Kōchi · Kitagawa Village Onsen, eastern Kōchi
Kitagawa Village Onsen Yuzu-no-yado
北川村温泉 ゆずの宿
A lone inn in the hills of Kitagawa, a 'yuzu village' of some 1,300 people in eastern Kōchi. Its spring, known for over 80 years, is loved locally as silky 'beauty water', and in 2018 the inn was completely rebuilt as Japan's first CLT-construction hot-spring building, using timber from the village. The wood-wrapped main bath, open-air bath and family bath are all 100% source water. Day bathing: adults ¥700, children ¥350, 11:00–21:00 (last entry 20:30), closed Tuesdays. Private baths cost ¥2,200 per group for 50 minutes on top of admission. There is a restaurant serving yuzu dishes, and the Nakaoka Shintarō museum and Monet's Garden Marmottan are nearby — a good stop on a drive toward Cape Muroto. About 20 minutes by car from Route 55; 14 rooms in three types.
- Price (adult)
- ¥700
- Hours
- 11:00–21:00 (last entry 20:20)
- Closed
- Tuesdays (day bathing)
- Access
- About 20 min by car from Nahari Station (Tosa Kuroshio Railway; ask about pick-up); about 1 h 40 min by car from Kōchi city via Route 55
- Water type
- Alkaline simple
- Tattoos
- Ask ahead
- Admission
- Day bathing: adults (junior high and up) ¥700, elementary ¥350, preschoolers free. Private bath ¥2,200 per group for 50 min (admission extra, reservation). Towels charged (rental/sale), shampoo provided, lockers. Restaurant (lunch around 11:30–14:00, local produce and yuzu dishes), yuzu-product shop, lounge. 14 guest rooms (Japanese-Western with cypress view bath, twin, double), from ¥13,000 with two meals (weekday, two sharing). Free bathing for overnight guests
- Baths
- A lone inn in the mountains of Kitagawa, a yuzu-growing village of about 1,300 people in eastern Kochi with no traffic lights or convenience store. A source known for over 80 years was wholly rebuilt in June 2018 using Japan's first CLT (cross-laminated timber) construction, reborn as a modern onsen inn like 'a work of timber art'. Main bath, rotenburo and family bath are all 100% source water — a slippery beauty bath the village proudly calls 'Kochi's number one'. Near the birthplace of Nakaoka Shintaro (a Bakumatsu patriot) and Kitagawa's 'Monet's Garden' Marmottan (authorised by Giverny); Cape Muroto 50 min by car
- Spring water
- Kitagawa-mura Onsen, a sodium-bicarbonate and chloride cold mineral spring (alkaline, around pH 9; the 20°C-range source is heated and recirculated), 100% source water. Colourless with an exceptionally slick 'torori' feel — a beauty bath in which the skin glides like soap. Indicated for skin conditions, neuralgia, joint pain, poor circulation and skin care. Reckoned among the best waters in eastern Kochi
- Access & parking
- 20 min by car from Nahari, the terminus of the Tosa Kuroshio Railway Gomen-Nahari Line (16 km north; taxi about ¥4,000), or the bus toward Kitagawa-mura office to 'Kitagawa-mura Onsen' (very few services; overnight guests may ask about pick-up). By car about 1 h 40 min from Kochi city via Routes 55 and 493, 1 h 10 min from Kochi Ryoma Airport, 2.5 h from Tokushima. Free parking. Monet's Garden 10 min, Nakaoka Shintaro Museum 5 min, Cape Muroto 50 min by car
- Phone
- 0887-30-1526
- Official site
- yuzunoyado.net ↗
- Open in Google Maps
- Google Maps ↗
Essentials
Find a stay on Trip.com
Search and book accommodation across Japan on Trip.com. Day-use bathing needs no booking.
Opens partner booking site (affiliate)
Why go
- Lone inn in a yuzu village, 100% source water
- Japan's first CLT timber bathhouse
- ¥700 day bathing; private bath ¥2,200/50 min
In a yuzu village's forest, Japan's first CLT building and the 'Kochi number one' slippery water
Kitagawa-mura Onsen Yuzu-no-yado is a lone-inn hot spring in Kitagawa, a mountain village of 1,300 in eastern Kochi famed for its yuzu. The village has no traffic lights or convenience store, but its source has been known for 'good water' for over eighty years, and in June 2018 the ageing facility was wholly rebuilt using Japan's first CLT (cross-laminated timber) construction, lavishly finished in village cedar and cypress — reborn as a modern onsen inn like 'a work of timber art'. The alkaline bicarbonate water, 100% source in the main bath, rotenburo and family bath alike, is marked by an exceptionally strong 'torori' slip in which the skin glides like soap the instant you enter; the village openly calls it 'water we are proud to rank number one in Kochi', and many say it justifies the hour-and-forty-minute drive from Kochi city. Day bathing is ¥700 from 11:00 to 21:00, closed Tuesdays, with a private bath available at ¥2,200 for 50 minutes, and the restaurant's lunches of local produce and yuzu and the yuzu-product shop are popular. The 14 guest rooms, including Japanese-Western rooms with cypress view baths, are stylishly designed and well rated by couples. Nearby are the birthplace of the Bakumatsu patriot Nakaoka Shintaro and the Giverny-authorised 'Monet's Garden Marmottan' (water-lily pond, loveliest April–November), easy to pair with a bath, and it is recommended as a base for eastern Kochi with Cape Muroto and temples 24–26 of the Shikoku pilgrimage.
A wood-scented bathhouse and slippery water, a private bath and a yuzu lunch
From Nahari on Route 55, twenty minutes up the mountain road along the Nahari River brings you to a modern latticed timber building against a backdrop of cedar forest. The lobby is bright with CLT-panel wooden walls and big windows; pay ¥700 for day bathing at the desk (towels charged) and you are shown to the baths. Changing room and bathroom alike are filled with the scent of wood; the indoor bath is a wide pool with forest beyond floor-to-ceiling glass, and outside a rotenburo ringed by rocks and trees carries the sound of the stream and birdsong. Wash, step in, and the skin instantly 'slides'; stroke your arm and it feels soaped — proof that the 'number one' boast is no exaggeration. Being a heated cold mineral spring it sits at a comfortable 40–41°C with no sulphur smell, good for long soaks. Skip the rinse afterwards and the slip stays on the skin, moist all day. Families and couples can reserve the private bath (¥2,200 for 50 minutes plus admission) for quiet 100% source water in a separate cypress-scented room, also good with children. Afterwards the restaurant serves a lunch set of local vegetables with yuzu ponzu, Tosa akaushi beef and Nahari River ayu (around 11:30–14:00, reservation advised), and the shop sells yuzu drinks, yuzu pepper and yuzu jam to take home. Coffee in the lounge, gazing at the forest through the great window, is a fine way to linger. Weekend afternoons fill with visitors from Kochi city, so weekdays or right at the 11 a.m. opening are quieter, and staying overnight gives you the rotenburo almost to yourself at night and morning, with unlimited bathing at no extra charge. Check the tattoo policy in advance.
Practical details and an eastern Kochi route
Day bathing is 11:00–21:00 (last entry 20:20–20:30), closed Tuesdays (lodging operates); adults ¥700, elementary ¥350, preschoolers free; private bath ¥2,200 for 50 minutes (admission extra, reserve on 0887-30-1526); towels charged, parking free. Public transport is very poor (almost no buses from Nahari Station, taxi about ¥4,000), so a rental car is assumed: 1 h 40 min from Kochi city, 1 h 10 min from Kochi Ryoma Airport. Suggested routes: (1) an eastern Kochi day — Kochi, Aki (Iwasaki Yataro's birthplace and the earthen-walled 'Doi Kachu' lane), Nahari, Kitagawa's Monet's Garden (water lilies April–October, roses in May, open to late November), the Nakaoka Shintaro Museum, a bath and yuzu lunch at Yuzu-no-yado, back to Kochi or stay; (2) two days with Muroto — a night at Yuzu-no-yado, then Muroto UNESCO Global Geopark, Cape Muroto, temples Hotsumisaki-ji (24), Shinsho-ji (25) and Kongocho-ji (26), the Muroto deep-sea-water spa, on to Kochi or Tokushima; (3) yuzu harvest (November) — the yuzu landscapes and product shopping of Kitagawa and Umaji (the yuzu village, among Japan's top producers), then the onsen; (4) down Shikoku's east coast — Tokushima, Kaiyo (surfing), Muroto, Kitagawa, Kochi. Notes: the village has almost no convenience stores or petrol stations, so fuel up and get cash in Nahari; the 20-minute mountain road has narrow sections — take care at night and in rain; day bathing is closed Tuesdays; book lunch; Monet's Garden closes December–February (check each year). A hidden gem of eastern Kochi worth the long drive for its water alone, and a day combining it with Monet's Garden gives the greatest satisfaction.
Before you go
- No official tattoo policy is published — ask at reception.
- Ryokan day-use hours are limited and may be suspended in peak season — phone the same morning.
- Payment is usually by ticket machine in cash — bring coins.
- Last entry is 30–60 minutes before closing.
Features
Rules & private
Mood & scenery
Price
Amenities
✔ Verified operating: 2026-09 Operating status and rates cross-checked against the official site and onsen guides (full source notes in Japanese on the JA page)
Prices and hours change. Check official sources before visiting.
More in this area
Sansuien Suisaikaku Onsen
The bath wing of a historic hotel built on the site of the Yamauchi lords' residence below Kochi Castle. A rare natural hot spring in central Kochi, with a rotenburo facing the Kagami River and Mt. Hitsuzan, a large indoor bath and sauna. Day use is daytime only, 10:00–16:00. Fifteen minutes on foot from Harimaya Bridge — easy between sightseeing and the Sunday market. ¥1,200; bring or rent a towel.
Tosaryu Onsen Sanyoso
Forty minutes by car from Kochi city, a hot-spring inn beside Shoryuji, temple 36 of the Shikoku pilgrimage. It claims Kochi's only high-concentration, high-temperature spring; the golden chloride water is nicknamed 'the heat bath' for how long it keeps you warm. The rotenburo looks over Usa Bay and the Pacific, and there's a free seaside footbath. Day use in two sessions — 5:30–9:00 and 14:00–21:00 — ¥750 on weekdays.
Hotel Matsubakawa Onsen (Shimanto)
A solitary inn on the Hinoji River in the Shimanto headwaters. Its viscous, highly alkaline water has been revered as a healing spring since the Edo period, and a day soak is a modest ¥700. Enjoy the open-air bath above the stream or book a private bath. Open late, 10:30–21:00, and 30 minutes by car from Kubokawa Station—ideal after canoeing or cycling the Shimanto.
