Japan Tattoo Friendly
Onsen Guide
Yamaguchi · 1 h 12 from Hiroshima · Onsen town

Tattoo friendly onsen in Yuda

More operators answer the tattoo question in Yuda than in any other town in this survey, and nearly all of them say no. The exception, Yubel Hotel Matsumasa, writes down both halves: a cover seal you bring yourself gets you into Sennin-yu, its free-flowing open-air bath, and if you have no seal the hotel names its two reservable baths instead. Matsudaya Hotel leaves its family bath, Ishin-no-yu, free and unbooked for guests, in a tub set in 1860. At Oyado Onn the reservable baths are the only ones running source water at all.

1 property

Cover seal required

Smaller tattoos accepted when fully covered by a waterproof patch. What this means

Illustration of Yubel Hotel Matsumasa in Middle of the Yuda onsen street, five minutes on foot from the Chuo Park foot bath
Middle of the Yuda onsen street, five minutes on foot from the Chuo Park foot bath Hot spring ryokan with a large free-flowing bath and two reservable baths ★★★½☆ Confirmed

Yubel Hotel Matsumasa

湯田温泉 ユウベルホテル松政

Matsumasa is the one operator in Yuda that writes down a way in. Tattooed guests are refused the large bath, and then the same sentence says that covering the tattoo with a tattoo cover seal makes it fine. You bring the seals yourself; the hotel does not supply them. If you have none, the hotel names the alternative itself and points you at the two reservable baths, Ichi-no-yu and Ni-no-yu.

タトゥー（入れ墨）のある方のご入浴はお断りしております。ただし、タトゥーカバーシールで隠していただいた場合は、ご利用いただけます。ご利用の際は、各自ご持参の上ご利用ください。タトゥーカバーシールをお持ちでない方は、貸切風呂のご利用をおすすめしています。

Best for: A large free-flowing bath you can enter with a cover seal, and two reservable baths if you have none.

Bring your own cover seals; the hotel says so twice and does not sell them. Reservable baths are for overnight guests only: Ichi-no-yu for two to three people at 2,200 yen and Ni-no-yu for four to six at 2,750 yen, 45 minutes, in four fixed slots at 16:00, 17:30, 19:00 and 20:30. The large bath, Sennin-yu, runs 6:00 to 9:30 and 15:00 to 25:00 and is a free-flowing open-air bath associated with the haiku poet Taneda Santoka. Day bathing is closed to the public except for holders of a day-bathing ticket sold once a year, which is valid 14:00 to 20:00.

Yubel Hotel Matsumasa tattoo policy → Check availability
2 properties

Private baths only

Tattoos are fine in a private or in-room bath. The communal baths are restricted, or the policy is unconfirmed. What this means

Illustration of Matsudaya Hotel in Yuda onsen street, in a walled garden behind the shopping arcade
Yuda onsen street, in a walled garden behind the shopping arcade Ryokan from 1675 with open-air bath rooms and a free family bath ★★★★☆ Confirmed

Matsudaya Hotel

松田屋ホテル

Matsudaya publishes no tattoo rule, so do not read the large bath as open. Two things here are private anyway. Several rooms, among them Gansetsu and Koto, have their own open-air bath running Yuda water free-flowing. And the family bath, Ishin-no-yu, is free to guests, is not booked, and is used by whoever finds it empty, which is a low-friction way to bathe alone.

家族風呂は予約制ではないので空いていたらご自由にご利用になりこの歴史的文化財に実際に触れてみてください。

Best for: A free family bath whose tub was built in 1860 and has never stopped being used.

Founded 1675. The family bath Ishin-no-yu has a tub set in 1860 at the end of the Tokugawa period; the hotel says Takasugi Shinsaku, Kido Takayoshi, Ito Hirobumi, Saigo Takamori, Okubo Toshimichi and Sakamoto Ryoma all used it while plotting here, and it is free to guests with no booking. Room types run to Japanese rooms of 6 to 8 tatami in the old wing and Japanese, Japanese-Western and special rooms in the new wing, with open-air bath rooms among them; Gansetsu, renovated and named after Yamagata Aritomo, has a free-flowing Yuda open-air bath, and Koto is a 54-square-metre Japanese-modern twin with an open-air bath. A Meiji Restoration exhibition room sits inside the hotel.

Matsudaya Hotel tattoo policy → Check availability
Illustration of Oyado Onn Yuda Onsen in Yuda onsen street, connected to Kamefuku On Place by a covered walkway
Yuda onsen street, connected to Kamefuku On Place by a covered walkway Modern inn whose only free-flowing spring baths are two reservable ones Confirmed

Oyado Onn Yuda Onsen

お宿 Onn 湯田温泉

Onn is unusual in that its reservable baths are not a consolation prize, they are the good baths: the hotel states outright that free-flowing source water is available only in the reservable baths, Ruri-no-yu and Biko-no-yu. No tattoo rule is published, and the large bath guests are sent to is next door at Kamefuku, which publishes nothing either, so book a reservable slot and stay out of that argument.

源泉かけ流しをお楽しみいただけるのは貸切風呂のみ。

Best for: Free-flowing Yuda source water behind a locked door, booked at the desk on the day.

The two reservable baths are in the hotel wing only, 3,500 yen an hour, in four slots at 17:00, 18:30, 20:00 and 21:30. They cannot be booked in advance; the front desk takes bookings on the day. Guests use the neighbouring Kamefuku On Place bath, Fukufuku-no-yu, free, reaching it along a covered walkway, and get 6:00 to 9:00 access and post-22:00 entry that day visitors do not. Rooms have a raised tatami platform with beds on it and a soundproofed partition door. Children cannot stay without an adult.

Oyado Onn Yuda Onsen tattoo policy → Check availability
Traveler’s note

The refusals here are firm. Onsen no Mori, the biggest day bath in the town, counts a single small design and says staff will ask you out of the water with no refund. Nishi no Miyabi Tokiwa rules out covering up with a rash guard by name, and Umenoya and KKR Yamaguchi Asakura refuse as well. Sansuien and Kamefuku On Place publish nothing either way, so neither of them is listed.

Getting there

Tickets for the ride in

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Common questions

Yuda questions

Can I use a shared bath in Yuda with a tattoo?

At Matsumasa, with a cover seal. The hotel refuses tattooed bathers and then says in the same breath that a tattoo covered by a tattoo cover seal is fine. It names no size and does not sell the seals, so carry your own. No other large bath in the town is published as usable.

Which Yuda inns have a bath I do not share?

Three. Matsudaya’s Ishin-no-yu is free to guests and taken by whoever finds it empty, and rooms such as Gansetsu and Koto have a free-flowing open-air tub. Oyado Onn rents Ruri-no-yu and Biko-no-yu at 3,500 yen an hour in four evening slots, booked at the desk on the day. Matsumasa keeps two for guests.

Is there a public bath in Yuda?

Not a cheap one any more. Kame-no-yu, the old 390 yen bathhouse, has no operator page and one directory marks it closed. What the street has instead is six foot baths, from the station to Inoue Park, most of them free and open 10:00 to 22:00, two with drinking fountains beside them.

How do I get to Yuda from Hiroshima?

The Shinkansen to Shin-Yamaguchi, about half an hour, then the JR Yamaguchi line 20 minutes to Yudaonsen, which is how the timetables spell the station. About 1 h 12 in all with the change. A Kodama costs 5,700 yen against 6,020 and catches the same connection.

More places to bathe

Other guides

All twenty-three guides are live.

Tokyo area69 places → Osaka area39 places → Kyoto area15 places → Sapporo area11 places → Sendai area8 places → Kanazawa area12 places → Nagoya area16 places → Hiroshima area9 places → Hakone23 places → Kinosaki Onsen10 places → Kusatsu Onsen9 places → Nikko6 places → Atami7 places → Shirahama7 places → Arima Onsen8 places → Yumura Onsen3 places → Nachi-Katsuura2 places → Awaji Island4 places → Beppu Onsen32 places → Yufuin Onsen13 places → Kurokawa Onsen17 places → Ibusuki Onsen14 places → Ureshino Onsen14 places → Noboribetsu Onsen8 places → Jozankei Onsen13 places → Niseko12 places → Lake Toya5 places → Akiu Onsen7 places → Naruko Onsen10 places → Zao Onsen8 places → Nyuto Onsen4 places → Higashiyama Onsen10 places → Hanamaki Onsen10 places → Takayu Onsen4 places → Yamashiro Onsen14 places → Yamanaka Onsen14 places → Katayamazu Onsen6 places → Awazu Onsen3 places → Awara Onsen10 places → Unazuki Onsen6 places → Kawaguchiko17 places → Isawa Onsen18 places → Karuizawa13 places → Bessho Onsen6 places → Yudanaka and Shibu22 places → Nozawa Onsen10 places → Hakuba14 places → Myoko8 places → Echigo-Yuzawa13 places → Gero Onsen17 places → Okuhida Onsen14 places → Shuzenji Onsen8 places → Ito Onsen8 places → Shimoda12 places → Tamatsukuri Onsen6 places → Misasa Onsen11 places → Kaike Onsen8 places → Yunotsu Onsen4 places → Miyajima8 places → Yubara Onsen7 places → Yunogo Onsen4 places → Yuda OnsenYou are here Nagato-Yumoto Onsen4 places → Dogo Onsen15 places → Kotohira7 places → Takamatsu5 places → Iya Valley3 places →