Ryokan Kunisaki
旅館 國崎
Does Ryokan Kunisaki allow tattoos? In a private bath
Kunisaki calls itself a small hideaway for adults, and bathes them in three free private baths that need no booking. Its detached cottage is a 1937 farmhouse with its own open-air spring bath.
Kunisaki publishes no tattoo rule. Its three private baths, a cypress tub, a stone bath and an open-air bath, are free for guests and need no booking: if one is empty, lock the door and go in. Two rooms and the detached cottage have their own spring bath as well.
The bath
The inn's own source comes up at 97°C as a clear, colorless sodium chloride spring, and it runs through every tub without recirculation. Kunisaki lists neuralgia, muscle and joint pain and plain tiredness as what people come for. Besides the men's and women's indoor baths there are three private baths, and they are the reason to stay. One is a cypress tub, a long rectangular box of wood in a wood-paneled room, where the inn tells you to breathe the scent. One is a stone bath, a small, calm space where cold sake can be ordered to the edge of the tub for a charge. The third is an open-air bath walled by dark fencing with a maple and a little rock garden, meant for looking up at the stars.
None of them is booked. The FAQ says that if a private bath is empty, guests go in without a reservation, and they are free for anyone staying. Bath hours are 3 p.m. to midnight and 6 to 9:30 a.m. Day visitors are taken 12 noon to 8 p.m. at 500 yen for the indoor baths or 1,000 yen for a private bath, 300 and 500 yen for children.
Two Japanese-Western rooms, Ran and Yuri, have their own spring bath in the room. The detached cottage Yamaboushi has an open-air bath of its own and an indoor barrel bath that the inn keeps available 24 hours.
The hotel
Kunisaki is a 10-room inn that describes itself as a small hideaway for adults and belongs to the association of inns that protect Japan's secluded hot springs. The rooms are tatami mats, with two Japanese-Western rooms that carry their own bath. Thirty seconds' walk away stands Yamaboushi, a farmhouse built in 1937 and converted into a cottage for up to eight, with meals taken in the main building. Dinner is built on the island and bay produce of the Shimabara peninsula. Check-in is from 3 p.m., check-out by 10 a.m., and the gate closes at 11 p.m.
Good to know
- No booking sheet for the private baths: empty means available, and they cost nothing for guests.
- Cold sake at the stone bath, ordered for a charge and brought to the tub.
- Day use runs 12 noon to 8 p.m., 1,000 yen for a private bath.
- Fifteen free parking spaces about 50 meters from the door.
Getting there
The inn publishes an address and a map but no transit directions. From Isahaya Station the Shimatetsu bus toward Obama and Unzen takes about an hour to the town, by the count of the neighboring inns; Kunisaki sits at the southern end of Minamihonmachi, and it gives no walking time from any stop. From Hakata, the JR Kamome reaches Isahaya in about 1 hour 40 minutes.
Isahaya STN · JR Nagasaki Main Line and Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen (Kamome), then the Shimatetsu bus
Not walkable.
Shimatetsu bus about an hour to Obama; the inn publishes no stop or walking time.
Where it is
Obama bus stop
- JR limited express 57 min
- Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen 20 min
- Shimatetsu bus 58 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Kyushu Rail Pass from ¥12,000 · 3, 5 or 7 consecutive days Worth it if you’re coming from Hakata by train.
- Kyushu SunQ Pass Worth it if you’d rather ride buses. It covers the Shimatetsu buses from Isahaya and the direct bus from Nagasaki Station to Unzen, and highway buses across the island.
- 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
Skip the shared baths and use one of the private baths. No reservation needed.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (the FAQ says the private baths are used freely without booking when empty; the rooms page lists the cottage's open-air bath)
Best for: a small group that wants a 1937 farmhouse cottage with its own open-air bath and a 24-hour barrel tub
Three private baths: a cypress bath, a stone bath where cold sake can be ordered, and an open-air bath; free for staying guests, no reservation, used when empty, 3 p.m. to midnight and 6 to 9:30 a.m. Day use 12 noon to 8 p.m.: 500 yen for the indoor baths, 1,000 yen for a private bath (children 300 and 500 yen). Two Japanese-Western rooms, Ran and Yuri, have their own hot spring bath; the detached cottage Yamaboushi, a 1937 farmhouse 30 seconds from the main building, has its own open-air bath and an indoor barrel bath open 24 hours. Gate closes at 11 p.m.
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