Tsubaki no Yado Yoshidaya
椿の宿 吉田や
Does Tsubaki no Yado Yoshidaya allow tattoos? In a private bath
Yoshidaya is a three-story wooden inn from 1907, and its cypress open-air bath and tiled family bath are free to staying guests: find one unlocked, step in and turn the key.
Yoshidaya publishes no tattoo rule. It gives every staying guest two private baths for free, the open-air Hinoki-no-yu and the indoor family bath Tsubaki-no-yu, with no booking: if the door is unlocked, go in and lock it behind you. Six of its fifteen rooms also have a tub of their own filled with the spring.
The bath
Two private baths are free to everyone staying, and neither takes a booking. If the door is unlocked, the bath is free: go in and lock it. Hinoki-no-yu is the open-air one, a deep tub of pale cypress in a cypress-walled nook, with a stone step down to a flagstone floor; the inn says you can look at the garden from the big tub. Tsubaki-no-yu is the family bath, a long tiled tub under a window full of garden green, and the inn says you can get into it without lifting your legs high. Both open from check-in to 9 a.m.
Six rooms have a tub of their own. Sumire, the largest room, got a new semi-open-air bath in July 2022, and the inn says it uses the hot spring freely. Kikyo has a cypress semi-open-air tub of 100% source water. Hagi, Ran, Mikazuki and Shinonome are listed as rooms with a free-flowing spring bath. The bathrooms in other rooms are not spring water.
The inn says the source comes up at 95°C: a sodium chloride spring, alkaline, for nerve and muscle pain, cold sensitivity, skin complaints and fatigue. The shared indoor and open-air baths look onto the garden and the trees of the hill behind, and camellias bloom over the open-air bath from late winter into spring. Day bathers come from noon to 8 p.m.: ¥1,000 for the shared baths, ¥1,500 with the private baths, and ¥200 for a towel set.
The hotel
Yoshidaya opened in 1907 and is a three-story wooden inn in the sukiya style, with fifteen rooms, no two built alike. One has a sunken hearth and a veranda onto the garden. Dinner and breakfast come to the room, to a private dining room, or to a dining room split by curtains with sunken tables. All rooms are non-smoking. There is no elevator, and the stairs have handrails. The inn keeps baby chairs, bouncers, baby baths and baby soap for families.
Good to know
- Both private baths are free, for staying guests, from check-in until 9 a.m.
- Day bathers can use the private baths too, for ¥1,500 between noon and 8 p.m.
- The beach is five minutes on foot, and the inn's car will collect you from the old merchant-house streets of Murakami if you call ahead.
Getting there
From Niigata Station, take a JR train north to Murakami Station; the inn publishes no train time. Its shuttle bus meets guests at Murakami Station from 3 p.m.; tell the inn your arrival time in advance. The inn publishes no ride time from the station. Drivers park in a lot for about 30 cars across the road, with two spaces for electric cars.
Murakami STN · JR Uetsu line
Not walkable.
Inn shuttle bus from Murakami Station, from 3 p.m., arranged ahead with your arrival time.
Where it is
Inn shuttle stop
- Joetsu Shinkansen 2 hr
- JR Inaho limited express 45 min
- inn shuttle 10 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR East Pass from ¥35,000 · 5 or 10 consecutive days Covers the Toki, a Joetsu Shinkansen service, to Niigata and the Inaho limited express on to Murakami.
- 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 inn's hot spring page and room page)
Best for: couples or small families who want a wooden old inn where the private bath is free and never needs booking
Private baths: open-air Hinoki-no-yu and indoor family bath Tsubaki-no-yu, free, no reservation, used whenever unlocked, from check-in to 9 a.m. Rooms with their own spring tub: Sumire (largest room, semi-open-air bath renovated July 2022, beds, up to six guests) and Kikyo (cypress semi-open-air bath of 100% source water, Simmons beds), plus Hagi, Ran, Mikazuki and Shinonome, listed as rooms with a free-flowing spring bath (gensen kakenagashi). The inn says the private bathrooms in Yunagi, Suisen and Azami are not spring water. Shared baths and open-air baths from check-in to 9 a.m. Day bathing noon to 8 p.m.: ¥1,000 for the shared baths, ¥1,500 with the private baths, towel set ¥200. A three-story wooden building with no elevator. All rooms non-smoking.
Check availabilityBooking through this link 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.