Okayama · Okutsu Onsen
Okutsu Onsen Hanabijin-no-Sato
奥津温泉 花美人の里
A town-run day spa at Okutsu Onsen, one of the three Mimasaka hot springs and famous for the autumn colours of Okutsu Gorge. The airy, high-ceilinged main bath holds pH 9-plus alkaline 'beauty water', with a rotenburo, family baths and sauna. ¥880, 10:00–19:00, closed Thursdays. The gorge trail is within walking distance, so it fills up after leaf-viewing in autumn. Forty minutes by car from Tsuyama.
- Price (adult)
- ¥940
- Hours
- 10:00–19:00 (last entry 18:00)
- Closed
- Thursdays (open Golden Week, Obon & New Year; occasional closures)
- Access
- 60 min by bus from JR Tsuyama Station to Okutsu-Onsen; 30 min by car from Innosho IC
- Water type
- Alkaline simple
- Tattoos
- Ask ahead
- Admission
- Adults (junior high and up) ¥940, children (3 to elementary) ¥470 (raised from ¥880/¥440 on 1 June 2026 owing to energy costs). Kagamino resident discounts, ticket books and members' rates. Perks on the 26th ('bath day') and 27th ('Hanasato day') of each month. The private family baths have been suspended since 19 September 2024 (no reopening date). Re-entry after the restaurant is charged. Shampoo and body soap provided; towels sold and rented
- Baths
- The public day-spa of Okutsu, one of the 'three springs of Mimasaka', on the Yoshii river (opened 1992), with a striking timber-rich building under a great roof and a long covered walkway. Gender-separated halls hold a 'silk bath' turned milky by micro-bubbles (repaired September 2026), jet, bubble and lukewarm baths, a 'flower bath', a natural-stone rotenburo, sauna and a 16°C cold plunge. Spacious wooden lounge, shop and an Italian restaurant on the grounds. Cherry blossom in spring, autumn colour in fall
- Spring water
- Alkaline simple spring, 39°C at source, pH 9.3, 150 L/min. Colourless, tasteless and odourless, with bleaching components that leave skin fair and smooth — a 'beauty water' that makes Okutsu one of the 'three springs of Mimasaka' with Yubara and Yunogo. The tepid source is heated and recirculated; the silk bath's micro-bubbles moisturise and cleanse. Indicated for neuralgia, muscle and joint pain and fatigue. Okutsu's name 'Kagiyu' (locked bath) dates from the Edo period when the Mori lords of Tsuyama kept it for themselves; it is known for springs rising from the Yoshii riverbed and the custom of 'foot-stomp laundry' in the hot water
- Access & parking
- Free parking for 110 cars. By car about 20 min (15 km) north on Route 179 from Innosho IC on the Chugoku Expressway, 50 min from Chizu IC on the Tottori Expressway, about 1 h 40 min from Okayama city. By bus about 60 min on the Chutetsu Hokubu bus bound for Ishikoshi from JR Tsuyama Station, 1 min on foot from 'Okutsu Kyoku-mae'. Okutsu spa street 10 min on foot, Okutsu Gorge 5 min by car
- Phone
- 0868-52-0788
- Official site
- hanabijin.jp ↗
- Open in Google Maps
- Google Maps ↗
Essentials
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Why go
- pH 9-plus beauty water
- Walk to Okutsu Gorge's autumn colours
- Family baths and sauna
Mimasaka's beauty water beneath a great timber roof
Okutsu Onsen Hanabijin-no-Sato is a public day-spa opened in 1992 at Okutsu Onsen on the upper Yoshii river, deep in the Chugoku mountains of Kagamino, Okayama. Okutsu ranks with Yubara and Yunogo as one of the 'three springs of Mimasaka', famed for the legend of the 'locked bath' the Mori lords of Tsuyama kept under lock and key in the Edo period, for baths rising from the riverbed, for the custom of 'foot-stomp laundry' in the hot water, and for the landscapes painted here by Togo Seiji. Hanabijin-no-Sato stands a little apart from the spa street on the riverbank, a generously timbered building under a great roof, offering a 'silk bath' clouded white by micro-bubbles along with jet baths, a rotenburo, sauna and cold plunge, lovely under spring blossom and autumn leaves. Open 10:00–19:00, closed Thursdays, ¥940 for adults from June 2026, it is 20 minutes from Innosho IC on the Chugoku Expressway — an easy stop on a Tsuyama–Kurashiki trip or on the way over to Tottori.
The silk bath, the rotenburo and a lounge scented with wood
Hand in your machine ticket at the entrance and a long covered walkway and a spacious lounge fragrant with wood greet you; the baths occupy the first and second floors, swapping between men and women weekly (the silk bath is on the second-floor side). The water is an alkaline simple spring at pH 9.3, colourless and odourless — classic 'beauty water' that feels slick as you soak and leaves skin fair and smooth afterwards. With a tepid 39°C source it is heated and recirculated, but it is gentle enough for children and the elderly to linger. The signature 'silk bath', clouded milk-white by micro-bubbles, moisturises and cleanses; it paused for an equipment fault in summer 2026 and was repaired in September. There are also jet and bubble baths, a lukewarm pool around 38°C, a 'flower bath' strewn with seasonal blooms, a sauna in the 80s°C and a bracing 16°C cold plunge, while the natural-stone rotenburo looks onto riverside woods and the colours of the season. The family baths have been suspended since September 2024, so do not count on a private soak. Afterwards, rest in the big tatami-and-board lounge, browse local produce in the shop and try the Italian restaurant on the grounds (re-entry to the baths is charged).
Practical details and an Okutsu–Tsuyama route
Hours are 10:00–19:00 (last entry 18:00), closed Thursdays; it opens over Golden Week, Obon and New Year with a substitute closure on another day (for example open Thursday 13 August 2026, closed Wednesday the 19th), and has shut for five days in mid-May for maintenance and staff leave, so check the official site or Instagram before visiting. Prices rose on 1 June 2026 to ¥940 for adults and ¥470 for children, with Kagamino resident rates and ticket books. Free parking for 110 cars. By car it is 20 minutes from Innosho IC on Route 179; by bus an hour from Tsuyama Station to 'Okutsu Kyoku-mae', right outside. The Okutsu spa street (10 min on foot) offers old inns and demonstrations of 'foot-stomp laundry' in the Yoshii river (Sunday mornings, March–December), while Okutsu Gorge 5 minutes away is famous for early-November foliage and the Usubuchi potholes. Tsuyama Castle ruins (Kakuzan Park, a cherry-blossom spot) and Tsuyama hormone udon are nearby, and Yubara Onsen is 40 minutes by car, so two of the three Mimasaka springs in one day is feasible; winter requires snow-ready tyres.
Before you go
- No official tattoo policy is published — ask at reception.
- Last entry is 30–60 minutes before closing.
Features
Sauna & wellness
Rules & private
Mood & scenery
Price
Who with
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
Yubara Onsen Sunayu
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Yunogo Onsen Sagi Onsen-kan
The source bath of Yunogo Onsen, where legend says the monk Ennin found an egret healing its wounds some 1,200 years ago. One of the three famed Mimasaka hot springs, an hour by car from Okayama. The town-run bathhouse charges ¥960 for indoor and open-air baths across two bathing wings linked by a moving walkway, alternating daily. Open 8:00–21:00; the 'all-day rest' plan lets you come and go until closing. Bring your own food.
Kurashiki Yuga Onsen Hotel Santōka
A white-walled onsen hotel in the hills between Kojima, at the foot of the Great Seto Bridge, and the pilgrim path up Mt Yuga. Yuga Onsen has long refreshed worshippers at the Yuga Daigongen shrine-temple; the spacious bath hall lines up a source tub, waterfall shower, jet bath and bubble bath, with a garden that flowers through the seasons beyond the windows. Day use 11:00–15:00 (last entry 14:30), ¥1,980 including bath and face towel rental. The lunch-plus-bath set (¥3,960) is popular, with a third-floor rest room. 30 minutes by car from Kurashiki's Bikan quarter; combine with Kojima Jeans Street or the bridge. Open daily.
