Tattoo friendly onsen in Yudanaka and Shibu

Yudanaka Onsen Yorozuya

湯田中温泉 よろづや

Yorozuya’s FAQ turns tattoos away from the large baths, with one exception: a tattoo about the size of your palm or smaller, fully hidden under a tattoo cover sticker. Anything bigger goes to a paid private bath or a room with its own bath, which the English page offers as the alternative. The FAQ does not say the inn sells the stickers, so bring your own.

タトゥー・刺青を入れてますが大浴場に入れますか？ 申し訳ございません。タトゥー・刺青のある方のご利用はお断りいたしております。 ただし、手のひら程度の大きさで、タトゥーのカバーシールで隠して頂けましたら、ご利用頂けます。

Best for: Getting a palm-sized tattoo, covered, into the Momoyama bath, a registered wooden bathhouse

Six baths on three sources. The large ones swap between men and women by time of day: the Momoyama bath, a temple-style wooden bathhouse finished in the early 1950s and registered as a tangible cultural property, with its garden open-air bath, and the Shinonome bath and its open-air bath. The paid private option is the basement Private SPA Bon: a hot spring tub, a löyly sauna and a steam sauna, a cold bath and an air-cooling space, for one to four people, from 7,700 yen a person for two. Photographing the Momoyama bath is allowed daily 9:45 to 10:00. Staying guests only, no day bathing. The ryokan runs the neighboring Shoraiso and Kamei no Yu, whose guests use these same large baths.

Rekishi no Yado Kanaguya

歴史の宿 金具屋

Kanaguya publishes no tattoo rule, in its FAQ or on its bathing-manners page. What it does publish is five private baths that cost nothing and need no booking: find one empty, lock it from the inside, and it is yours. The three large baths are shared and nothing is written about them, so use the private five.

Best for: Five lockable baths in a registered wooden building, with no booking and no fee

Eight baths on four of the inn’s own sources: a rooftop open-air bath for each sex, two indoor baths that swap between men and women (the tiled Roman bath and the gourd-shaped Kamakura bath), and five kashikiri baths. Saigetsu-no-yu, with a Mount Fuji tile mural over a boat-shaped wooden tub, is the largest private one; Gankutsu-no-yu is cut into the rock of the hillside; the other three are small tubs on the second, third and fourth floors of the four-story wooden Saigetsuro. The inn allows photos inside the private baths but not in the shared ones. Staying guests only: no day bathing, and nothing inside the building is open to visitors. Free tours of the listed buildings at 17:30 and of the sources in the morning. The room key also opens Shibu’s nine soto-yu, 15:00 to 22:00 on arrival day and 6:00 to 10:00 on departure.

Shibu Onsen Kokuya

渋温泉 古久屋

Kokuya is silent on tattoos, but it states that every bath in the house can be taken as a private bath, reserved at the front desk (some hours need booking ahead). About half the rooms also have an open-air bath of their own. Between the two, a tattooed guest never has to share water here.

Best for: Working through nine baths on six of the inn’s own springs, each one booked for yourself

Nine baths and fourteen tubs fed by six sources the inn owns, two of which rise directly under the building. The bath page says all of them are private all day, reserved at the front, with some hours needing advance booking. The facilities page breaks it down as one free private open-air bath, one free private indoor bath and two paid private open-air baths at 1,100 yen an hour. The room page lists nine room types with an open-air bath out of eighteen rooms. Kokuya dates its founding to 1625.

Ichinoyu Katei

一乃湯 果亭

Katei’s English page warns that tattooed guests may not be allowed into the public baths or other shared facilities, so do not plan on the large baths. What is left is Amatsumikawa, a family bath that is free, not booked in advance, and lent out with a key from the front desk for 40 minutes when it is empty. That is the bath to stay here for.

Guests with a tattoo may not be permitted to enter public bathing areas and other public facilities.

Best for: A couple with tattoos who want a free, lockable family bath and do not mind waiting for it

Family bath hours 15:00–21:00 and 7:00–9:30, 40 minutes a turn, key returned to the front. The large baths, named for the Cowherd and the Weaver of the Tanabata story, blend three sources and have open-air sections looking to the Shiga Highlands. A web-booking perk lets two parties a day have a large bath to themselves from 14:00 to 14:50, but whether that applies to a tattooed guest, given the English warning, is not said. Rooms share bathrooms. The English page mentions Kokuya, which suggests the two inns are run together.

Shunran no Yado Sakaeya

春蘭の宿 さかえや

Sakaeya publishes nothing on tattoos. It does sell two private sauna suites, each with its own hot spring tub, cold plunge and air-bathing space, booked by the hour for your party alone. Two room types, the Yoimachi Suite and the Semi-Suite Yu, have an open-air or half-open bath in the room.

Best for: A traveler who wants a Finnish-style sauna, a cold plunge and a hot spring tub without sharing any of them

Two private sauna suites, opened in 2021: Mori-no-iyashi on the sixth floor (14:00–22:30 and 6:00–11:30, with an outdoor deck) and Mizu-no-iyashi on the fifth (14:00–21:00 and 6:30–11:00, with a spring-water cold bath). Each has a hot spring tub, a sauna at about 80°C with self-service löyly, and free towels, sauna hats and drinks. Price per session: 5,000 yen for one, 7,000 for two, 9,000 for three, 10,000 for four. Day visitors can book too. The inn’s water is a weakly acidic blend of two sources.

Shibu Hotel

渋ホテル

No tattoo rule is published. The hotel has two private baths: an indoor family bath that is free to staying guests and taken by locking the door from inside, and an open-air bath added in 2021, rented in 30-minute turns at the front desk. Either one keeps a tattooed guest out of the shared baths.

Best for: A free private bath you lock yourself, with a garden open-air one to rent if you want the view

Private open-air bath: 30-minute slots starting 15:15–24:00 and 6:00–8:45, 2,000 yen a turn, first come at check-in, key from the front; free for guests in Superior Japanese-modern rooms. Family bath (indoor): free, no booking, lock from inside. The baths use a blend of three sources (two for the private baths) at 42–43°C, and close for draining and cleaning from about 9:30 to 15:00.

Shibu Onsen Yumoto Ryokan

渋温泉 湯本旅館

Yumoto publishes no tattoo policy. Its one open-air bath, Eri-no-yu, is run as a private bath: ask at the front desk and it is yours for the turn. The two indoor baths are split by sex and shared.

Best for: A granite open-air tub by a small snow garden, taken privately in a quiet eight-room inn

Eri-no-yu, the private open-air bath, is granite with a rock courtyard garden and runs on Shibu’s shared mixed source piped from Jigokudani; 15:00–24:00 and 6:00–10:00. The indoor baths, Kishiro-no-yu, are cypress on the inn’s own registered source. Eight rooms. No fee for the private bath is mentioned.

Taiyokan Yamatoya

大陽館 ヤマト屋

No tattoo policy is published. Between the men’s and women’s baths sits a family bath with a view, which the inn describes as private, so a tattooed guest can bathe without company. No booking system or fee is described.

Best for: A view over Shibu’s rooftops from a family bath you do not share

One men’s and one women’s bath, each with a viewing open-air bath, plus one viewing family bath. Baths open 14:00 to 9:30 the next morning and are drained and cleaned daily. Water is free-flowing Shibu source, pH 6.53. Ask at check-in how the family bath is allotted, since the site does not say.

Shibu Onsen Daimaruya

渋温泉 大丸屋

Daimaruya calls itself the inn with the private open-air bath and says nothing about tattoos. The open-air bath is private and holds about six; the indoor baths are split by sex and shared. Take the open-air one.

Best for: A cheap room-only stay with a private open-air bath big enough for a group

Five or six rooms (the page gives both), up to 20 guests. Men’s and women’s indoor baths, each about six tatami in size, and a private open-air bath for about six, with a second small tub for adjusting the temperature. No filtering or recirculation. New bookings with dinner are suspended: room-only and breakfast plans, with seven restaurants within a few minutes’ walk and a microwave for guests. The inn’s own booking page is in Japanese only.

Shibu Onsen Kadoya

渋温泉 かどや

Kadoya says nothing about tattoos. It keeps two private hot spring baths, a rock bath and a hinoki bath, taken by reservation only at the front desk, and that is where a tattooed guest should bathe. The large bath is shared.

Best for: A private soak in water with black mineral flakes that the inn says no other Shibu bath has

Two private baths, rock and hinoki, reservation only, booked at the front. The inn’s own source, free-flowing, runs hot and carries dark yu-no-hana flakes. Koishiya Ryokan nearby, which has no hot spring of its own, sends its guests to Kadoya’s private hinoki bath at 1,000 yen a person. Nine soto-yu keys lent at check-in; the inn gives soto-yu hours as 6:00 to 22:00. Kadoya’s operator also took over Tsukimi-no-yu Yamaichiya in July 2026.

Shoraiso

松籟荘

Shoraiso publishes no tattoo rule of its own. All five of its rooms have a private open-air bath on the inn’s own free-flowing source, so there is no need to use a shared bath. Its guests are sent across the road to Yorozuya’s large baths, where Yorozuya’s rule applies: a palm-sized tattoo under a sticker, nothing larger.

Best for: An adults-only stay with the bath on your own terrace

Five rooms, 60 to 95 square meters, each with a courtyard garden and a private open-air bath of free-flowing hot spring water from the inn’s own source. No children 12 and under. Dinner in the room for Kiku, Hagi and Nadeshiko; in a private dining room for Shakunage and Komakusa. Opened 1 March 2024 on the site of the 1939 Shoraiso, a registered building that burned in February 2021. Check-in 15:00, check-out 11:00. No day bathing.

Hanaakari no Yado Kamei no Yu

華灯りの宿 加命の湯

Kamei no Yu has no tattoo policy on its site. For two hours each evening, 20:00 to 22:00, its two open-air baths stop being men’s and women’s and become private family baths; the inn says to ask at the desk for details. That window is the tattooed guest’s way in. The free passes to Yorozuya’s baths come under Yorozuya’s own rule.

Best for: A six-room inn where the open-air bath is yours after 8 p.m.

Two open-air baths: Tsuki-no-yu, a new hinoki tub, and Hotaru-no-yu, an old plastered stone one. 15:00–20:00 men in Tsuki, women in Hotaru; 20:00–22:00 private or family use; 22:30–9:30 the other way round. Free-flowing. Staying guests may also use Yorozuya’s Momoyama and Shinonome baths, the Kaede-no-yu station bath and the Yudanaka Oyu communal bath for free; Yorozuya is a sister inn and serves Kamei no Yu’s dinners. Six rooms, none with its own open-air bath. Station pickup on request.

Yudanaka Onsen Shimaya

湯田中温泉 島屋

Shimaya says nothing about tattoos. Besides a hinoki bath and a large bath, it has a private bath, which it describes as a place to relax without minding anyone around you. How it is booked and whether it costs extra are not published, so ask when you book.

Best for: A plain, well-reviewed Yudanaka inn with a retro private bath

Three baths on free-flowing sodium chloride water that the inn says erupts naturally at 93°C from about 100 m down at the Hoshikawa riverbed, 300 m away: Hagi-no-yu (hinoki inside marble walls), Shiga-no-yu (a retro round tub looking onto the garden), and the private bath. Booking terms for the private bath are not given.

Issa no Komichi Biyu no Yado

一茶のこみち 美湯の宿

No tattoo rule is published. The inn sells a rooftop private open-air bath by the 40-minute slot, booked ahead, and has rooms with their own open-air bath. Use either and the shared baths never come up.

Best for: A private rooftop soak with the whole of Yudanaka below you

Rooftop private open-air bath: 2,000 yen for 40 minutes, advance booking required, slots on the hour 16:00–21:40 and from 7:00 in the morning. Rooms with an open-air bath: the Western-style Issa and Sakura rooms and the Japanese-style Biyu room. Three sources, all free-flowing, tended by a yumori. Large baths close 10:00–14:00 and swap sides between 0:30 and 1:00.

Hotel Tsubakino

ホテル椿野

Tsubakino has no tattoo rule on its site. It rents a private open-air bath, TSUBAKI, in 75-minute sessions booked ahead, and its three suite types, renovated in 2022, have a semi-open-air bath in the room. Book one of those and bathe there.

Best for: A private open-air bath with a Marshall speaker for your own music and a view to the Shiga Highlands

TSUBAKI: 5,500 yen for 75 minutes for up to two, 1,100 yen per extra person; sessions 14:30–23:30 and 7:00–9:45; book in advance, same day by phone. Towels and mineral water are free; sparkling wine is sold. Day visitors can book it too. The shared view bath has an indoor tub, two ceramic open-air tubs and a hinoki open-air tub for each sex; from 1 September 2026 it is open 14:00–24:00 and 5:00–10:00. Water is a simple spring.

Yudanaka Seifuso

湯田中 清風荘

Seifuso publishes no tattoo policy. Its Shinzan hinoki bath has a lock on the door, and staying guests can use it privately at any time for free. That is the bath to use; the open-air bath and the old indoor bath are shared.

Best for: A free private tub of 400-year-old Kiso cypress, whenever the door is unlocked

Three baths on the three sources held by the Shin-Yudanaka hot spring cooperative, a clear simple spring: a large open-air bath laid with Shiga Highlands stone, the Heian bath, an early-Showa bathhouse built like the Oyu communal bath with a ceiling over 5 m high, and the Shinzan hinoki bath, lockable for private use, free, staying guests only. The inn also runs an apple bath, with apples floating in the water, which it says changes with the season. Open around the clock except cleaning from about 10:00 to 14:00. No day bathing. There is a table tennis table.

Sekitei Rotenburo no Yado Tawaraya

石庭露天風呂の宿 俵や

Tawaraya publishes no tattoo policy. Its stone-garden open-air bath is split through the day into men’s, women’s and mixed hours, and from 19:00 to 22:00 it is let free of charge in private 30-minute turns, booked after you check in. A tattooed guest should take one of those turns and skip the shared hours.

Best for: A large stone-garden open-air bath booked free for half an hour after dinner

Stone-garden open-air bath schedule: 16–17 men, 17–18 women, 18–19 mixed, 19–22 private turns (to midnight in busy seasons), 22–23 women, 23–6 mixed, 6–7 women, 7–9 mixed. Private turns are free, 30 minutes each, and can only be reserved after check-in, so book it as soon as you arrive. Shampoo is not to be used in the open-air bath.

Aburaya Tosen

あぶらや燈千

Aburaya Tosen does not publish a tattoo rule. It rents Suigetsu-no-yu, a private open-air bath in Shigaraki ware, in 50-minute turns by reservation, and sells rooms with their own open-air bath. Take either rather than the two shared baths.

Best for: A Shigaraki-ware private open-air tub with a panorama of the Shiga mountains

Suigetsu-no-yu: 2,200 yen for 50 minutes, reservation required, 15:00 to 22:50. Shared baths: the Yumeji and Yumemi large baths. The inn sells several room types with a view open-air bath. There is also a private bedrock-bath room, Riraku, and a massage room. Water is alkaline sodium chloride, pH 8.59.

Wafu no Yado Masuya

和風の宿 ますや

Masuya publishes no tattoo rule. It has a private bath large enough for a family, booked in 50-minute turns for 2,500 yen, and four Yushinan rooms with their own open-air bath on free-flowing water. Either one keeps you out of the shared baths.

Best for: A family who wants one bath together, with a balcony to cool off on afterward

Private bath: 15:00–23:00, 50 minutes a turn starting on the hour, 2,500 yen, reservation required; there are also plans that include it. Rooms: sixteen Japanese rooms and four Yushinan rooms with a free-flowing open-air bath. The shared baths, Ruri-no-yu in the main building and Yumedono in the east wing (reached by an underground passage), swap between men and women at 21:00. Water from four sources including Jigokudani, cooled with underground water from 95°C.

Andaikan

安代館

Andaikan has no tattoo policy and, by its own FAQ, no dedicated private bath. It offers an early check-in at 14:00, before other guests arrive, with an indoor bath to yourselves for an hour at 1,100 yen per room. Its bath page adds that the baths can be taken privately on weekdays. Arrange it when you reserve.

Best for: Travelers who can arrive at two in the afternoon and want the old inn’s bath alone

Early check-in 14:00, one hour of private use of the indoor bath, 1,100 yen per room. The bath page says private use is possible on weekdays and, on nights before holidays, sometimes for guests who arrive early; ask. Two retro indoor baths, a small hinoki one and a tiled one, swap between men and women after dinner and after breakfast. Booking.com sells rooms with a shared bathroom.

Kanbayashi Hotel Senjukaku

上林ホテル仙壽閣

Senjukaku publishes no tattoo rule. It rents two private baths, each an indoor tub with an open-air one behind it, at 1,500 yen an hour per party, and sells rooms with their own hot spring bath: Japanese rooms with a granite indoor tub and, since 2018, deluxe rooms with an open-air bath as well. Use one of those rather than the shared baths.

Best for: Staying at the foot of the trail to the snow monkeys with a hot spring tub in the room

Private baths: Fukuju-no-yu (hinoki indoor tub plus rock open-air) and Senka-no-yu (granite indoor tub plus rock open-air), 1,500 yen an hour per party. Rooms: Japanese Room with Indoor Onsen, 64 square meters, two to four guests, granite tub; Deluxe Room with Private Outdoor Onsen, 130 square meters, two to seven guests, granite indoor and open-air tubs, the hotel says with a view of five northern peaks. The hotel gives its flow as 720 liters a minute, all free-flowing; the large bath pours from a whole wall rather than a spout. Founded 1929, Japanese construction with Art Nouveau and Art Deco details.

Kanbayashi Onsen Jinpyokaku Honten

上林温泉 塵表閣本店

Jinpyokaku publishes nothing on tattoos, and every one of its six rooms has a bath of its own, so there is no need to use the shared ones. Five room baths run on hot spring water. The sixth, the single room Kokko, has a unit bath that the inn says is not hot spring water.

Note: Five rooms have a hot spring bath. The single room, Kokko, has a unit bath of ordinary heated water, not hot spring water.

Best for: A six-room inn where writers stayed, with a cypress bath in the room

Room baths, per the room pages: Kyorai (largest, two to eight guests) indoor bath plus open-air bath on the source; Nyusho (one to six) a source-fed old hinoki bath; Kogyo and Kizan (one or two each, renovated July 2015) Japanese hinoki semi-open-air baths on the source; Futarishizuka (one or two, the special room) an old hinoki bath, source not stated. Kokko, for one guest, has a unit bath that is not hot spring water: in the inn’s words, “部屋付きのお風呂は温泉ではありません” and “ユニットバス付き（源泉ではありません。）”. The shared baths are a mixed open-air bath and a men’s and a women’s indoor bath, on water piped from Jigokudani. Founded 1901; the inn says Natsume Soseki, Yosano Akiko, Hayashi Fumiko and Kawabata Yasunari stayed.