OnsenQuest

Prefectures / Gunma

Shima Tamura

四万温泉 四万たむら · Shima Onsen

Policy not published (overnight)

Can you bathe here with a tattoo?

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

Staying overnight

They have not said

The tattoo policy is not stated publicly. A private or in-room bath is available, which is often an option for tattooed guests.

How it scores

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

ViewWaterComfortSettingAccess

Rated from research

View4
Water5
Comfort3.5
Setting4.5
Access3
△Somewhere to sit — A small rest area
△Anything else nearby — Nearby, but off to one side

Seven private sources at 1,600 litres a minute is an unusual amount of water for one inn, and the two-storey Gomuso-no-yu with water welling up through the tub floor is a genuinely distinctive piece of bathing architecture. The riverbed mixed bath sits in the gravel of the Arayu with the forest around it. Marked down on comfort because part of the women's bathing is currently on a timed swap while a bath is out of service, and it is now overnight guests only.

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

The baths

Indoor bath

Seven of the inn's own springs deliver about 1,600 litres a minute. The signature bath, Gomuso-no-yu, is a two-storey open well of a room with the women's bath above and the men's below, and the water rising up through a pebbled tub floor; different tubs are kept at different temperatures. NOTE: the women's indoor bath at Gomuso-no-yu has been out of service since 2025 with no reopening date, so since 7 May 2024 Gomuso-no-yu and the adjoining Ouketsu bath run on a timed swap - women 15:00-21:00, men 21:30-09:30.

Overnight guests only

Open-air bath

Several open-air baths, including a garden open-air bath modelled on Shima's famous river potholes, and a rough mixed-bathing riverbed bath dug into the gravel of the Arayu River known as 'maboroshi-no-yu' (the phantom bath) because it disappears under water when the river rises.

Overnight guests only

Private (kashikiri) bath

A bookable private bath is available to staying guests.

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
No — overnight guests only.
Day visit price
Not confirmed
DAY-USE BATHING HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN. The inn announced on 1 June 2026 that both Shima Tamura and its sister hotel Shima Grand Hotel have stopped taking day bathers, in order to concentrate on overnight guests. Older guide pages still quote a day-use fee of around 1,730 yen; that is out of date.
Staying overnight
Yes
Getting there
In Shima Onsen. From JR Nakanojo Station take the Kan-Etsu Kotsu bus about 40 minutes towards the Shima Onsen terminus. The inn closes entirely on scattered dates - 15, 16 and 17 September 2026 among them - so check before booking.
Official website
shima-tamura.co.jp

Visit the official website ↗

Book it

Check rates and availabilityBooking.com ↗

What we have not confirmed

We would rather show a gap than guess.