Tamatsukuri Onsen

What to expect

Tamatsukuri Onsen is a small onsen town in the valley of the Tamayu River, on the south side of Lake Shinji in Matsue city. Ryokan and hotels line the river, and the main street follows it past a shrine, foot baths and shops selling cosmetics made with the spring water. Local legend credits the god Sukunabikona with finding the hot water.

The history is the selling point. The Izumo no Kuni Fudoki, a provincial record compiled in 733, describes hot water rising by the river and men and women of all ages gathering there. The same text says one bath leaves you looking younger and a second clears every illness, and that people called it the water of the gods. The ryokan cooperative calls it one of Japan’s oldest hot springs. The town now leans hard on the beauty angle, branding itself the oldest skin-bath onsen in Japan.

For day visitors, the town works like this:

• Tamatsukuri Onsen Yuuyu, the town’s day bathhouse, is the cheap and reliable choice.
• Several inns sell day baths at set hours, if you want a hotel bath instead.
• Free foot baths and a spring-water tap are scattered along the river for anyone walking through.

The water

The ryokan cooperative lists the water as a weakly alkaline sodium-calcium sulfate and chloride spring. It is clear and colourless and rich in metasilicic acid, an ingredient also used in cosmetics. The town promotes it as a skin bath and quotes results from a pharmaceutical testing company it hired, but treat that as marketing. Bath temperatures are not published. Travel guides list Yuuyu as not running its baths as free-flowing source water, and Yuuyu does not say how it treats the water.

Tamatsukuri Onsen Yuuyu

Yuuyu is a large building at the centre of town that also houses the ryokan cooperative and the Matsue tourist association’s Tamatsukuri office on its 2nd floor. The baths are on the 5th floor, with an indoor bath and an outdoor bath for each sex, plus a dry sauna and a mist sauna. There is a massage corner and a shop on the ground floor selling souvenirs, fresh local vegetables and the town’s popular soft-serve ice cream. Parking is free.

Prices below date from October 1, 2019 and were still current in October 2026.

Ticket	Price
Adults (junior high and up)	¥600
Children (age 3 and up)	¥300
Under 3 (with a parent)	Free
11-visit book, adults	¥6,000
11-visit book, children	¥3,000

Body soap and rinse-in shampoo are provided. Face towels cost ¥250. Sauna users must use a bath towel, which rents for ¥150, or ¥350 as a set with a face towel. Discounts apply to disability card holders and to members of several clubs, including JAF. On the third Sunday of each month Yuuyu runs a seasonal herbal bath.

Hotel day baths

The ryokan cooperative lists these inns as open to day bathers (prices including tax, 2026):

• Tamatsukuri Kokusai Hotel Rivage Choraku: ¥700 adults, ¥300 children. Monday to Saturday 16:00-21:00, Sunday 12:00-21:00 (last entry 20:00), and mornings 6:00-9:00 (6:00-8:00 on Tuesdays).
• Matsunoyu: ¥1,300 adults, ¥650 children, reception 11:30-21:00. Its bookable private bath is not hot spring water.
• Kasuien Minami: ¥1,600 adults, ¥800 children, 11:30-15:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays only, main bath only.
• Hotel Gyokusen: ¥1,750 adults by day (12:00-14:30), ¥2,150 in the evening (18:00-21:00), when saunas and a soft-drink bar are included.

Onsen etiquette

Baths are separated by sex and you bathe naked. Wash at the seated showers before getting in, keep your towel out of the water and tie up long hair. Swimsuits are not used. The foot baths are the only place in town where you keep your clothes on, so roll up your trousers and bring a small towel.

Getting there

• By train: the JR San’in Line stops at Tamatsukuri-onsen Station, a few stops west of Matsue. The town centre is about 1.5 km (0.9 miles) from the station. An Ichibata bus takes about 6 minutes to the Himegami Hiroba stop, right by Yuuyu.
• By air: buses run from Izumo Enmusubi Airport to the onsen town, and Yonago Kitaro Airport is the other option.
• By car: about 5 minutes from Matsue-Tamatsukuri IC on the San’in Expressway, about 15 minutes from central Matsue and about 40 minutes from Izumo.

When to go

The town is open all year. The cooperative publishes a seasonal events calendar, and in winter it promotes Iwami Kagura dance performances in town. Yuuyu’s early bath on Sundays and holidays is the quietest time to soak. Remember the Monday closing if you are planning a day trip.

Where to stay nearby

The cooperative lists its member inns, from large hotels to small ryokan, on its website, and most sit along or near the river. Lafcadio Hearn, the writer known in Japan as Koizumi Yakumo, stayed here with his wife Setsu, which the town now promotes. Matsue, about 15 minutes away, has business hotels, Matsue Castle and Lake Shinji sunsets. For a wider San’in onsen trip, Kaike Onsen on the coast at Yonago and Misasa Onsen in Tottori are both within reach by train.

Nearby stops worth adding

Tamatsukuri-yu Jinja holds the Negai-ishi, a round wishing stone; you buy a small Kanai-ishi charm stone, touch it to the big one and make your wish. Yuyakushi Hiroba lets you fill a bottle with source water, sold on the spot, to use as a face splash for about five days. Seigan-ji temple has an “oshiroi Jizo” statue that visitors dab with white powder.

Safety notes

• Heat: keep soaks short, drink water, and take a break between the bath and the sauna.
• Floors: wet tiles in the bathhouse and stone steps by the river get slippery.
• Foot baths: the riverside ones are outdoors, so watch children near the water.