Ryokufuen Kiyoharu
緑風苑きよはる
Does Ryokufuen Kiyoharu allow tattoos? In a private bath
Ryokufuen Kiyoharu, an older wooden inn west of Takayama Station, has two new rooms, Natsuki and Shiho, each with a dark oval open-air tub on a private deck.
Ryokufuen Kiyoharu publishes no tattoo rule for its shared baths. Two rooms, Natsuki and Shiho, have a private open-air bath on their own deck plus a shower room, so guests in those rooms can bathe without using the shared baths. The inn has no reservable private bath, so the choice of room decides it.
The bath
The rooms Natsuki and Shiho are the ones to book for a bath of your own. Each opens onto a small deck with an open-air tub for the room alone, and each has a separate shower room indoors, a washstand and a toilet. Natsuki is a Western room with two double beds and a single. Shiho pairs a raised tatami floor with one double and two single beds. The inn says guests there can bathe morning and evening without thinking of anyone else. Its pages describe the tubs as private open-air baths and leave the water unnamed.
The shared baths draw on Matsukura Yunoyama Onsen, a clear, nearly odorless simple spring, weakly alkaline, that leaves the ground at 29.6 degrees C. The inn adds no water; it heats the spring to bathing temperature, circulates and filters it, and uses a chlorine agent. Each side has an open-air rock bath set with patterned Matsukura stone and an indoor bath of cypress that the inn calls a little retro.
Each side also has a dry sauna for eight, a cold plunge and a place to cool off beside the open-air bath. Baths open 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. A rest area outside the bath doors has cold water, and there are free massage chairs.
The hotel
Kiyoharu is a Japanese-style inn of timber interiors hung with Hida folk crafts and antiques. Besides the two bath rooms it has a 21-mat family room for up to ten, 12-mat and 10-mat rooms with a veranda, one type facing the Northern Alps, standard 8 to 10-mat rooms and a 6-mat room for one or two. Dinner is a kaiseki (a multi-course Japanese meal) served in the large hall, with Hida beef; it starts between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., breakfast between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. The lobby lounge has free coffee and tea. A pond in the garden holds a single char the staff call Kiyoharu-kun. Guests check in from 3 p.m. and leave by 10 a.m.
Good to know
- Call from the west exit for a pickup. The inn collects guests at Takayama Station from 3 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., usually within 5 minutes.
- Parking is free, 26 spaces at the door, one car a room, and you may leave the car before check-in and after check-out.
- Only Natsuki and Shiho have a tub of their own. Several other room types have a shower room and no bath.
- No step-free rooms. The inn says its elevator is narrow and the baths have no handrails.
Getting there
From Nagoya Station take the JR Hida limited express on the Takayama Main Line to Takayama Station; the inn gives no ride time. From the station the inn is 20 minutes on foot or 4 minutes by taxi. Between 3 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. the inn will collect you: phone from the west exit on the day and a car usually arrives in about 5 minutes, longer at holidays and during the Takayama Festival. The old town streets are 15 to 25 minutes from the inn on foot.
Takayama STN · JR Takayama Main Line
20 minutes.
Pickup from the west exit, 3 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., by phoning on arrival; 4 minutes by taxi.
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, or reserve a private bath.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (: the rooms page lists Natsuki and Shiho each with a private open-air bath and a shower room)
Best for: a room for three with its own open-air tub and a station pickup
Only two rooms have their own bath: Natsuki, a Western room with two double beds and one single, and Shiho, a Japanese-Western room with one double and two singles on a raised tatami floor. Each has a private open-air tub, a separate shower room, a washstand and a toilet. The inn calls the room tubs private open-air baths without the words hot spring, so ask when you book if the water matters to you. The shared baths use Matsukura Yunoyama Onsen with no water added, heated and circulated, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Day visitors are not taken.
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