Maenohara Onsen Sayano Yudokoro
前野原温泉 さやの湯処
Does Maenohara Onsen Sayano Yudokoro allow tattoos? Yes, covered
Tattoos are allowed under up to two of the facility's own cover seals, 11 cm × 20 cm (4.3 × 7.9 in), sold at the desk for ¥310 each. Larger tattoos are refused.
The rule has been in force since February 25, 2024, and is on the facility's own FAQ. Before that, the bath refused tattoos outright. Refusing to buy or wear the seals means being refused.
Show this at the front desk
当館指定のタトゥーカバーシール（11cm × 20cm／1枚310円）2枚までで完全に覆うことができる場合はご入館いただけることといたします。
The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.
The bath
The facility is exact about which tub is the real spring: the source tub is fed straight from the well, with no added water and no chemicals, a cloudy green strong-salt spring, small and often busy, since only 50 tons a day may be pumped. The open-air baths around it use the spring diluted and filtered; the indoor baths are well water, with a carbonated bath, jets, lying and sitting baths, a cold plunge, a dry sauna, a steam sauna for women and a paid stone-bed sauna. Open from about 10 a.m. to 11:40 p.m.; ¥970 on weekdays and ¥1,300 on weekends, plus ¥380 for a towel set. A private half-open-air bath, Akari, is booked by the hour at ¥2,100. No mixed bathing over age seven.
The hotel
Not a hotel. There are no rooms, and the lounges are for a nap, not a night. What there is instead is a 1946 house rebuilt as the restaurant Kakitensha, serving 100 percent buckwheat soba noodles over a dry garden of moss and stones, and a garden the facility keeps for the four seasons.
Good to know
- A source-fed tub inside Tokyo, small because the city caps the well at 50 tons a day.
- Two 11 cm × 20 cm (4.3 × 7.9 in) seals at ¥310 each, bought at the desk, since February 2024.
- On the Mita line from Otemachi and Hibiya, ¥970 on a weekday.
Getting there
The Mita line runs from Otemachi and Hibiya. The Akabane bus leaves from the station's west exit.
Shimura-sakaue STN · Toei Mita subway line
About 8 minutes from exit A2.
Buses from Tokiwadai Station (Tobu Tojo line) and JR Akabane, 7 to 10 minutes; no shuttle.
Where it is
Shimura-sakaue STN 8 min
- JR Tokyo Wide Pass ¥16,000 · 3 days Three days of JR trains around Tokyo, the Narita Express and the Tokyo Monorail included.
- Tattoo-friendly onsen visit with a guide A guide takes you to a Tokyo bathhouse that welcomes tattoos, with five indoor baths and a separate open-air tub. About 90 minutes.
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- 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
Cover the tattoo completely before you go in, to the size on this page. How the seals work, and where to buy them →
How we know
Confirmed from official site (FAQ and the notice of February 25, 2024)
Read on: sayanoyudokoro.co.jp/faq/ and the notice of February 25, 2024
The facility's Chinese-language page still says tattooed and drunk guests are refused. The Japanese FAQ and the notice of February 25, 2024 are the current rule, and they're what is written here.
Best for: a day at a real source-fed spring inside Tokyo, with a garden and soba
The rule is written for visitors with small tattoos: two seals, bought on the spot.
The map shows every hotel close by. We haven’t checked their tattoo rules: sleep there, bathe here. Search Booking.com instead
Booking 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.
For current hours and prices, see the official website.