Ryokan Sugimoto
旅館すぎもと
Does Ryokan Sugimoto allow tattoos? In a private bath
Ryokan Sugimoto has traded since 1868 on a spring that rises in its own courtyard, and it gives guests a private cypress bath for free at any hour, with jazz on tube amplifiers in the lobby.
Ryokan Sugimoto publishes no tattoo rule. Its private cypress bath is free, open around the clock and taken without booking by whoever arrives first, so a tattooed guest can bathe there and skip the shared baths.
The bath
The spring rises on the inn's own ground at 29.3 liters a minute. It is an alkaline simple spring, 42°C, pH 8.7, which the inn calls very soft to the touch and lists for neuralgia, rheumatism, joint and muscle pain, stiff shoulders, poor circulation and recovery after illness.
The private bath is a cypress tub, and the only bath here fed purely from the source with no recirculation. It is free and usable 24 hours. There is no booking: a party takes it when it stands empty.
The shared baths are open 24 hours as well. Tsukimi-ike has a men's and a women's side with an open-air bath floored in blue-green stone. Shiraito-no-yu is the indoor bath, built with the five prized timbers of the Kiso valley. Both use source water together with filtered recirculation. Shampoo, conditioner, body soap, skin lotions, razors and dryers are set out. A small foot bath sits in the garden for the evening cool. Three rooms, Tsukama, Kiri and Kasumi, have a cypress tub of their own, but that water is heated tap water, not the spring.
The hotel
The inn dates its founding to 1868 and is run by the eighth generation of one family. The three-story wooden main house, Shokenro, was built in 1933 by local shrine carpenters and became a registered tangible cultural property in March 2024. There are 15 rooms, each different: one with a sunken hearth, lofts, rooms with their own audio sets, and a step-light Japanese-Western room on the ground floor. The owner cuts soba noodles from pure buckwheat flour before dinner, which is served in a farmhouse-style dining room reached by an underground passage. A bar built around a slab of 500-year-old horse chestnut pours whisky and wine to jazz and blues.
Good to know
- The private bath is free and never booked. It is open 24 hours; go when it is empty.
- Room tubs are not spring water. The cypress baths in Tsukama, Kiri and Kasumi are ordinary heated water, by the inn's own note.
- No pickup service. Free parking for 20 cars, with no need to reserve a space.
- Watch the soba being cut at 5 p.m., with the owner's patter.
Getting there
From Shinjuku take the JR Chuo Line limited express Azusa to Matsumoto Station, then the Utsukushigahara Onsen line bus from Matsumoto Bus Terminal, about 20 minutes. The inn publishes no bus stop or walking time and runs no shuttle. Drivers from Tokyo or Nagoya can leave the expressway at Shiojiri, about 33 minutes away, to avoid traffic in central Matsumoto. From Nagoya the limited express Shinano runs to Matsumoto.
Matsumoto STN · JR Chuo Line (Azusa limited express)
Not walkable.
Utsukushigahara Onsen line bus from Matsumoto Bus Terminal, about 20 minutes; no shuttle; free parking for 20 cars.
Where it is
Utsukushigahara 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
Skip the shared baths and use one of the private baths. No reservation needed.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (: the facilities page lists a private cypress bath, free, usable 24 hours, no booking, fed straight from the source)
Best for: a free private cypress bath at any hour, in an inn of folk-craft furniture, jazz and hand-cut soba
The private bath is a cypress tub fed 100 percent from the source with nothing recirculated. It costs nothing, is open 24 hours and cannot be booked: guests use it when it is free. The rooms Tsukama, Kiri and Kasumi have a cypress tub of their own, but the inn says plainly that those room tubs are not hot spring water. The shared baths, Tsukimi-ike and Shiraito-no-yu, mix source water with filtered recirculation. The inn does no pickups. From stays on February 1, 2027 the whole building is non-smoking.
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