Tattoo friendly onsen in Tsunagi and Oshuku

Morioka Tsunagi Onsen Shikitei

盛岡つなぎ温泉 四季亭

The inn’s FAQ turns tattooed guests away from the large bath unless the tattoos can be hidden under cover seals, in which case they may bathe. It names no seal size and doesn’t say it sells seals, so bring your own. Four room types have an open-air tub of their own, fed straight from the source, where no cover is needed.

申し訳ございませんが、刺青・タトゥーのある方の大浴場のご利用はお断りいたしております。ただし、タトゥー隠しシール等を貼って隠せる場合はご入浴いただけます。

Best for: covering up for a sulfur spring open-air bath under a wooded slope, or skipping the seal with a room tub

The men’s bath is on the second floor and the women’s on the third, and they don’t swap. No sauna and no day bathing. Rooms with their own source-fed open-air tub: the special room, the 10-mat and 8-mat open-air bath rooms, and the connecting room. Check-in 3 to 7 p.m., check-out 10 a.m.

Hotel Morinokaze Oshuku

ホテル森の風鶯宿

Tattooed guests may bathe here only if every tattoo is covered with cover seals or something similar; the hotel says anyone who does not follow that is refused, as everyone with a tattoo was before July 1, 2024. The hotel also has two reservable private baths and 17 Shikisai rooms with their own open-air spring tub, but its notice does not say whether the seal rule reaches those.

弊社では、入れ墨・タトゥ－のある方のご入館・ご入浴を原則お断りとしますが、下記ルールを厳守していただける方は、 2024年7月1日より、テスト的にご入浴を受け入れることにいたしました。 ◆ご入浴ルール 入れ墨・タトゥーが全て覆える様に、専用カバーシール等でデザインを隠していただければご入浴を受け入れます。但し、当ホテルのルールを守っていただけない方に関しては、今まで通りご入浴をお断りさせていただきます。

Best for: travelers willing to seal up for a rooftop open-air bath that looks across the Shizukuishi basin to Mount Iwate

The hotel calls the seal rule a trial, so it may change, and it names no seal size or whether seals are sold at the desk. The two private baths (a rock bath and a ceramic pot bath, both indoors) cost ¥3,300 for 70 minutes, 3 p.m. to midnight with last entry at 11 p.m., booked ahead; the FAQ adds ¥550 per extra 15 minutes. The 17 Shikisai rooms each have an open-air tub of cypress, ceramic or pot style, fed 100 percent by flowing spring water. The adjoining garden park is closed for renovation until a planned reopening in April 2027.

Yumori Hotel Taikan

湯守 ホテル大観

Tattooed guests are refused in the hotel’s large bath and open-air baths. Its parent group, Itoen Hotels, tells them to use the bath in their room or a private bath instead. Taikan has no reservable private bath, so the way in is one of its eleven rooms with an open-air tub of the hotel’s own spring: nine in the Bettei Urara wing and two in the East wing.

※刺青・タトゥーのある方の入浴をお断りいたします。 刺青・タトゥーなどを入れている方の、大浴場・露天風呂のご入浴は原則お断りしております。各部屋に備え付けのお風呂か、貸切風呂をご利用ください。

Best for: a room with its own open-air tub of unheated source water, looking toward Lake Gosho

Rooms with an open-air spring tub: the Bettei Urara suite (1 room), Bettei Urara deluxe (3) and standard (5), and the East wing open-air bath rooms (2), one tub of cypress and one of ceramic. The hotel announced the end of day bathing in July 2025. Check-in 3 p.m., check-out 10 a.m., 11 a.m. in Bettei Urara.

Bessou Kakei

別荘佳景

Bessou Kakei publishes no tattoo rule, and it has no shared bath to be turned away from. Each of its six villas has its own indoor bath and open-air rock bath, both fed from the inn’s two private sources around the clock.

Best for: a couple who want a whole villa with an open-air rock bath facing Mount Iwate

Six detached villa suites of about 100 square meters, each for two guests, all Japanese style; one is done in an old-farmhouse style. No restaurant: dinner is ordered from the room-service menu and charged on top of the room, breakfast is included, and lunch is included on consecutive nights. Stays only, no day bathing. Check-in until 8 p.m.

Tabisomeya Yamaichi

旅染屋 山いち

Yamaichi publishes no tattoo rule. It rents a private bath by the session, a ceramic tub of source-flowing spring water with a tatami washing floor, and two first-floor rooms have a ceramic tub of their own. Either gives you a bath nobody else shares; the shared baths have no published answer.

Best for: a 50-minute private soak in a ceramic tub on a tatami floor

Private bath: 50 minutes for ¥1,575 a group, from 11 a.m., last start 10 p.m., last booking 9 p.m.; it can be added to a day visit. Room tubs: Sakura (6 mats, up to two) and Buna (8 mats, up to four), both in the main building. No elevator. Day bathing 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for ¥700.

Gensen Itto Iwate Shizukuishi

源泉一途 岩手雫石

Gensen Itto publishes no tattoo rule. Its two suite types each have their own open-air or half-open-air tub of the inn’s spring, so book one of those rather than a twin room and the shared bath is not needed.

Best for: a suite with its own tub of unheated, undiluted Oshuku spring water

Two of the four room types have their own bath: the Gensen Suite with an open-air bath and the Grand Gensen Suite with a half-open-air bath, both about 80 square meters for up to five. The hotel does not publish how many rooms of each type there are. It says its spring goes into the tubs with no added water, no heating, no filtering and no recirculation.