Hirayama Onsen Tofuya Yamato
平山温泉 豆富屋やまと
Does Hirayama Onsen Tofuya Yamato allow tattoos? In a private bath
Tofuya Yamato takes five groups a night in five separate cottages, and every cottage has an indoor tub and an open-air tub fed straight from the Hirayama source.
No tattoo rule is published. The inn is five separate cottages, and each has its own indoor bath and open-air bath of undiluted source water, so a tattooed guest never needs a shared pool. The one bath building outside the cottages, Musouan, is a sauna-and-tub house used in two-hour private slots.
The bath
The inn draws on the Hirayama spring and makes much of its pH, which it ranks among the highest in Japan; it says the alkaline water lifts dirt from the skin. Every cottage has both an indoor bath and an open-air bath, and the inn says all of them run on 100 percent source water with nothing recirculated. Cottage 10, the thatched one, has its open-air bath and a lacquered semi-open-air bath set in front of a terrace of about nine mats, so the tubs are a few steps from the room. There is no shared bath hall and no day use.
Musouan is the inn's separate bath house on the wooded slope, and it is used one group at a time. It holds a wood-fired loyly sauna that the inn promises will make you sweat hard, a cold bath of natural water that the inn says carries two percent iron, an open-air bath and an indoor bath. Slots run 9 to 11 a.m., 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., 3 to 5 p.m., 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and 8 to 10 p.m. The inn publishes no price for Musouan and no booking method beyond asking at the inn.
The hotel
Five standalone cottages and a main house, with the inn taking five groups a night. Meals are served in the Warabi dining hall in the main house or in one of four private dining rooms. The name comes from the tofu the family makes, and the inn calls its own cuisine tofu-based country cooking. Check-in is 3 p.m., check-out 11 a.m.
Good to know
- Two tubs per cottage, one indoors and one outside, both on source water.
- Musouan is booked by the two-hour slot, so the sauna, cold bath and tubs are yours alone.
- Five groups a night is the whole inn.
Getting there
The inn gives its public transport routes only as images. In its text it says Shin-Tamana Station is about 25 minutes away by taxi or rental car, Shin-Omuta about 20 minutes, and that Kumamoto Airport is about 45 minutes by rental car. From Fukuoka Airport it counts about 60 minutes on the expressway to the Nankan interchange and 20 minutes on local roads. The inn publishes no bus stop and no walking time.
Shin-Tamana STN · Kyushu Shinkansen
Not walkable.
Taxi or rental car about 25 minutes from Shin-Tamana; the inn shows its bus routes only as images.
Where it is
Yamaga Onsen bus stop
- Kyushu Shinkansen 40 min
- Sanko bus 50 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 Yamaga is one stop in a longer Kyushu trip by train.
- Kyushu SunQ Pass Worth it if you’d rather ride buses. It covers the Sanko buses from Shin-Tamana and Kumamoto to Yamaga 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
There's no shared bath here, so every bath you use is private. No reservation needed.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site: (the rooms page says every cottage has an indoor and an open-air bath of 100 percent source water)
Best for: a couple or small family who wants a whole thatched cottage with two tubs of its own and a wood-fired sauna booked by the slot
Five cottages numbered 10 to 50, limited to five groups a night; the inn says every one has an indoor bath and an open-air bath of 100 percent source water. Cottage 10 is a thatched-roof house with a 10-mat room, a 9-mat terrace, an open-air bath and a lacquered semi-open-air bath. Musouan, the separate bath house, has a wood-fired loyly sauna, a cold bath of natural water the inn says carries iron, an open-air bath and an indoor bath, used in private slots of 9 to 11 a.m., 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., 3 to 5 p.m., 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and 8 to 10 p.m.; the inn publishes no price for it. The spring is a high-pH water the inn ranks among the highest in the country. Check-in 3 p.m., check-out 11 a.m.
Book your stay
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