Shimane · Tamatsukuri Onsen
Tamatsukuri Onsen Yū-yu
玉造温泉 ゆ〜ゆ
Tamatsukuri's day-use bath, famous for 'beautiful skin' water. A magatama-jewel-shaped building with a cascade bath, open-air tub and 1 m-deep standing bath. Often combined with Izumo Taisha.
- Price (adult)
- ¥600
- Hours
- 10:00–22:00 (last entry 21:20); also 06:00–08:00 on Sundays and holidays
- Closed
- Mondays (next day if a holiday)
- Access
- 5 min by bus from JR Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station
- Water type
- Alkaline simple
- Tattoos
- Ask ahead
- Admission
- Adults (junior-high+) ¥600 / children 3+ ¥300 / under 3 free. 11-ticket book ¥6,000. Older figures of ¥410–500 are outdated. Shampoo, body wash and dryers provided; towels sold. Bath towel lent to sauna users
- Baths
- Designed by architect Shin Takamatsu (1996), a striking triangle-and-hemisphere building. On the 5th floor inside the 41 m dome: a magatama-shaped main bath, rotenburo, old-style cascade shower, dry and mist saunas. Ground-floor shop (famous cherry soft-serve) and rest room
- Water
- Sodium-calcium sulfate-chloride spring. The Izumo Fudoki chronicle (733) wrote that one wash makes you beautiful and a second cures all ills — Japan’s oldest recorded “beauty bath”. Clear, silky, noted for lotion-like moisturising properties
- Status
- Matsue City considered closing it in FY2025 due to age, but decided in Jan 2024 to keep it open for the time being at local request. Major renovation is unfunded, so its long-term future is fluid — check the official site before visiting
- Phone
- 0852-62-1000
- Official site
- tama-yuuyu.com ↗
- Open in Google Maps
- Google Maps ↗
Essentials
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Why go
- Alkaline 'beauty' water (pH ~8)
- 1 m-deep standing bath
- 30 min drive from Izumo Taisha
The Fudoki’s beauty bath for ¥600, in a magatama-shaped dome
Tamatsukuri Onsen is Japan’s oldest documented “beauty bath”: the Izumo Fudoki of 733 wrote that one wash makes the face fair and a second bath cures every illness. With the resort’s ryokan charging ¥1,200–1,300 for day use, Yu-yu — a municipal facility the former Tamayu town built in 1996 for some ¥3 billion — is a rare chance to enjoy the same source for ¥600. Inside architect Shin Takamatsu’s triangle-and-hemisphere building, the 5th-floor dome holds a main bath shaped like a magatama, the region’s emblematic curved jewel, plus a rotenburo, cascade shower and two saunas; it is the locals’ daily bath and a natural finish to a visit. Its future was debated because of the building’s age, but at local request it stays open for now.
Tips & cautions
- Closed Mondays (next day if a holiday). Early bath 6:00–8:00 on Sundays, holidays and long weekends (reception till 7:40).
- Baths are on the 5th floor — take the lift. Many visitors find the entrance confusing (it is by the ground-floor shop).
- The 57-space car park fills in peak seasons; it is a 3-min walk from Himegami Plaza if you are strolling the town.
- Bath towel lent for sauna use; shampoo provided.
- Combine with the cherry soft-serve, the “wishing stone” at Tamatsukuri-yu Shrine and the riverside foot baths.
Getting there
~7 min by Ichibata bus from JR Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station to “Himegami Hiroba” or “Tamatsukuri Onsen”, then 3 min on foot (Tamayu-cho Tamatsukuri 255); taxi 5 min or walk 25 min. ~20 min by car from central Matsue, ~10 min from Matsue-Tamatsukuri IC. Free parking for 57.
Before you go
- No official tattoo policy is published — ask at reception.
- Payment is usually by ticket machine in cash — bring coins.
- Last entry is 30–60 minutes before closing.
Features
Price
Convenience
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
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Matsue Shinjiko Onsen Chidori-yu Public Bath
Shimane's only onsen bathhouse, offering the lakeside Matsue Shinjiko spring for ¥430. Five minutes on foot from Matsue-Shinjiko-Onsen Station on the Ichibata line, easy to drop into after Matsue Castle or the moat cruise. The sodium-calcium sulfate-chloride water holds heat well. No soap or shampoo provided, but a take-along set is sold. Ninety percent of bathers are locals—everyday Matsue at its most authentic.
Arifuku Onsen Gozen-yu
The landmark of Arifuku, a stair-stepped hamlet of wooden inns tucked into the San'in hills. A 1928 reinforced-concrete bathhouse with Western arched windows, it pours colourless alkaline simple-spring water undiluted into the tub — slippery 'beauty water'. ¥400 with soap and shampoo, open 7:00–22:00 for early soaks. A family bath rents for ¥1,200 an hour, and the tatami rest room upstairs displays pre-war photographs. Cars can't enter the sloping village, which also has the Satsuki-yu and Yayoi-yu public baths for a three-bath circuit.
