Ureshino Onsen, west bank near the Shimojuku block Ryokan with detached private sauna baths

Ureshino Motoyu

うれしの元湯

Does Ureshino Motoyu allow tattoos? In a private bath

Private bath only

A 1916 inn that spent 2025 adding what most of Ureshino has not: three standalone bath cabins in the garden, each with its own sauna and cold plunge, rented by the hour to guests and to people who are not staying.

This is the one operator in Ureshino that answers the question in writing. Its FAQ for Yukomori no Mori, the three detached rental baths in the garden, says people with tattoos can use them without worry. The same answer closes the other door: the large bath and the group’s Hyakunen no Yu day-use bathhouse are off limits. Day visitors pay a bathing charge on top of the room rate.

Show this at the front desk

湯こもりの杜はタトゥーや刺青の方も安心してご利用になれます。日帰りにてご利用の方につきましては室料とは別に入浴料をお支払いいただきますが百年の湯・大浴場のご利用はお断りしております。

The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.

Where it is

Hakata to Ibusuki is about 3 h 25: the Kyushu Shinkansen to Kagoshima-Chuo, then the Ibusuki Makurazaki line down the coast, which the sightseeing train Ibusuki no Tamatebako also runs. Ureshino is about 1 h 20, a limited express to Takeo-Onsen and the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen one stop further. Kurokawa has no railway at all: the coach from Hakata takes about 2 h 40 by way of Hita and Tsuetate. The blue dashes are the way here from Hakata Bus Terminal: the Kyushu-go coach, which stops in the middle of the bath district rather than at the station two kilometers out, 2 h 12 in all; 2,200 yen against 4,870 by train, and eleven minutes slower; one run of the day stops at the expressway interchange instead, a 26-minute walk out. Ureshino Motoyu · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · open in Google Maps

What happens when you arrive

Skip the shared baths and reserve the private one the way this page describes. Once the door is closed, the bath is yours.

How we know

Confirmed from official site (the inn’s own FAQ post for Yukomori no Mori, dated 2025-09-23)

Read on: motoyu-spa.co.jp/news/47/

Best for: A tattooed traveler who wants a sauna, a cold plunge and a hot spring with a published yes attached

Yukomori no Mori opened April 2025: three separate cabins in the garden, each with a hinoki tub on the inn’s own source, a compact one-to-two person sauna, a cold bath and a small courtyard. Sixty minutes costs 4,000 yen on weekdays, 5,000 at weekends and holidays, 6,000 on peak dates; ninety minutes costs 4,990, 6,800 and 8,500. Open 09:00 to a 22:30 last reception, extendable in half hours when nothing follows. Sauna hats and ponchos are lent; towels are sold at reception; there is no wi-fi and no step-free access. Day visitors book online. The inn dates from 1916 and its large bath runs 15:00–24:00 and 06:00–09:00. Free transfers from Ureshino-Onsen STN by prior arrangement.

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Others in the same group

More places in the Ureshino Onsen with private bath only

TaishoyaUreshino Onsen, center of the bathing district → Kotan UreshinoUreshino Onsen, Shimojuku, a short walk from Taishoya → Ryokan OomurayaUreshino Onsen, on the river a few doors from Siebold no Yu → Yadoya UchirojiUreshino Onsen, on the old post-road main street → Ryokan YoshidayaUreshino Onsen, on the river at the Iwayagawachi end → Banshokaku ShikishimaIwayagawachi, in the trees above the onsen street →

All Ureshino Onsen listings →