Motoyu Onsen
元湯温泉もとゆおんせん
A century-old neighborhood sento on real Tottori Onsen water
Day Use
YesLast entry is 30 minutes before each closing time. Hours around New Year vary and aren't published in advance, so it's best to call ahead.
Adults 550 yen, or a 10-visit ticket book for 5,000 yen. Junior and senior high schoolers pay 300 yen (11-visit book 3,000 yen), elementary schoolers 200 yen, preschoolers aged 4 and up 100 yen, and children aged 3 and under go free.
Bathing & Water
Uses natural hot spring water
Open-air outdoor bath
Enclosed indoor bathing area
Sauna room of any kind
Cold water plunge bath, typically used after sauna
Bathing Arrangements
Shared bathing area for all genders
Policies & Services
Allows entry with visible tattoos
Welcomes children and families
Children under 8 may enter the bath of the opposite sex with a guardian; from age 8 the baths are strictly separated by gender.
Shower, wash stations, soap and shampoo provided
Body soap is provided at the washing stations; shampoo and other toiletries are sold at the front desk rather than supplied free.
Towels to rent or borrow at the desk
On-site or nearby parking available
About
The bathing area here is deliberately simple: one big communal tub and a cold plunge, no sauna. The water comes from Tottori Onsen (鳥取温泉), one of the springs scattered around the city, and though the flow isn't large, it carries a lot of minerals and runs hot with a faint salty edge. The bath traces back to 1921, when hot water was found bubbling up in a rice paddy near Yoshikata Onsen (吉方温泉) and locals covered it with a simple rush mat enclosure. It was properly dug and opened in 1925 as the Funsen Yokujo (噴泉浴場), and because it was the first spring found in the area, everyone just called it Motoyu (元湯), "the original bath," a name that stuck as the business's name. It was rebuilt in 2006 and marked its 100th year in 2025, still run for the neighborhood.
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Last updated September 29, 2026