OnsenQuest

Prefectures / Tottori

Kawara-buro (Misasa riverside open-air bath)

河原風呂 · Misasa Onsen

Policy not published (day visit)

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

They have not said

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.

ViewWaterComfortSettingAccess

Verified by the editor

View3.5
Water3
Comfort2
Setting4
Access3
×Somewhere to sit — Bathe and leave
○Anything else nearby — In the middle of things

The symbol of Misasa: a free, always-open rock pool on the riverbed, looking across the river to the inn town. It is mixed bathing right beside the town's main bridge with only a basic changing shelter, so it suits the bold more than the shy. No water analysis or flow information is published for this pool, so the spring score stays neutral. The whole onsen town is on your doorstep. No rule on tattoos is published and there are no staff.

Every onsen on this site is scored against the same written rubric, and every score has been reviewed by the editor. The ones marked Visited were also bathed in personally.

The baths

Open-air bath

A rock-built pool on the riverbed of the Mitoku River by Misasa Bridge. Mixed bathing, with only a simple changing shelter. No staff. Reached by steps down from Misasa Bridge.

Open to day visitors

Practical details

Day visits
Yes — you can bathe without staying overnight.
24 hours, except the morning of odd-numbered days (cleaning)
Day visit price
Free
Free. No bathing on odd-numbered dates during the morning cleaning - the tourism association says 'the morning', the prefectural guide says 7:00-12:00.
Staying overnight
No
Getting there
Hinomaru buses from JR Kurayoshi Station take about 20 minutes to the Misasa Onsen terminus, roughly once an hour; the bath is a 3-minute walk from there, under Misasa Bridge.
Official website
misasaonsen.jp/sightseeings/sightseeing-1057

Visit the official website ↗

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.

Where to stay in Misasa OnsenAgoda ↗Compare on Booking.comBooking.com ↗Day-pass tickets and coupons for TottoriAsoview (Japanese-language site) ↗

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.