Saigakukan
柚富の郷 彩岳館
Does Saigakukan allow tattoos? In a private bath
Saigakukan runs five family baths off two sources on its own land and charges guests nothing for any of them, but will not take the booking until you are standing at the desk. The hill it sits on puts Mount Yufu square in the window.
Five family baths, free to overnight guests, are the answer here. The ryokan says each booking gives you sixty minutes and that bookings are only taken after you check in, never before, with repeat slots if anything is free. Two of the five, Waki-no-yu and Ginjo-no-yu, are capped at one booking per room. Suites with an open-air or half-open-air bath are also sold. No tattoo rule is published for the large bath.
The bath
Two sources on the property feed everything here. The analysis is an alkaline simple spring at 51.9°C, pH 8.5, clear and without taste or smell, carrying 126.0 mg of metasilicic acid per liter; a second source at 52.6°C has passed the test for drinking, and there is a fountain for it. The shared baths are two open-air ones, Bogaku-no-yu and Tenku-no-yu, and a large indoor bath with a window built around Mount Yufu.
Of the five family baths, three were added in 2019 and pair an indoor tub with a terrace: Yufu-no-yu, Kuraki-no-yu and Fukuman-no-yu, all facing the mountain and all fine in rain. The other two add an open-air bath. Ginjo-no-yu is a real sake barrel with four tree stumps set inside to sit on, deep enough for four people; Waki-no-yu’s outdoor tub is built from boulders brought in from Kusu. A turn is 60 minutes, and you may book again if anything is free, except that Waki-no-yu and Ginjo-no-yu are limited to one booking per room.
Day-use bathing and lunch are suspended, and the ryokan says it will post when they resume. The published terms are 11:00 to 16:00 with reception closing at 15:00, 650 yen for adults and 250 for elementary-school children in the shared baths, and a family bath at 2,200 yen for 50 minutes, 3,300 for 80 or 4,400 for 110, booked at the desk on the day, not by phone.
The hotel
Sixteen rooms in nine types, on a rise facing the mountain. Three suites have a bath the ryokan calls Yufuin Onsen in private, one with a half-open-air tub and two with a full open-air one. Two more have an indoor jet bath the site does not call spring water; the antique rooms and the ten-mat Japanese rooms have none. There is no elevator to the second floor and the main building locks at 24:00. In its own page titles the ryokan writes the town as 湯布院 rather than 由布院, while calling the water 由布院温泉.
What is good about it
- Sixty minutes a turn, and you may book again if anything is free, except for the two with an open-air tub.
- A sake barrel with four stumps to sit on, which is Ginjo-no-yu; Waki-no-yu is built from Kusu boulders.
- The room television shows which baths are busy, so you can catch a free one without walking over.
Getting there
Five minutes by car from Yufuin STN. A free shuttle carries overnight guests in between 14:30 and 17:30: phone from the station and wait near the taxi stand. Going back, book it at check-in for a slot between 8:30 and 11:00. The car does not run for sightseeing.
Yufuin STN · JR Kyudai line; the Yufuin no Mori from Hakata in about 2 hours 10 minutes, or about 44 minutes from Oita
The ryokan publishes no walking time, only 5 minutes by taxi.
Free shuttle in 14:30 to 17:30, out 8:30 to 11:00, arranged by phone from the station.
Where it is
Hakata STN
JR Yufuin no Mori limited express 2 h 14
Kokura STN
Oita STN
✈Oita Airport
Hotel locationYufuin STN
What happens when you arrive
Skip the shared baths and reserve the private one the way this page describes. Once the door is closed, the bath is yours.
How we know
Confirmed from official site, bath structure rather than a tattoo policy (the operator’s own notice: 当館には家族風呂が全部で5ヶ所あり、ご宿泊のお客様は無料でご利用いただけます)
Read on: saigakukan.co.jp/1961
Best for: Booking a family bath twice in one night and paying nothing either time
Five family baths, free for guests, 60 minutes a booking, arranged at the front desk after check-in. Two spring sources on the property. Day use is suspended: the notice sits under the published prices on the same page, so neither the 650-yen bath nor the 2,200-yen family bath can be bought at the moment. The operator spells the town 湯布院 in its own page titles while calling itself a 由布院 ryokan.
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