Matsunoya Hanaizumi
松の家 花泉
Does Matsunoya Hanaizumi allow tattoos? In a private bath
Hanaizumi doesn’t publish a tattoo policy, so book one of its six rooms with a bath of their own. Two are detached cottages, and one of those has a ceramic tub kept full all night.
The inn publishes no tattoo rule for its 10 shared baths.
The bath
Six of the 25 rooms have a bath of their own, filled with the free-flowing spring. Akane, Ai and Benifuji have half-open-air baths. Ai’s is an indigo-glazed Shigaraki ceramic tub, and Benifuji’s is cypress. Seiro has a lacquered barrel tub under the open sky that you can use around the clock.
The two detached rooms stand apart from the main building. Tsuki-no-yado has a second, loft-style room upstairs and a half-open-air bath made to look like bedrock. Hoshi-no-yado has a ceramic tub in a large bathroom, kept full all night, looking onto a small courtyard garden.
There’s also a private bath, ¥3,000 plus tax for 45 minutes per group, booked in advance. Day visitors can book it from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The water is a mild, skin-softening spring. The shared baths include a rock bath, a round bath, a lying-down bath, a bubble bath, a pounding-water shower bath, an octagonal bath, a ceramic bath, a cypress bath and open-air tubs, and the men’s and women’s sides swap at 10 p.m. They’re open from check-in until 9 a.m., and these are shared baths with no published tattoo rule.
The hotel
Twenty-five rooms, 21 Japanese-style and 4 Japanese-Western, all non-smoking. Each has a shower room, bathrobes, a fridge and a tea set. Dinner is a multi-course Japanese meal by the head chef, served in the dining room. The 5th floor is a relaxation floor, open 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., with a stone-bed sauna, a rock dome sauna, paid air-massage machines, free massage chairs and a manga library.
Good to know
- Day visitors park by the river. The lot in front of the inn is for staying guests; day visitors use the riverside lot below Chugoku Bank, about 300 meters (330 yd) away.
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.
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 the private bath, book a 45-minute slot in advance.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site. The six rooms with their own bath are named on the inn’s own sitemap and room pages and the reservable bath appears in its direct-booking perks; 32 pages of the site carry no tattoo statement.
Best for: couples who want a detached room with its own half-open-air bath at the quiet end of the street
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