Kochoran
胡蝶蘭
Does Kochoran allow tattoos? In a private bath
Kochoran's Tokinagomi rooms put a dark ceramic tub on a balcony above Toba Bay, beside a cypress bath indoors; the inn marks both as ordinary heated water. Its large bath, filled with Sakakibara spring water trucked in from Tsu, is closed to tattoos.
Kochoran firmly refuses tattooed bathers in its large bath, and asks anyone bringing a cover seal to talk to the inn first, without promising entry. The sure way in is a Tokinagomi room, which has its own ceramic open-air tub and a cypress indoor bath; the inn says the room baths are not hot spring water.
The bath
Tokinagomi is the room type to book. The deluxe suite has 12 plus 6 mats and the deluxe room 12 mats; both come with a cypress indoor bath, which the inn says lets you soak whatever the weather, and a ceramic open-air bath on the balcony where you watch the view change through the steam. The photo shows a round, dark speckled ceramic tub on a wooden deck under the eaves, with a lantern and a glass rail onto the bay and its oyster rafts. Two Tokinagomi rooms are set up for parents with babies. Hanaayaka, a two-room Japanese-Western suite renewed in 2024, has a half-open-air bubble bath with a sea view. The inn notes on every room that the room bath is not hot spring water.
The shared bath is Sakakibara Onsen water, an alkaline simple spring that the inn trucks in from Sakakibara in Tsu and calls a beauty bath; it ties the water to the old custom of bathing at Sakakibara before visiting Ise Grand Shrine. The granite view baths swap between men and women morning and evening, open 5 to 9:40 a.m. and 3 to 11:40 p.m. The single open-air bath, Nagisa-no-yu, is for men in the morning and women in the evening, and women get a bathing wrap. Day visitors pay ¥1,500 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., booked by phone.
The hotel
An inn on the Ohama shore facing Toba Bay that builds the stay around dinner served in your room: seasonal kaiseki (a multi-course Japanese meal) of Ise seafood, brought course by course so hot dishes arrive hot. The inn notes that it now serves domestic Kuroge wagyu rather than Matsusaka beef. Groups eat at the Japanese dining room Yu. Rooms range from Tokinagomi and Hanaayaka to Japanese and Japanese-Western rooms, some of them smoking rooms. Mikimoto Pearl Island and the Toba Bay cruise pier are about 5 minutes on foot, the aquarium about 10.
Good to know
- Room tubs are heated water, the inn says on each room listing.
- Day bathing ¥1,500, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., booked by phone.
- Free car from Toba Station, about 5 minutes, from 2:45 to 6 p.m.; phone on arrival.
Getting there
Take the Kintetsu limited express from Kintetsu Nagoya to Toba, about 1 hour 30 to 1 hour 40 minutes. Go to exit 1 on the Kintetsu side and phone the inn: its free car runs from about 2:45 to 6 p.m. and takes about 5 minutes. It drives guests back to the station from 8 to 10 a.m. The pickup point can move during work in front of the station.
Toba STN · Kintetsu Toba Line (limited express from Kintetsu Nagoya)
About 1.2 km from the station.
Free car from Kintetsu Toba exit 1, about 5 minutes, 2:45 to 6 p.m.; phone the inn on arrival.
Where it is
Hotel bus stop
- Kintetsu limited express 1 hr 35 min
- hotel bus about 5 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- Kintetsu Rail Pass, 5 days ¥4,900 Worth it if you’re coming from Osaka, or stopping at Ise or Nara on the way. It covers Kintetsu trains between Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Ise, Toba and Nagoya; the limited express seat is extra, about ¥1,340 from Nagoya or ¥1,640 from Osaka. From Nagoya and back, ordinary tickets cost less.
- Ise Grand Shrine and Toba Aquarium day tour Ise Grand Shrine, the Wedded Rocks at Futami, and Toba Aquarium or Mikimoto Pearl Island, from Nagoya.
- 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 notice to large-bath users on the inn’s hot spring page; the room tubs are from its room pages)
刺青(入れ墨)、Tattoo(タトゥー)の入っている方のご利用は固くお断りさせていただきます。※Tattooが入っている方でTattooを隠すためのカバーシールをご持参の場合は、一度ご相談ください。
This is the rule for the shared baths. It doesn’t apply to the private baths.
Best for: a Japanese room with a ceramic tub on the balcony over Toba Bay and dinner served in the room
Every room listing carries the note that the room bath is not hot spring water. Tokinagomi comes as a deluxe suite (12 plus 6 mats) and a deluxe room (12 mats), both with a cypress indoor bath and a ceramic open-air bath; two Tokinagomi rooms are set up for babies. Hanaayaka, a two-room suite renewed in 2024, has a half-open-air bubble bath. The large bath and the single open-air bath, Nagisa-no-yu, use Sakakibara Onsen water that the inn trucks in from Tsu; the open-air bath alternates, men 5 to 9:40 a.m. and women 3 to 11:40 p.m. Day bathing 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for 1,500 yen by phone booking, open-air bath for women only.
Book your stay
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