Sauna no Umeyu
Kyoto Station, Kyoto
- Mon to Wed, Fri to Sun
- 6:00 to 2:00
- Thu
- Closed
Open straight through from 6:00 until 2:00 the next morning.
Source: yutonamisha.com, checked 11 Oct 2026.
Umeyu sits on the Takase canal, a 15-minute walk from Kyoto Station, under a big neon sign that lights up red, yellow and green at night. The "sauna" in its name supposedly dates from when the sign went up and a sento with a sauna was still rare. Yutonamisha, a company that takes over sento to keep them open, has run it since 2015, when it was about to close, and both sides have a dry sauna, a cold bath, an electric bath and a herbal bath.
Insider tip
Entry is ¥550, in cash or PayPay. Shampoo, body soap and a hair dryer are free, and face towels rent for ¥100. It's open straight through from 6am to 2am, so you can come before breakfast or after a late dinner, and it's closed on Thursdays. The Kawaramachi-Shomen bus stop is 3 minutes away.
What the guides say about Sauna no Umeyu
21. A sento or a hot spring. Entry at Kyoto's member sento is ¥550. Funaoka Onsen has wood carvings in its 1923 changing room and an open-air bath, and opens at 8:00 on Sundays. Sauna no Umeyu, 15 minutes' walk from Kyoto Station, runs from 6:00 to 2:00 (closed Thursdays). Kyoto Tamanoyu, open since 1894, says plainly on its own site that you can bathe with tattoos. In Arashiyama, Tenzan no Yu has an iron-rich spring that turns brown in the air (¥1,200 on weekdays), but you can't go in with a tattoo. Find them all on the map under baths.
What's on near Sauna no Umeyu
Upcoming events within a ten-minute walk of Sauna no Umeyu, from the weekly Kyoto events calendar.
The Tale of Genji: Radiance of the Heian Court
特別展 源氏物語 王朝のかがやき
Time 9:00 to 17:30, Fridays to 20:00 (last entry 30 minutes before) Station Shichijo (Keihan), 7 min walk
The Kyoto National Museum's first Tale of Genji exhibition in about 50 years shows paintings, crafts, manuscripts and commentaries, about 250 works across its Kyoto and Tokyo runs, including the Aobyoshi-bon text edited by Fujiwara no Teika and the scattered 'phantom' Moriyasu Genji scroll. The display changes on 3 Nov, and the museum is closed on Mondays (open 12 Oct and 23 Nov), 13 Oct and 24 Nov.
kajikawa, CC BY 3.0 New Year Feature: All About Sheep
新春特集展示 ひつじづくし 干支を愛でる
Time 9:30 to 17:00, Fridays to 20:00 (last entry 30 minutes before) Station Shichijo (Keihan), 7 min walk
For 2027, the Year of the Sheep, the museum's New Year display gathers sheep in art from its collection, an animal rarely kept in Japan outside Hokkaido, so expect some oddities. A tea utensils feature runs at the same time, the ticket covers every gallery in the Heisei Chishinkan, and it's closed on Mondays (open 11 Jan), from 28 Dec to 1 Jan and on 12 Jan.
kajikawa, CC BY 3.0 NAKED GARDEN NIGHTS at Higashi Honganji and Shosei-en
NAKED GARDEN NIGHTS 東本願寺・渉成園
Time 18:00 to 22:00 (Higashi Honganji last entry 21:00) Station Gojo (Karasuma Line), 5 min walk
NAKED lights Higashi Honganji and its detached garden Shosei-en for an evening walk through five scenes. Adult tickets are ¥2,100 Monday to Thursday and ¥2,300 Friday to Sunday and on holidays (¥200 less in advance), and from 6 to 8 Nov and on 25 Nov only Shosei-en is open.
Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0 Year-end Dust Cleaning at Higashi Honganji
お煤払い（東本願寺）
Time From 9:00 Station Kyoto (JR, Karasuma Line), 7 min walk
Followers from all over Japan line up across the tatami of the Founder's and Amida halls, beat it with split bamboo and fan the dust out with paper fans about 2 m across. Then the head of the temple traces the character for 'long life' on a paper screen with a bamboo pole.
Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0 The Great Kano School, Part 2: Edo to Meiji
京都国立博物館開館130周年記念 特別展 大狩野派 第2部 江戸～明治編
Time 9:00 to 17:30 (last entry 17:00), Fridays to 20:00, closed Mondays except 19 July Station Shichijo (Keihan), 7 min walk
The second half of the museum's 130th-anniversary survey of the Kano painters, Japan's biggest school of artists, in the first show this size in half a century. Part 2 takes the story from the Edo period to Meiji with every work changed from Part 1. It's open to 20:00 on Fridays, and ticket prices haven't been announced yet.
kajikawa, CC BY 3.0 Nearby
Around Kyoto Station
Free temples and late ramen a few minutes from the platforms
Most visitors only see Kyoto Station on the way in or out, which is a shame. Higashi Hongan-ji is 7 minutes north on foot and free, To-ji's pagoda is 15 minutes south, and at the railway museum to the west a working steam engine will pull you along. After dark, 15,000 LEDs light the station's 171-step staircase.
Kyoto Station has 23 places on the Roam Kyoto map: 4 shrines and temples, 4 museums, 3 restaurants, 2 shops, 2 cafes, 2 parks and gardens, 2 bathhouses, 1 bar, 1 landmark, 1 viewpoint and 1 market. Read the Kyoto Station guide.
Good to know
- What is the address of Sauna no Umeyu?
- 175-1 Iwataki-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto (in Japanese: 京都府京都市下京区岩滝町175-1).
- What are the opening hours of Sauna no Umeyu?
- Mon to Wed, Fri to Sun 6:00 to 2:00; Closed Thu. Open straight through from 6:00 until 2:00 the next morning.
- How do I get to Sauna no Umeyu?
- The nearest station is Kiyomizu-Gojo (Keihan Main Line). Sauna no Umeyu is in Kyoto Station, Kyoto.
- How much does Sauna no Umeyu cost?
- Sauna no Umeyu is cheap, marked ¥ on the site's price scale.
- How long do you need at Sauna no Umeyu?
- Plan for 1 hour.
- When is the best time to visit Sauna no Umeyu?
- Early morning, from 6am.
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