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The basic sequence
1. Undress completely in the changing room and put everything in a basket or locker (swimsuits are normally not allowed).
2. In the bathroom, wash at the taps first, or at least rinse with "kake-yu" (scooped water) beside the tub.
3. Tie up long hair; keep it out of the water.
4. Get in. Rest your small towel on your head or the rim — never in the water.
5. No swimming, no diving, no shouting. No photographs.
6. Pat yourself dry before returning to the changing room, so the floor stays dry.
To keep the minerals on your skin you need not rinse afterwards, but with acidic or sulfur springs sensitive skin is safer rinsed.
Getting into hot water
Japanese baths are hot. Before entering, pour water over your head and shoulders ("kaburi-yu") and ease in from the feet. Don't stay long: a few short soaks of about five minutes with rests between ("bunkatsu-yoku") are kinder to the body. Drink water before and after. Avoid bathing right after a meal or alcohol.
Even in toji, about three baths a day has been the traditional guide.
Mixed bathing and bathing wear
Mixed bathing was once the norm all over Japan, dwindled under Meiji-era regulation, and survives at some old toji baths and rustic open-air pools. Many mixed baths have women-only hours.
Increasingly, mixed baths lend "yuamigi", thin bathing garments you can wear in the water — the Sennin-buro at Sukayu and the Sunayu at Yubara among them. Availability differs by facility, so the atlas offers "mixed bathing with bathing wear" as a search condition and lists only confirmed places.
In a mixed bath: don't stare, don't approach uninvited, don't take out a camera. That is all.
ゆ＾ω＾び · CC BY-SA 2.1 jp
Sukayu Onsen
酸ヶ湯
Aomori · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 9
A 160-tatami bathhouse of hiba cypress without a single pillar, where men and women share acidic water under Japan's deepest snow.
Phronimoi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Yubara Onsen
湯原温泉
Okayama · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 78
Right beneath the dam wall, water rises through the riverbed into a bath that is free, open all night, and open to anyone. It is also mixed-gender, with nothing more than a simple changing hut.
C.K. Tse · CC BY-SA 2.0
Hōshi Onsen
法師温泉
Gunma · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 27
In a bathhouse of 1895 with arched windows, the water rises between pebbles on the floor. One inn, one bath, and the old etiquette of mixed bathing still in use.
Tattoos
Many onsen facilities refuse bathers with tattoos, a legacy of their association with organised crime; the picture is changing with the rise in foreign visitors. Policies fall into three types:
- OK: no conditions (common at communal baths and small inns)
- OK if covered: with a patch or bandage, sometimes up to a size limit
- Not allowed
Private or in-room baths are almost always fine. The atlas records "OK / covered / no / unconfirmed" per facility and includes only confirmed entries in search. The Japan Tourism Agency has issued guidance to facilities on the matter.
Children, photography, drinking
Most facilities admit children once they are out of nappies, but age rules vary. The age at which boys and girls must bathe separately is set by prefectural ordinance, usually from 7 to 10.
Photography in the bathroom is essentially forbidden; unless the facility has given permission at an empty hour, keep the camera away.
Where drinking the water is permitted, the fountain carries a licence notice and a suggested daily amount. Never drink from the tub.
Glossary
- Yuamigi
- A thin garment worn in the water; increasingly lent at mixed baths.
- Kake-yu
- Scooping water over the body before entering the tub, to rinse and acclimatise.
Related onsen
Takuya Matsuyama · CC BY 3.0
Dōgo Onsen
道後温泉
Ehime · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 82
Water from eighteen sources is blended at distribution stations and sent, unheated and undiluted, into a three-storey wooden bathhouse that is a national cultural treasure.
ゆ＾ω＾び · CC BY-SA 2.1 jp
Sukayu Onsen
酸ヶ湯
Aomori · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 9
A 160-tatami bathhouse of hiba cypress without a single pillar, where men and women share acidic water under Japan's deepest snow.
Phronimoi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Yubara Onsen
湯原温泉
Okayama · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 78
Right beneath the dam wall, water rises through the riverbed into a bath that is free, open all night, and open to anyone. It is also mixed-gender, with nothing more than a simple changing hut.