Kikunoyu
菊之湯
Does Kikunoyu allow tattoos? In a private bath
Kikunoyu, open since 1891 in a timber building in Matsumoto's honmune-zukuri farmhouse style, puts a cypress tub of Asama spring water in its ground-floor rooms, each beside a small courtyard garden.
Kikunoyu publishes no tattoo rule. Its guest rooms come with their own indoor bath filled with the hot spring, three ground-floor room types in cypress, so a tattooed guest can bathe in the room. The inn has no reservable private bath.
The bath
The spring is an alkaline simple spring, clear, leaving the source at 49.7 degrees C. The inn calls it gentle on the skin and mild enough for children and older guests, and lists it for neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, poor circulation and fatigue.
The room baths matter most for a guest who wants to bathe alone. Three room types on the ground floor have an indoor tub of cypress filled with the spring: the special room, two joined rooms for up to five with antique furniture, a 10-mat room and an 8-mat room. Each looks from its veranda onto a small courtyard garden. The rooms upstairs have an indoor bath too, and the inn says the spring can be enjoyed there without minding anyone else. One of them has two beds, and one is on the third floor, reached by stairs.
The two shared baths swap between men and women. Kiku-buro, the chrysanthemum bath, has pieces of Italian marble carved as chrysanthemum flowers set in the tub. Beni-buro has an indoor bath and an open-air bath in Izu stone and red stone, both facing a small garden.
The hotel
Kikunoyu opened in 1891. Its building follows honmune-zukuri, the big gabled farmhouse form of the Matsumoto basin, with a zelkova main pillar and heavy crossed beams in the lounge, where coffee is served in the morning. Antique furniture, a German music box and paintings and ceramics collected by the family stand through the house. Dinner is a kaiseki meal served in the dining rooms. There is no elevator; the room list gives each room's floor.
Good to know
- Ask for a ground-floor room for the cypress tub and the courtyard garden; the room list marks three types.
- No elevator. Rooms are on the first to third floors, and the inn lists the floor for each.
- The bus stop is 1 minute away, at Shimo-Asama on the Asama Onsen line.
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 Onsen bus about 25 minutes, by the inn's count, to Shimo-Asama; the inn is 1 minute on foot. The Shindai-Yokota loop buses from stands 22 and 23 stop at Asama Onsen Iriguchi instead. The inn publishes no shuttle. 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 25 minutes to Shimo-Asama, then 1 minute on foot.
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 (: each room page describes an in-room bath where guests can take the hot spring)
Best for: a cypress spring bath in your own room, beside a small courtyard garden
Three ground-floor room types have a cypress indoor bath with spring water and a courtyard garden: the special room (two rooms joined, up to five guests), a 10-mat room and an 8-mat room. The upper-floor rooms, of 7 to 10 mats, one with a second room and one with two beds, are each described as having an indoor bath where the spring can be taken in private. The inn has no elevator, and one room type is on the third floor by stairs. Meals are served in the dining rooms. The two shared baths, Kiku-buro and Beni-buro, swap between men and women.
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