OnsenQuest

Prefectures / Toyama

Ogawa Onsen Motoyu Hotel Ogawa

小川温泉元湯 ホテルおがわ · Ogawa Onsen

Policy not published (day visit)Policy not published (overnight)

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.

Staying overnight

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

View4
Water5
Comfort4
Setting5
Access2
×Somewhere to sit — Bathe and leave
×Anything else nearby — Nothing else around

A one-inn hot spring at the end of a valley, running since 1886, on bicarbonate water that is neither diluted nor heated in the outdoor baths. The draw is the cave bath seven minutes upstream: a free-flowing mixed bath under a travertine roof the spring itself built, designated a natural monument, entered in bathing wear the inn lends you. Outdoor baths shut from December to mid-April. No bus reaches it - the inn's free shuttle from the Shinkansen station or Tomari is the way in without a car - and there is nothing else within reach, which is the point.

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

The natural cave bath (tennen dokutsu notenburo) is the reason people come: a free-flowing mixed-gender bath inside a cave of travertine built up over centuries by mineral deposits from the spring, designated a natural monument by the town of Asahi. It is mixed bathing, but the inn lends bathing wear free of charge and you wear it in the water - so nobody bathes naked here. It is a 7-minute walk upstream from the inn, open 7:00-18:00, mid-April to the end of November.

Open to day visitors

Open-air bath

Rock open-air bath and a large all-cypress barrel open-air bath attached to the main bathing hall, both looking into the valley.

Open to day visitors

Indoor bath

Main indoor bath with big windows over the river, open 6:00-23:00 for staying guests. Water may be diluted to bring it to bathing temperature.

Open to day visitors

Practical details

Day visits
Yes — you can bathe without staying overnight.
9:00-15:00 (reception closes 14:30)
Day visit price
¥1,000
1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for elementary school children; half price if you use only the outdoor baths up the river. The two outdoor baths, including the cave, are closed from 1 December until the snow melts around mid-April, and can also close in bad weather. The indoor baths run all year.
Staying overnight
Yes
Getting there
A single inn at the end of a valley road above Asahi, in the far east of Toyama near the Niigata border. There is no bus. The inn runs a free shuttle, reservation required, from Kurobe-Unazuki-Onsen Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen and from Tomari Station on the Ainokaze Toyama Railway, and in winter also from Toyama Station; you can also leave a car at either station and ride the shuttle. About 15 minutes from the Asahi interchange by car.
Official website
www.ogawaonsen.co.jp/spa

Visit the official website ↗

Book it

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Check rates and availabilityBooking.com ↗Day-pass tickets and coupons for ToyamaAsoview (Japanese-language site) ↗

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.