Can I take young daughter into men’s onsen?

Hello, and thanks for looking.

My wife and I are taking our 4 year old daughter to Japan soon. One of the things we adults are looking forward to is some onsen bathing.

It's our daughter's first trip, and we hope she will share our love of a soothing, quiet, bath. I know I've seen small children in the men's side of onsens with their dads before, but I have no recollection of whether the children were male or female. My wife *thinks* that she's seen mums in the women's bath with sons, but isn't all that sure of her memories. (I don't think that either of us is really the type to go staring at naked children, so it's not really the sort of thing I'd expect to notice, let alone remember.)

I'm sure it's going to be fine for our daughter to go to the women's bath with my wife, but I'm hoping someone can tell me whether it will be rude or disrespectful if I take her in the men's side with me sometimes. It would help me to share the responsibilities on our trip, and might be an opportunity for me to give my wife a lie-in in the morning, for instance, if daughter and I wake up early and can go for a bath while mum can have a rest for once in a while.

We're going to a couple of places that have mixed bathing and/or private baths, so it'll be no problem there, but I'm also hoping that we manage to stop off at some other onsens where they probably don't have mixed/private bathing.

Thanks for your help.

I have seen dads bringing their young daughters into the men's onsen on multiple occasions.

You can take your 4 year old daughter to men's bath room as long as you can keep Onsen rules.
Tokyo public bath association allows mixed gender age up to 10 years old, where as Kyoto public bath association allows up to 7 years old, Hokkaido association allows up to 12 years old. Each public bath association set it's own age restriction, but 4 years old is alright at any Onsen and/or public bath room.

Thanks very much, both of you.

Sorry to ressurect my own old thread, but we're in Japan again and our daughter is now 5 years old.

I just wanted to check that Dad (me) taking her into the men's Onsens from time to time wouldn't be rude or offensive to the other bathers.

I have the impression that it'll be fine, but just wanted to check as I wouldn't want to offend.

She's perfectly happy with the bathing "rituals", and is hugely looking forward to our first onsen visit in a few daysand is quiet and well-behaved (so far - thank goodness ;0)) so it's not as if she'll disturb anyone's peace and quiet, but I value your views and just wanted to check.

Thanks a lot, as always.

Hey, I think that it'll definitely still be okay. The above posters said the minimum age was around 7, right?

Did they check her passport or something for age last time? I wouldn't worry about it! I believe I've seen moms bringing their sons who were definitely above age 5 (around Hiroshima prefecture, Kobe, and Osaka, I think)

The age five is still alright taking bath with her father into men's onsen or sento.
The age restriction is varied depending on the regional public bath association.
Tokyo public bath association recommends children should take their gender bath section age above ten yrs old, seven yrs old in Kyoto, and, twelve yrs old in Hokkaido. There is no penalty on the recommendation but you should do follow their recommendation.

or, you can simply ask the onsen staff whether you can take your daughter with you or not.
Your daughter might be taller than those Japanese five yrs old. The staff in onsen may confuse whether she is big enough or not.

It's absolutely no problem at all. I used to take my daughters often to onsen and sento with me when they were little and nobody will think anything of it.

Just remember to tell her, No Swimming!

This is an good topic. Always wondered about this.
When I've been to some onsens, the wife will have her small son with her.

Thanks, everyone.

I can confirm that we had no problems at all on our recent trip.