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.
The baths
Open-air bath
Terraced stone tubs stepped down a mountain stream in a beech ravine, gender-separated, holding Zao's very strongly acidic sulphur water. The operator publishes seven cautions for bathing in strongly acidic water - it stings cuts and can bleach jewellery and swimwear.
Open to day visitors
Practical details
- Day visits
- Yes — you can bathe without staying overnight.reception 9:00-17:00; night bathing 18:30-21:00 (last entry 20:30) in the summer season
- Day visit price
- ¥850Adults 850 yen, children aged 1-12 400 yen for the daytime session. The night session (planned June to early October 2026) is 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for children, and discount or accommodation vouchers are not valid for it. This is a seasonal bath: the 2026 season opened on 25 April, with maintenance closures on 4 June and 13 July, and it does not run in the deep winter.
- Staying overnight
- No
- Getting there
- Above the Zao Onsen village in Yamagata, uphill from the bus terminal served by buses from JR Yamagata Station; it is a walk or a short drive up the ravine. Closed for the winter ski season, when the village's indoor baths and the ski slopes take over.
- Official website
- www.jupeer-zao.com/roten
Staying nearby
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.