Ryokan in Shima Onsen

All six reviewed Shima Onsen inns sit in the same Gunma onsen village and draw on Shima's chloride-sulphate springs, the water guests rate above everything else. Sekizenkan and Shima Tamura are historic houses spread over three linked buildings; Nakazawa is a six-room inn on the hillside just above the onsen street, about five minutes' walk from Sekizenkan; Kashiwaya is a small wooden inn renovated in 2021 at the village entrance, about 1.5 km from the centre; Toshimaya is a compact 15-room house built right over the Shima river, a minute's walk from the Yamaguchi bus stop; Shima Yamaguchikan is the big one, an eight-storey, 69-room inn kept deliberately Shōwa-retro inside, on the river near the village entrance with that bus stop at its door. Buses from JR Nakanojō Station take 30–40 minutes, and winter brings heavy snow.

Sekizenkan (value) joins a 1691 wooden inn, a 1936 annex and a modern building; stay the night for Genroku-no-yu, a 1930 bathhall where the water wells up from below, and expect shared toilets and noise through the floors in the old Honkan. Shunmokutei Nakazawa Ryokan (value) has no shared baths at all: its four private baths, all described as free-flowing, are free and need no booking — lock the door and the bath is yours — and two of its six rooms add a bath of their own, with home-style Gunma cooking such as cheese-filled ganmodoki and Jōshū beef from about ¥29,700 for two with two meals; expect a narrow lane and a small first-come car park, steep slopes and many stairs, cooking some find plain, no hairdryer in some rooms, and on a full night you may not get into all four baths. Shima Tamura (classic), founded in 1563, has seven baths it describes as free-flowing, from a mixed bath dug into the riverbed to a pebble-floored main bath, plus authentic private-room kaiseki; 2026 guests fault a maze-like building, dusty rooms, and 'room left to the inn' plans that can come without a bath. Shima Onsen Kashiwaya Ryokan (classic) suits anyone after private bathing: its 14 rooms share three free open-air baths you use without booking, as often as you like, with Jōshū beef seared on a hot stone at dinner and a noon check-out; there's no lift, the walls are thin, and only two rooms have a bath of their own. Shima Onsen Toshimaya (classic) is for those who put the water first: every bath, from the riverside open-air baths and two bookable private baths to the tubs in eight of its rooms, runs on the inn's own springs with no water added, no heating and no recirculation; there's no lift and the stairs down to the basement baths are steep, some find the satoyama kaiseki plain for the price, the shared baths are small, and 2024–2025 guests saw signs of a short-staffed front desk. Shima Yamaguchikan (classic) is the big, lively choice for river views from the bath: two long open-air baths right on the Shima river that swap between men and women, including the Odaimoku bath, about 30 metres long, bathing through the night, an evening kamishibai picture-story show by the okami, and five rooms with their own free-flowing onsen bath that win the warmest reviews, with standard two-meal plans at about ¥15,000–27,000 per person in 2026. Food scores lower, with 2026 complaints about cold breakfast rice, thin sashimi and dinners too large to finish; the building is old, check-in can bunch up, and women get the big Odaimoku bath only until 19:00.