Matsushima Ichinobo
松島一の坊
Does Matsushima Ichinobo allow tattoos? In a private bath
Matsushima Ichinobo turns away tattoos in its shared baths, seals or not, and points guests to their own room bath; its View Bath Twin has a half-open-air tub of green Towada stone looking over the garden pines.
Ichinobo refuses tattoos in all its shared baths, the open-air ones included, even under a cover seal, and tells tattooed guests to bathe in their room instead. Three room types have a view bath of their own, one of them half open-air. The hotel says plainly that those room tubs are heated tap water, not hot spring.
The bath
A tattooed guest bathes in the room here, and the hotel is clear that the room tubs are heated tap water. Three room types have one. View Bath Twin, 45 square meters on the second floor of the RW wing, has a half-open-air tub of Towada stone, a rare blue-green rock the hotel chose to echo the bay and its islands, with a shower booth beside it. On the garden floor of the LW wing, the Garden Terrace plus View Bath Deluxe Twin adds a 12-square-meter terrace over the water garden, and the Hammock View Bath Deluxe Corner Twin has an indoor bath facing the harbor.
The spring is the hotel's own, Matsushima Onsen No. 1, from 1,500 m down at 53.5°C and 100 liters a minute: an alkaline simple spring at pH 8.6 that the hotel calls a skin-softening bath. It feeds four baths, all shared. On the fifth floor of the RW wing are Happyaku-yashima, an open-air bath under a broad roof, and Godaikan, an indoor bath with an open-air tub below it; they swap between men and women overnight. Niwa ga SPA on the first floor of the LW wing has separate indoor baths, a loyly sauna and a rock-salt stone bath.
The hotel
An all-inclusive resort hotel on the bay shore: meals, drinks and activities are in the rate. Every room faces the sea. The grounds include a 7,000-tsubo water garden, about 23,000 square meters, laid out by Ken Nakajima, who worked on the garden of the Imperial Palace. The Fujita Kyohei Glass Museum, attached to the hotel, is included for guests. Garden-floor rooms have Simmons beds and a club lounge with drinks and snacks.
Good to know
- All inclusive, so meals, drinks and the glass museum are covered.
- Free pickup from 2:30 to 4 p.m., from Matsushima or Matsushima-Kaigan Station; phone the hotel on arrival.
- The View Bath Twin's tub is half open-air, green Towada stone under the garden pines.
Getting there
From Sendai Station, take the JR Tohoku main line to Matsushima or the JR Senseki line to Matsushima-Kaigan; the hotel publishes no train time and recommends Matsushima Station as the closer one. Its free car meets guests at either station from 2:30 to 4 p.m.: phone on arrival. Return runs leave the hotel at 9:20 a.m., 9:50 a.m., 10:20 a.m. and 10:50 a.m., stopping at Matsushima Station, the Matsushima Rest House and Matsushima-Kaigan Station, with no booking needed. Parking is free.
Matsushima STN · JR Tohoku main line
About 600 m from Matsushima Station; the hotel’s car meets guests.
Free hotel car from Matsushima or Matsushima-Kaigan Station, 2:30 to 4 p.m.; phone on arrival.
Where it is
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR East Pass from ¥35,000 · 5 or 10 consecutive days For the days you leave the city.
- Naruko Gorge and Ginzan Onsen autumn tour The Naruko Gorge in autumn color and Ginzan Onsen’s old inn street, a day from Sendai.
- 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.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (the hotel's house rules page, which takes the tattoo question directly; the room pages for the heated-water view baths)
タトゥー（シール含む）のある方の共用浴場（露天風呂を含む）のご利用は固くお断りいたします、客室内の入浴設備をご利用ください。
This is the rule for the shared baths. It doesn’t apply to the private baths.
Best for: tattooed travelers who want an all-inclusive bay resort and are happy with a room bath that is not spring water
The room view baths are heated tap water, not hot spring: the hotel says so on its rooms page and on each room page. Rooms with a view bath: Garden Terrace plus View Bath Deluxe Twin and Hammock View Bath Deluxe Corner Twin (both on the garden floor of the LW wing), and View Bath Twin (RW wing, a half-open-air tub of green Towada stone). Seals do not help in the shared baths. The spring feeds only the two rooftop baths and the two large baths at Niwa ga SPA.
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