Ryokan Sankai
旅館 山快
Does Ryokan Sankai allow tattoos? In a private bath
Sankai, in the old village by Shika-no-yu, keeps two private baths of cloudy sulfur water that staying guests use for free and without booking, around the clock.
Sankai publishes no tattoo rule. Its two private baths are free for staying guests and can’t be booked: walk in when one is empty.
The bath
The water is a blend of the Shika-no-yu and Gyonin-no-yu sources, an acidic sulfur spring with calcium sulfate and chloride, 68.4°C at the source and pH 2.5. The inn feeds it into the tubs a little at a time and lets it cool on its own to 36 to 42°C, with no circulation. It lists the usual spring claims for the water, from neuralgia and muscle pain to skin complaints and poor circulation, and warns that the acid will discolor low-purity gold and silver jewelry, so take it off. The inn repeats the Nasu founding legend: a hunter in the year 630 followed a wounded white deer to the spring, and the bath that opened there was named Shika-no-yu, the deer bath.
There are two shared bath halls, Senji-no-yu and Wakashika-no-yu, which swap between men and women. The baths are open 24 hours. Day visitors can bathe 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (last entry) for ¥600, children ¥300, under 4 free, with a bath and face towel set for ¥200; the inn may turn day visitors away when busy, so call first.
The two private baths are free for staying guests and cannot be reserved: walk in when one is empty and keep to about 50 minutes. Each is a square tiled tub sunk into a tiled surround, with a shower and a small window. Day visitors can have one for ¥1,000 a group on top of admission, 50 minutes, no extensions.
The hotel
A seven-room inn on the second and third floors of a building with no elevator. Mikasa, the largest room, is a 16-mat Japanese-Western room with two toilets and two washbasins; Asagiri and Wakana were renovated in August 2024 as Japanese-Western rooms with beds; the rest are Japanese rooms of 8 to 14 mats, all with toilet and washbasin. Dinner and breakfast are served in the room, cooked by the staff from local vegetables and seasonal produce, and breakfast rice comes in an individual clay pot. The inn's motto is that being small lets it do things a big hotel cannot.
Good to know
- Baths open 24 hours, and the two private ones are free, first come, about 50 minutes a turn.
- Take off gold and silver jewelry. The inn says the pH 2.5 water tarnishes it.
- Day use is cheap: ¥600 admission, ¥1,000 more for a private bath, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- No elevator. All rooms are on the second and third floors.
Getting there
Take the Tohoku Shinkansen to Nasushiobara Station or a JR Tohoku line train to Kuroiso Station. From either station board the Kanto Jidosha bus toward the Nasu Ropeway and get off at Yumoto 1-chome. The inn says the route bus needs a reservation made through the inn ahead of time, so ask when you book. By car it is about 11 km and 15 minutes from the Nasu interchange, about 2 km past the Ikken-jaya crossing.
Nasushiobara STN · Tohoku Shinkansen (or JR Tohoku line to Kuroiso)
Not walkable.
Kanto Jidosha bus toward the Nasu Ropeway to Yumoto 1-chome; the inn asks you to reserve the bus through it in advance.
Where it is
Yumoto 1-chome bus stop
- Tohoku Shinkansen 1 hr 8 min
- Kanto Jidosha bus 42 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Tokyo Wide Pass ¥16,000 · 3 days Worth it if Nasu is one stop in a longer Kanto trip.
- 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 ()
Best for: a free private soak in cloudy Nasu-Yumoto sulfur water at any hour
Two private baths, about 50 minutes a turn, no reservations. The inn lets its 68°C spring cool naturally in the tub to 36 to 42°C with no recirculation, and the baths are open 24 hours.
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