Akita · 2 h 20 from Sendai · Mountain onsen

Tattoo friendly onsen in Nyuto

Seven inns in beech forest above Lake Tazawa, joined by one shuttle and one wooden pass, and between them the picture most people have in their heads when they think of a Tohoku onsen. Not one of them publishes a tattoo rule. Neither does the cooperative that sells the pass. What the valley does have is four inns where the bath latches from the inside or comes with the room.

4 properties

Private baths only

Tattoos are fine in a private or in-room bath. The communal baths are restricted, or the policy is unconfirmed. What this means

Nyuto, on the Sendatsu river about a kilometer below Tsurunoyu on the same forest road Ryokan annex Confirmed

Tsurunoyu Bekkan Yamanoyado

鶴の湯温泉別館山の宿

No tattoo rule is published here either, but the bath structure answers the question without one. The annex says all three of its baths, two indoor and one open-air, are used kashikiri: there is no reservation and no booking sheet, you take one when it is free and turn the latch on the inside. Skin nobody else sees is not a policy question. The free shuttle up to Tsurunoyu’s baths is a separate matter, because those are shared and unruled.

貸切のできる内湯が二つと露天風呂が一つございます。天然湧出　掛け流しです。右の画像は冬の貸切露天風呂です予約制ではなく、お風呂があいている時に内カギをかけて貸切りにして利用して頂きます。

Best for: Bathing in Tsurunoyu’s white Shiroyu water behind a door you latch yourself

Opened 1994, eleven rooms, single-story and framed in local timber to carry heavy snow. The water is piped from Tsurunoyu’s Shiroyu source and runs free-flowing. Every room has a bath and toilet of its own, but the operator notes those are not hot spring. Rooms 17,750 to 23,250 yen, with about 1,100 yen per room added in winter for heating. Visa and Mastercard only. A free shuttle carries guests up to bathe at Tsurunoyu. Reception is on a different telephone line from the main house.

Tsurunoyu Bekkan Yamanoyado tattoo policy → Find a hotel nearby →

Nyuto, on the Sendatsu river at the Taenoyu Onsen-mae bus stop Ryokan Confirmed

Taenoyu

乳頭温泉郷妙乃湯

Taenoyu publishes nothing about tattoos, so the answer here is the family bath. Yawaragi-no-Yu runs on the silver spring, and staying guests use it free of charge for as long as they are in the house; day visitors rent it by the hour. The shared baths are a question the inn has not answered. Its mixed open-air pools do allow a wrapped bath towel, which is a modesty provision for women and carries no weight on a tattoo.

貸切風呂(やわらぎの湯-銀の湯) ご宿泊のお客様にはご滞在中、無料でご利用頂けます。日帰り利用のお客様は1時間3,300円(税込)でご利用頂けます。時間は11:00～15:00です。事前のご予約を承りますので、お電話にてお申込みください。

Best for: A family bath included in the room rate, with no cap on how many times you use it

On the mixed baths the inn’s FAQ says, in full: 「露天風呂は混浴だけですか? 男女別の露天風呂もございます。混浴の露天風呂には女性専用時間を設けています。また混浴露天風呂ではバスタオルを巻いてご利用いただけます。」 In other words there are men’s and women’s open-air baths as well; the mixed open-air baths, Myoken-no-Yu and Gin-no-Yu, have a women-only hour; and a bath towel may be wrapped in the mixed open-air baths. The site does not publish the women-only times. Eight tubs run on the two springs the house owns, the clear Gin-no-Yu simple spring and the cloudy Kin-no-Yu magnesium-calcium sulfate spring; some tubs are out of use in winter, and the indoor and open-air baths alternate between men and women on a clock. Day bathing 10:30–15:00 with reception closing at 14:00, Tuesdays closed, 1,000 yen for adults and 500 for children; a private rest room for day visitors is 5,500 yen per room, 10:30–14:00, reserved in advance. Five room types, all with washbasin and toilet. Visa, Mastercard, JCB and Amex. Founded 1952. Fifty minutes by Ugo Kotsu bus from Tazawako station at 820 yen, one minute from the stop.

Taenoyu tattoo policy → Find a hotel nearby →

Nyuto, at the far end of the valley, fifty meters down a slope from its own parking lot Ryokan with a self-catering cure wing Confirmed

Kuroyu Onsen

黒湯温泉

Kuroyu says nothing about tattoos, but it rents two private baths, Kame-no-Yu and Tamahada-no-Yu, each with an indoor tub and a pounding-water spout. Its FAQ puts the terms plainly: they are booked in advance at reception, and they cost nothing for guests staying in the ryokan wing. Day visitors can have one for 45 minutes at 2,750 yen per group. Everything else on the site is shared water, including a mixed indoor bath and a mixed open-air bath, and none of it comes with a rule.

Q．貸切風呂はありますか？Ａ．あります。事前に受付で予約が必要です。旅館にご宿泊の方は無料です。

Best for: A private bath at no charge if you sleep in the ryokan wing, or 2,750 yen for 45 minutes if you are only passing

This is a seasonal house: the operator gives its season as mid-April to early November, and the self-catering wing as late April to the end of October. That wing is a genuine toji cure lodging rather than a night with dinner, with cooking gear, a gas ring, a fridge, a microwave and a washing machine, at 6,750 to 7,850 yen a night; the thatched block has an irori, which the inn says is for warming a pot and not for cooking, and those rooms are reserved by telephone only. The ryokan wing runs 19,400 yen and up, and two rooms, Momiji and Sakura, share a half-open-air bath between them. A notice dated 2 September 2026 says the mixed indoor bath has been closed for rebuilding since 24 August while the mixed open-air bath stays open. Day bathing 9:00–16:30 Thursday to Tuesday with reception closing at 16:00, and Wednesdays only 9:00–11:00; 800 yen for junior high age and up, 400 for younger. Cards, PayPay, d-barai and MerPay accepted. Staying guests are collected by the inn from the Nyuto Ganiba Onsen bus terminus if they call ahead; otherwise it is a 25-minute walk through beech forest from the Kyukamura-mae stop. The yumeguri shuttle does not run here from late November to early April because the road closes.

Kuroyu Onsen tattoo policy → Find a hotel nearby →

Nyuto, deepest in the valley, reached on foot from a parking lot opposite Ogama Ryokan Confirmed

Magoroku Onsen Rokuan

孫六温泉六庵

Rokuan publishes no tattoo rule, and the answer for a tattooed guest is one of the three detached rooms, each of which has an open-air bath of its own. The house does require a bathing garment, a yuami-gi, in its mixed zone, and it is worth being clear about what that means: it is a modesty rule that applies to every bather regardless of skin, it is not written as tattoo permission, and the operator has not said whether a tattoo under it is acceptable. Ask before you rely on it. The reservable indoor family bath is listed as suspended.

露天風呂付離れ個室（3室）漣光（れんこう）瀬音（せおと）玉響（たまゆら）

Best for: One of three detached rooms with an open-air bath on its own deck, for two people at a time

The mixed zone is sold as a separate ticket and the wording is exact: 「※混浴エリアは「湯浴み着」の着用です」. Day bathing runs 10:00–15:00, last reception 14:30, closed Fridays. The 700-yen Okigaru plan buys the men’s and women’s indoor bath, Karako-no-Yu, and nothing else; the 3,000-yen Mankitsu plan adds the mixed open-air bath, the mixed stone indoor bath and the Nordic barrel sauna with its cold plunge, and that is the ticket the garment rule attaches to. Children pay 400 and 2,000. The inn does not say whether the garment is lent or sold. Guests bathe 15:00–23:00 in the indoor baths, 15:00–22:00 in the mixed open-air bath and sauna, and 5:00–10:00 in the morning. Six rooms in all, two people to a room, twelve guests in the house; rooms 45,100 to 75,900 yen with meals, and there is no room-only plan. Opened in 1902 and reworked as Rokuan. There is no road to the door: from December to around April cars use the P3 lot opposite Ogama, nine spaces, and it is about 800 meters and fifteen minutes on snow, with the inn carrying luggage if you book it; in summer the P1 and P2 lots on the Kuroyu side put you five minutes away, and a summer shuttle runs to Kyukamura. Cash, cards and some QR payment. No elevator, no barrier-free room, non-smoking throughout.

Magoroku Onsen Rokuan tattoo policy → Check availability

Traveler’s note

Two things here are easy to misread. The famous white-water bath is mixed bathing, and its inn says in English that towels may not go in the water, which closes the wrap route rather than opening it. And one inn sells its mixed area as a separate ticket where a bathing garment is required of everyone: a garment that hides a tattoo is not permission for one, and this page does not present it as such. Half the valley shuts in winter, when the road to two of the inns closes.

Getting there

Tickets for the ride in

JR East Pass, Tohoku area This is the ride that pays for a pass: the Komachi from Sendai to Tazawako is 9,470 yen return before you have gone anywhere else. The Ugo Kotsu bus at the end is 950 yen and is separate.
JR Tohoku-South Hokkaido Pass The one to compare if Hokkaido is also on your trip: five flexible days across Tohoku and southern Hokkaido, including the Shinkansen north through the Seikan tunnel.

Sold on Klook. Booking through these links costs you nothing extra and sends a small commission our way.

Common questions

Nyuto questions

Do any of the seven inns allow tattoos?

None of them says. Every operator page in the valley was read, in Japanese and in English, along with the cooperative’s own site, and the words tattoo, irezumi and horimono do not appear anywhere. That is not permission and it is not a refusal; it means you are relying on a bath nobody else is in.

Does the bath-hopping pass say anything about tattoos?

No. It buys all seven baths and the shuttle between them and carries no rule at all. Kurokawa’s equivalent at least tells tattooed visitors to write ahead; this one is silent.

Which inns have a bath I can have to myself?

Four. One keeps a rented bath free to guests for the whole stay, one has two private baths for its ryokan wing, one has three detached rooms with their own open-air bath, and one has baths that latch from the inside.

How hard is it to book?

Harder than anywhere else in this guide. Most of the valley takes reservations by telephone and appears on no booking platform, two inns take no cards at all, and the pass is cash. One inn can be booked online in the ordinary way.

More places to bathe

Other guides

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