Irinoba Onsen, Kawakami, Nara
Yamabatoyu
A remote mountain bath for visitors prepared to plan around limited opening hours and seasonal closing days. Its defining feature is a self-flowing spring used without dilution; tattooed guests are refused entry under the current day-use rules.
Check before bathing
- Opening hours
- Reception 10:00–16:00; closes at 17:00. Closed Wednesdays from April through October, and Tuesdays and Wednesdays from November through March. Public holidays, consecutive holidays, Obon and New Year may follow separate exceptions; check the current schedule.
- Tattoo policy
- Guests with tattoos are refused entry under the current day-use rules; no cover-up exception is published.
Spring & water temperature
- Spring-source temperature
- 39.6°C on the publicly posted analysis sheet dated May 9, 1988; current overview material rounds this to about 39°C.
- Bathing temperature
- No fixed temperature published; the outdoor bath is described as slightly cooler than the main bath.
- Spring source
- Nakamura source at Irinoba Onsen.
- Spring classification
- Sodium-bicarbonate spring; the current day-use page also describes it as a sodium-bicarbonate spring water.
- pH
- Not confirmed in the current review.
- Flow rate
- About 500 L/min.
- Water handling
- The operator describes the baths as 100% source-flowing, without dilution. The large bath overflows into the outdoor bath. Current material does not provide a complete treatment table for heating, circulation or disinfection.
The operator still publishes the 1988 analysis sheet; these figures are not a new 2026 analysis. The facility is remote, and access should be planned in advance.
How to read a bath profile
Spring-source temperature and actual bathing temperature are kept separate. Each score is shown independently for comparison rather than collapsed into one overall score.
