Akayu Onsen Tanbakan
赤湯温泉 丹波館あかゆおんせん たんばかん
A Meiji-era ryokan at Akayu Onsen with a rock outdoor bath and Yonezawa beef dinners
Day Use
YesLast entry is at 20:00, an hour before closing. Day-use bathing can be unavailable on days when overnight guests fill the baths; call ahead to check.
600 yen for adults (junior high age and up), half price for children aged 3 and up, and free under 3. A private rest room can be booked separately for 4,400 yen.
Bathing & Water
Uses natural hot spring water
Open-air outdoor bath
Enclosed indoor bathing area
Bathing Arrangements
Shared bathing area for all genders
Policies & Services
Welcomes children and families
A restaurant or dining room open to visitors, not only meals for overnight guests
Shower, wash stations, soap and shampoo provided
Towels to rent or borrow at the desk
A large bath towel can be rented for a fee; the small face towel is sold, not lent.
Programs
About
Tanbakan is a ryokan at Akayu Onsen (赤湯温泉) in Yamagata, with two baths that swap between men and women each day: a large bath with a rock-built open-air pool, and a smaller bath that's indoor only, both in stone. The water is clear, leaves skin smooth, and keeps you warm well after you get out; some guests notice a light sulfur scent. The building keeps the look it has had since the Meiji era, with an old storehouse renovated into a Japanese-modern space, and dinner is built around a kaiseki course of Yonezawa beef. Akayu Onsen's own founding story, about 900 years old, tells of a wounded warrior's men bathing here until the water ran red, which is how the spring got its name, aka-yu, "red hot water".
Loading map…
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your experience!
Last updated September 26, 2026