Sekizenkan

四万温泉積善館 · Shima Onsen

OK if covered (day visit)OK if covered (overnight)

Can you bathe here with a tattoo?

This is the question we built the site around, so we answer it per situation.

Visiting for the day

Yes, if you cover it up

Tattoos must be covered with a patch in the main baths.

Source: official website · checked 2026-08-29

Staying overnight

Yes, if you cover it up

Tattoos must be covered with a patch in the main baths. A private or in-room bath is also available.

Source: official website · checked 2026-08-29

How it scores

Every onsen on this site is scored on the same five things.

Rated from research

Water4.5

Comfort4

Setting4

Access3

×Somewhere to sit — Bathe and leave

△Anything else nearby — Nearby, but off to one side

Genroku-no-yu is the reason to come: a 1930 arched hall with water rising through the floors of five stone tubs, and the red bridge and wooden facade outside are the images that get compared to Spirited Away. Views from the tub are of the room itself rather than scenery. For day visitors the rest facilities score is honestly a 1 - no lounge, no rest room, guest wings closed - so treat it as a bath and a bowl of udon, not an afternoon. Shima sits in a wooded valley an hour from the nearest railway.

Scored from official photos, maps and transport information — not from a visit.

The baths

Indoor bath

Genroku-no-yu, the bath day visitors come for: a 1930 hall with tall arched windows, five stone tubs set in a tiled floor and the water welling up through the tub floors, plus a mushi-yu steam box. The changing space and the bathing floor are one room, an old layout that has almost vanished elsewhere. It is a registered cultural property. Open 5:00-25:00 for staying guests.

Open to day visitors

Open-air bath

Mori-no-yu has both an indoor bath and an open-air bath, but it is for staying guests only - day visitors cannot use it.

Overnight guests only

Private (kashikiri) bath

Two private options, both for staying guests only: Sanso-no-yu, a free family bath you use unhired, and 'Seki-Zen', a paid bookable private bath. The inn names these as the fallback for guests whose tattoos cannot be covered, which means a tattooed DAY visitor has no private-bath fallback here.

Overnight guests only

A private bath means nobody else is in the water with you — often the practical answer if the shared baths are closed to tattooed guests.

Practical details

Day visits: Yes — you can bathe without staying overnight.
10:00-17:30 (last bathing reception 17:00), same on weekdays and weekends
Day visit price: ¥1,500
Adults 1,500 yen including a face towel and toothbrush; children 3-12 1,100 yen with a face towel, under-3s free. Bath towel rental 550 yen. Ask at the Honkan front desk. Note for day visitors: there is NO rest room or lounge, the guest wings are off limits, and the Mori-no-yu and Sanso-no-yu baths are not included - only Genroku-no-yu. Coin lockers are limited. No booking needed, but entry can be capped when busy.
Staying overnight: Yes
Getting there: From JR Nakanojo Station take the Kan-Etsu Kotsu bus about 40 minutes to the Shima Onsen terminus (1,150 yen for an adult); the Honkan is a 2-minute walk from the stop. A taxi from Nakanojo takes about 20 minutes. The limited express Kusatsu-Shima from Ueno reaches Nakanojo in about 2 hours. There is no station pick-up. Day visitors must park at the free town-run Kirinokidaira car park, 5 minutes' walk away, not at the inn. Winter tyres or chains are needed December to March.
Official website: www.sekizenkan.co.jp

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