Shima Tamura

A bath-keeper's inn since 1563 with seven free-flowing baths from its own riverbed sources — a mixed bath in the river, a waterfall-view open-air bath, a pebble-floored bath where the spring rises underfoot — in a big, ageing, maze-like building

Tamura was founded in 1563 by a samurai retainer who settled at Shima and became the area's bath-keeper under the Sanada lords; its thatched entrance and main house date from 1834, and guests have included the poet Yosano Akiko. Today it's a 47-room inn in three wings and the reason to come is the water: the inn's own sources, a sodium-calcium chloride-sulphate spring at 70–80°C rising from the riverbed, run free-flowing through seven baths, according to the inn. There's the riverside open-air bath Mori-no-Kodama facing a waterfall, the two-level main bath Iraka-no-yu with pebble floors where the spring wells up from below and tubs at three temperatures, the mixed Ryūgū bath dug into the riverbed, the retro Iwane-no-yu with a steam bath, and a paid private bath. Japanese guests rate it 4.4 across 2,047 reviews on one major site and 4.37 across 2,296 on another, with baths the highest-scored category everywhere (4.6–4.72) — and rooms, facilities and cleanliness the lowest. A 2024 blogger with nearly 200 ryokan stays called the private-room kaiseki the most authentic they'd had, and the spring-water rice porridge at breakfast is a favourite. The recurring complaints in 2026: an old, confusing building full of steps, dusty or musty rooms, rooms 'left to the inn' with poor views or no bath, few washing stations, and a buffet plan at the sister hotel some found institutional. Kaiseki plans start around ¥19,600 per person.