Can you bathe here with a tattoo?
This is the question we built the site around, so we answer it per situation.
Visiting for the day
The tattoo policy is not stated publicly. Please contact the facility.
How it scores
Every onsen on this site is scored on the same five things.
The baths
Indoor bath
Small free communal bath a couple of minutes below the Yubatake, fed by the Yubatake source. Besides the ordinary men's and women's rooms it has a separate bathroom used for jikan-yu - Kusatsu's old therapeutic ritual in which a group stirs the water down to a bearable temperature (yumomi), pours it over the head a set number of times and then soaks for a strictly timed few minutes in water around 46-48C under a leader's count. This is the only communal bath in the village where a visitor can normally try it.
Practical details
- Day visits
- Yes — you can bathe without staying overnight.6:00-23:00
- Day visit price
- FreeFree. A residents' bathhouse: no attendant, no ticket, no soap, no lockable lockers. Bring your own towel and leave valuables behind. Cleaning happens mostly in the mornings and the bath is shut while it is under way. The jikan-yu bathing session held in the separate room is a paid, timed programme and is not part of the free bath.
- Staying overnight
- No
- Getting there
- Two minutes' walk from the Yubatake, just below the hot-water cascade. Reach Kusatsu by JR bus (about 25 minutes) from Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi Station on the JR Agatsuma Line.
- Official website
- www.kusatsu-onsen.ne.jp/kankou/1098.php
Staying nearby
The links below are affiliate links — we may earn a commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we list or how we score it.
Why Agoda for Japan: it lists a lot of ryokan and small inns that the Western booking sites never picked up, and it usually prices Japanese properties in yen, so you are not paying a conversion spread on top of the room rate. Worth comparing before you book — the difference on a ryokan is often larger than you would expect.
About the day-pass link: Asoview is the main place day-use onsen in Japan sell entry tickets and discount coupons in advance. It is a Japanese-only site, so use your browser’s translation — you show the ticket on your phone at the door.
What we have not confirmed
We would rather show a gap than guess.
- The tattoo policy for day visits is not stated on the official website.
More onsen in and around Kusatsu
Checked the same way: tattoo policy, private baths and day visits.