Finally, Celine and Patrick came back to Japan for Holidays, 18 months after "going west", Since they never visited an onsen town so far, we brought them to Shima onsen, a nice, isolated place in the north of Gunma-ken. We first visited Sekizenkan, the oldest ryokan in Shima Onsen - some sources even say that the main building, built 300 years ago, is the oldest onsen ryokan in Japan! The ryokan is reached by crossing a small bridge over the Shinyu river, before just before that river reaches the Shima river. The main bathroom was builded in early Showa years (some 80 years ago), and features european types baths: 5 small baths are available for men, and 5 separated one of women. There is no changing room, instead visitors undress just in front of the baths.

There is also in the hotel a mixed bath (konyoku), but much smaller and in a less interesting building.

Water tasting in front of the entrance of the bathroom...

There is also a nice lake - formed by a dam - which is just of couple of kilometres from the town of Shima onsen. There used to be a small, free rotenburo on the shore of the lake, but we where told it disappeared  due to the lack of hot water.

After that indoor bath, we headed to Yamaguchi Rotenburo, a free public bath located at the entrance of Shima Onsen, next to the Shima river. This konyoku was already filled with 4 japanese guys, who however seemed not to mind too much our company. Four small baths are available, and since the water flow from the top baths to the others, a large range of temperature (from 33 to 43 degrees) is available. The baths were nice, although the view on the other shore - a line of hotels - is not very attractive.

A 1-day trip to a small onsen town, Shima Onsen, located in Gunma-ken (central north of the prefecture), at about 120 km from Kawagoe. This town displays several nice onsen, some in more traditional ryokan, and some in huge hotels that obviously were build during the economic bubble...

We started by a small ryokan, Chuseikan, whose bath was unfortunately not available. We however enjoyed the free, open-air bath located just next to the river, opposite that ryokan. The place is not really sheltered, but since no one was around...

We then visited the Grand Hotel, a big 7-stories tower with several baths, including an inside bath on the 7th floor, and one on the ground floor with a wooden bath (hinoki).

The most appealing place was however the Shima Tamura. A huge complex with a very traditional entrance... and a european style swimming pool in it!

There, around 10 baths can be visited, including the most famous one, a large half-inside bath (for men, completely open-air for women) next to a waterfall...

The konyoku, mixed bath, was less nice, unfortunately...

And some pictures taken close to the dam, which is located 5 km from the town... The water had really an amazing color!