Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan
本陣平野屋 花兆庵
Does Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan allow tattoos? In a private bath
At Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan the garden rooms Kaze and Midori have a half-open-air tub beside a stone garden laid out under the Sogetsu school of flower arranging; the hot spring itself is in the shared baths.
Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan publishes no tattoo rule and has no private rental bath. A tattooed guest's own bath here is a room tub: the two garden rooms Kaze and Midori each have a half-open-air bath, and the suites and top-floor rooms have cypress or jet tubs. The inn calls only its shared baths hot spring, and it says the top-floor Hanayagi room's cypress tub is heated plain water.
The bath
Kaze and Midori are the two rooms with a half-open-air bath, both on the third floor facing the inn's stone garden. Kaze has an eight-sided tub, and slatted windows that slide open let the breeze through. Midori's tub looks onto the same garden, where the inn says small birds come to rest. Both tubs can be used around the clock. The inn assigns one of the two rooms and does not let guests choose. Dinner and breakfast for these rooms are served in a private dining room.
Other rooms have indoor tubs. The top-floor Hanayagi room has a cypress tub large enough for a family, which the inn states is heated water. Seven suites have cypress tubs and five have jet baths.
The hot spring is in the shared baths. Ishibashi-no-yu on the first floor has large windows and is open 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to midnight. Guests may also use the top-floor baths of the sister inn Kofukan, where the men's side has an open-air bath and a sauna. Relax Kura, a bath inside an old white-walled storehouse, is for adult women only. The water is a simple spring that the inn lists for neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, chills and fatigue.
The hotel
The inn stands in the middle of old Takayama, one minute on foot from Takayama Jinya and the red Nakabashi bridge and three minutes from the old merchant streets. Rooms are the Hanayagi room on the top floor, thirteen suites of 60 to 65 square meters with Hida-made furniture, the two half-open-air rooms renewed in August 2021, and 12-mat Japanese rooms. Six of the suites reopened in December 2023. A stay begins with whisked green tea and a sweet. The house also runs a sushi restaurant, Sushicho. Check-in is 3 p.m. and check-out 11 a.m. All rooms are non-smoking.
Good to know
- Kaze and Midori are sold as one room type, so book the half-open-air type and the inn picks which.
- The room tubs run 24 hours. The inn does not call them hot spring water.
- Station pickup is free on request. Tell the inn your arrival time.
- Parking for 50 cars is free, and staff park the car from the front door.
Getting there
From Nagoya Station the JR Hida limited express takes about 2 hours 25 minutes to Takayama Station by the inn's count; a direct Hida from Osaka takes about 4 hours 10 minutes. The inn is 10 minutes on foot from the station or 3 minutes by car. It will meet guests at the station or the Takayama Nohi Bus Center at their arrival time if asked. The inn names no station exit.
Takayama STN · JR Takayama Main Line
About 10 minutes.
Free pickup at the station or the bus center on request; 3 minutes by car.
Where it is
Takayama STN
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass ¥19,800 · 5 consecutive days Worth it if Gero, Shirakawa-go or Kanazawa is on the same 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
Use the bath in your room.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (: the rooms pages list the half-open-air rooms and the suites with their own tubs; the Hanayagi page states its tub is heated water)
Best for: a room with its own half-open-air cypress tub over a stone garden, one minute from Takayama Jinya
Rooms with their own bath: Kaze (room 360) and Midori (room 370), 12-mat Japanese rooms with a half-open-air bath usable 24 hours and a stone garden; guests are given one or the other. The top-floor Hanayagi room (90 square meters) has a family-size cypress tub that the inn says is heated water, not hot spring. Seven suites have a cypress tub, five have a jet bath and one has a tiled bathroom; the top-floor Nagomi room has an indoor cypress tub. The inn does not describe any room tub as hot spring water. The shared baths use Takayama Onsen water, a simple spring that the inn heats, filters and chlorinates without adding water.
Book your stay
- BBooking.comCheck availability
- AAgodaCheck availability
- EExpediaCheck availability
- HHotels.comCheck availability
- KKlookCheck availability
Booking through these links 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.