Tsurugi Koizuki
つるぎ恋月
Does Tsurugi Koizuki allow tattoos? In a private bath
Tsurugi Koizuki looks straight at Mount Tsurugi from every room, and twelve of them have an open-air tub on the deck filled with the inn’s brown alkaline spring. A 50-minute private bath downstairs takes the same water.
The inn publishes no tattoo rule on its hot spring page, rooms page or FAQ, so the shared bath is not promised to anyone with ink. What it does publish is the structure: twelve rooms with their own open-air tub of the Etchu Tsurugi spring, which the inn says is hot spring water run through a recirculating system, and a private indoor bath of the same spring that any guest can book for 50 minutes. Either keeps you out of the shared hall altogether.
The bath
The spring is Etchu Tsurugi Onsen, an alkaline simple spring (low-tonicity, alkaline, low-temperature) that comes out brown with a slippery feel; the inn sells it as a skin-softening bath. The shared bath on the first floor has an indoor tub, a lying bath, a sauna, a cold plunge and an open-air bath, open to guests from 3 p.m. to midnight and 6 to 9 a.m., with no swap between the men's and women's sides. Day visitors are welcome from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., last entry 5 p.m., for ¥700 (children ¥350); shampoo and soap are provided, a face towel costs ¥220 and a bath towel rents for ¥550. The inn closes now and then for maintenance and opens at 2 p.m. the day after.
Twelve rooms have their own open-air tub on a wooden deck facing Mount Tsurugi: six Japanese rooms of eight mats, two Japanese-Western rooms with twin beds and four Western rooms. The inn says plainly that these tubs are hot spring water, recirculated to save the resource. The private bath on the first floor is natural hot spring as well: ¥3,850 including tax for 50 minutes, available 3 to 10 p.m. and 6 to 9 a.m., booked ahead or at the front desk when you arrive.
The hotel
A 32-room inn that calls itself a grown-up hideaway and keeps its service at arm's length on purpose. Besides the twelve open-air-tub rooms there are three Japanese-Western rooms with a bath, two maisonettes renovated in autumn 2022 with tatami below and twin beds above, nine Japanese rooms without a bath and six Western twins; all face Mount Tsurugi. Dinner is kaiseki (a multi-course Japanese meal) overseen by head chef Hirose, a prefecture-certified Toyama food master, in three grades; breakfast is Japanese with dried fish warmed at a stall and Toyama rice. Check-in is 3 to 7 p.m., check-out 10 a.m.
Good to know
- Book the shuttle by 6 p.m. the day before: runs with no booking do not go.
- The private bath can be booked at the desk on arrival, ¥3,850 for 50 minutes.
- Nine Japanese rooms have no bath of their own, so ask for an open-air-tub room by name.
- Children eat too: a kids' plate for ages 3 to 5, a mini kaiseki for school-age children, baby food warmed on request.
Getting there
Take the Toyama Chiho Railway main line from Toyama Station to Kamiichi, about 25 minutes. The inn's free shuttle meets trains at 2, 3, 4 and 5 p.m. for a ride of under 10 minutes and returns to the station at 9 and 10 a.m.; book it by 6 p.m. the day before and wait at the exit to the right of the ticket gate. By car the inn is about 30 minutes from Toyama Station or 10 from the Tateyama interchange; 60 free parking spaces need no reservation.
Kamiichi STN · Toyama Chiho Railway main line from Toyama
Not walkable.
Free inn shuttle from Kamiichi Station at 2, 3, 4 and 5 p.m., booked by 6 p.m. the day before; 5 minutes by car.
Where it is
Hotel door STN
- Hokuriku Shinkansen 2 hr 8 min from Tokyo
- Toyama Chiho Railway 26 min
- hotel shuttle under 10 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- Hokuriku Arch Pass ¥35,000 · 7 days Seven days between Tokyo, Kanazawa and Osaka, with reserved seats on the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Toyama, and the Ainokaze Toyama Railway and JR Himi and Johana lines on to the coast and the Shogawa valley.
- 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 at the front desk.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (the rooms page says the room open-air tubs are hot spring water; the hot spring page sells the private bath as natural hot spring)
Best for: a room with a ceramic open-air tub of brown spring water and Mount Tsurugi in front of it, 25 minutes from Toyama by local train
Twelve open-air-tub rooms: six Japanese, two Japanese-Western and four Western, which the inn calls the most in the prefecture. The rooms page says the room open-air tubs are hot spring water, recirculated out of regard for the environment. Private bath on the first floor, natural hot spring, ¥3,850 for 50 minutes, 3 to 10 p.m. and 6 to 9 a.m., booked ahead or at the front desk on the day. Day-use bathing in the shared bath 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., last entry 5 p.m., ¥700, bath towel rental ¥550, face towel ¥220; a ¥150 bathing tax is added for overnight guests.
Book your stay
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