Genroku Hatago Aburaya
元禄旅籠 油屋
Does Genroku Hatago Aburaya allow tattoos? In a private bath
Aburaya publishes no tattoo policy, but all seven of its guest rooms have their own spring-water bath. Day visitors can rent a private bath instead of using the shared ones.
One of Yubara’s two main source wells is under Musuian, the inn’s guest building, and it supplies the town’s other inns as well.
The bath
Every room has its own bath, fed straight from the spring and free-flowing. In the rooms on the 2nd to 4th floors, you look across the river from the tub. In the 1st-floor rooms, the spring water runs into the tub in the room’s bathroom.
Aburaya has two private baths, one in each building, taken by reservation. The one the inn names, Yakuo-yu, is also free-flowing from the source. It’s ¥3,300 for 50 minutes for staying guests and ¥5,500 for day visitors, who can book it from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The water is a mild alkaline spring that feels silky without soap. The shared baths are in Shokutokan, the dining and bathing building across the road, with an indoor and an outdoor tub on each side. Day bathing there runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., adults ¥1,500 and children through elementary school ¥750. These are shared baths with no published tattoo rule. A face towel is ¥550 to buy and a bath towel ¥550 to rent.
The hotel
Aburaya opened in 1688. The seven rooms are in Musuian, the riverside guest building: 6-mat rooms for two on the 1st floor, and 10-mat rooms for two or three on the 2nd to 4th floors, with the best views from the 4th. Check-in is 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., checkout 10 a.m. Dinner is a French and Italian course with Japanese touches, served in Shokutokan, a Meiji-era building renovated in 1998. The whole inn is non-smoking, and Wi-Fi is free. Free parking for six cars; pull up at the entrance and staff will show you where to park.
Good to know
- No children overnight. The inn doesn’t take children as overnight guests.
- Sunayu is 3 minutes away. Yubara’s free riverside open-air bath is 300 meters (330 yd) from Musuian, and the inn lends bathing wear to wear in it. It’s a shared bath with no published tattoo rule.
Getting there
Yubara Onsen bus stop · Shin Kurayoshi Kaido Express highway bus
6 minutes on foot.
From Hiroshima, take the Sanyo Shinkansen to Okayama, about 35 minutes. From the west exit of Okayama Station, take the Shin Kurayoshi Kaido Express highway bus to Yubara Onsenguchi, about 1 hour 35 minutes. Only one bus a day makes the trip from Okayama, in the late afternoon, so check the timetable before you plan around it. Aburaya will pick you up from the Yubara Onsen bus stop if you ask.
Where it is
Yubara Onsen bus stop
- Sanyo Shinkansen 47 min from Osaka
- Chutetsu and Maniwa buses about 2 hours 25 minutes
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Okayama-Hiroshima-Yamaguchi Area Pass ¥17,000 · 5 days Worth it if you’re coming from Hiroshima or farther west.
- Okayama and Kurashiki day tour Korakuen Garden and Kurashiki’s old canal quarter in one day, from Okayama, with an optional sushi-making lunch.
- 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. For a private bath, ask the front desk to book you a 50-minute slot.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site. The all-rooms spring bath and the reservable private bath and its prices are on the inn’s own bath page; 37 pages of the site carry no tattoo statement.
Best for: couples traveling without children who want a free-flowing bath in the room and a French-Italian course dinner
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