Zao Onsen, on the rise above the hot spring street in the middle of the ski area Ryokan

Mogami Takayu Zenshichi-no-yu

最上高湯 善七乃湯

Does Mogami Takayu Zenshichi-no-yu allow tattoos? In a private bath

Private bath only

Thirteen generations of one family have run this house, and the present owner built seven open-air baths on the hillside and named them after the Seven Lucky Gods. You reserve them one at a time, and one of them is meant for the dog.

Seven bookable open-air baths, one after each of the Seven Lucky Gods, and no tattoo rule published anywhere on the inn’s site. The shared baths are therefore unanswered, but this is the one house in Zao where the private baths are the main event rather than an extra, and its day-use ticket includes one.

Where it is

Sendai STN Yamagata STN change JR Senzan line rapid 84 min Morioka STN Fukushima STN Hotel location
Zao Onsen bus terminal
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. Mogami Takayu Zenshichi-no-yu · 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 温泉 page listing the seven reservable baths, and the 日帰りプラン page); the inn’s FAQ says nothing about tattoos

Read on: oohira.co.jp/hotspa/

Best for: Booking an open-air tub to yourself for the price of a day ticket, with the ski slopes below you

The private open-air baths are booked 10:00–21:00 and priced from 1,000 to 7,500 yen depending on the bath and the season. Daikokuten and Jurojin seat two to four with showers from April to November; Ebisuten is a pair of single reclining tubs with no shower; Hoteison is 1.8 m square, part roofed, and takes four. There is also a spring-fed tub for dogs, summer only, which the owner says is the first of its kind in Japan, and dogs sleep in the rooms. Day bathing is 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for children, 10:30–21:00 with the sexes swapped over between 19:00 and 19:30, and the operator states that the price includes a turn in a private open-air bath. Longer day plans with a meal run from 4,000 yen. A 12,000 yen annual pass is sold.

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

All zao listings →