing extra and earns us a small commission, which keeps this guide free and up to date for our tattoo community. Thanks for your support.