Zao Onsen, on Takayu-dori in the old part of the hot spring street Ryokan

Miyamaso Takamiya

深山荘高見屋

Does Miyamaso Takamiya allow tattoos? In a private bath

Private bath only

Zao’s oldest inn, trading since 1716, with black board fences and heavy beams kept from its days as a cure house, and a barrel bath out in the open air turned by a Yamagata cooper.

Nine tubs and no published rule for any of them. The inn writes at length about its own source and its history and never addresses tattoos, so nothing here counts as permission for the shared baths. What it does sell is Kibitaga-yu, a single Shigaraki-ware private tub booked at the desk on the day for fifty minutes, and that is what puts this inn in the guide.

Where it is

Sendai is the door to all of these. Akiu is 43 minutes on one bus from the station, with no change. Nyuto is the Komachi, JR’s Shinkansen across to Akita, as far as Tazawako, then a bus of 47 minutes, about 2 h 20 in all. Naruko is twelve minutes on the Shinkansen to Furukawa and three quarters of an hour up the Rikuu East line. Zao is the Senzan line rapid over the mountains to Yamagata, then a bus of 37 minutes up to the ski village. Miyamaso Takamiya · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · open in Google Maps

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, not a tattoo policy (the 貸切風呂 block on the お風呂 page); no tattoo rule anywhere on zao.co.jp/takamiya/

Read on: zao.co.jp/takamiya/hotspring/

Best for: A 300-year-old house where the private tub is a single piece of Shigaraki pottery

Kibitaga-yu, on the ground floor of the Rian Sansui wing, 07:00–22:00, 3,000 yen for 50 minutes, booked at the front desk on arrival on a first come, first served basis. The house dates to 1716 and runs its own source through nine tubs, including a half-open barrel bath made by a Yamagata cooper that swaps between men and women daily, and the Seseragi-no-yu baths beside the stream that feeds the Sukawa. Note that the Takamiya group’s free bath-hopping between its Zao houses specifically excludes this one.

Check availability

Booking through this button costs you nothing extra and sends a small commission our way — it’s what keeps this guide free for our tattoo community, and every policy on it checked. Thank you.

Others in the same group

More places in the zao with private bath only

Meitoya SoZao Onsen, on the upper lane behind the hot spring street → Mogami Takayu Zenshichi-no-yuZao Onsen, on the rise above the hot spring street in the middle of the ski area → WakamatsuyaZao Onsen, on the hot spring street a short walk from the bus terminal → Gokan-no-yu TsuruyaZao Onsen, across from the bus terminal at the entrance to Takayu-dori → Pension Boku no UchiZao Onsen, at the foot of the Uwanodai slopes next to a convenience store → Takamiya Hotel LucentZao Onsen, on the Uwanodai side with the slopes across the road →

All zao listings →