The façade of Kashiwaya Ryokan
The Shima Onsen area boasts a number of public onsen along with traditional Japanese Ryokan. Although not very well known outside of Gunma, Shima Onsen has more than 1000 years of history and is a very peaceful place to relax in a traditional inn. Much more information (history, transportation, etc) is available on the Shima Onsen Association Website.
To get there, I rented a car and drove, but luckily I got a car with snow tires. Since we went in late January, the roads had a bit of snow and ice which made for dangerous driving conditions. With snow tires this was no problem, but the roads may have been more treacherous with regular tires. Fortunately Kashiwaya had a few covered parking spaces, so I didn't end up like the car below.
I really hope this guy has a good snow shovel.
After checking in to the hotel, we went for a short walk (before realizing how cold and slippery it was) before sunset. Below are a few pictures of the surroundings near Kashiwaya.
Looking up to the snow-covered mountains in Shima Onsen
The main street of Shima Onsen.
All the guest rooms in Kashiwaya are single-kanji characters like rainbow (虹) and moon (月); great for the beginning to intermediate student of Japanese. Our room was on the second floor and had tatami floors with a balcony. One thing to note is that this place is very traditional, which means there is only one bathing area, with guest rooms just having toilets and sinks.
Front desk and waiting area.
In the very bottom of this picture is a low black table that had cushions on the side for sitting.
Another view of our room showing the TV, fridge and ancient rotary telephone.
Kashiwaya has two large public onsen (and associated showers) on the first floor, along with 3 private, outdoor, unreserved onsen upstairs. Since it was winter, the showers for the private onsen were turned off. In order to use the private onsen, you had to take a shower downstairs then go upstairs, brave the cold conditions on the way to the onsen, and finally enjoy the private outdoor onsen. This was a bit inconvenient, but once I made it up to the private bath, I realized it was worth the wait. Since it is forbidden (and in very bad taste) to take pictures inside the onsen itself, take a look at the Kashiwaya photo gallery for a glimpse at what the onsen look like.
In my short stay, I managed to try all 3 of the private outdoor onsen (before dinner, after dinner, before breakfast), and they were all magnificent. Two are fairly large rectangular pools and one is smaller and round. With the juxtaposition of the snow on the trees, freezing temperatures, and incredibly hot water, it was just lovely.
Dinner was served in our room and made entirely of locally grown foods. There was also an English menu, but knowing the name didn't help much in telling what was what. The food was fantastic, with all sorts of unique tastes intertwined.
My view from the "dinner table"
The English translation of the menu. I thought it was more fun to guess what I was eating.
The meal itself was quite filling, including all sorts of different local, seasonal foods. Since this meal was served in the room, I had to dial the front desk (on a rotary phone that was probably 40 years old) to tell them we were done.
After sleeping on tatami and futon, we woke up to a lovely breakfast served on the first floor. We could have chosen from either western or Japanese style, but I thought that, keeping with the feel of the place, Japanese style breakfast was more appropriate. Just like the dinner, the breakfast was just fantastic. There was one fish plate that came later, and that was when I first realized that all the food we were eating was very local. In a mountain Ryokan in the middle of winter, it made much more sense to eat mushrooms and root vegetables than saltwater fish.
Japanese style breakfast. Fish, soup, rice and some others came later.
My breakfast rice porridge brewing.
In sum, I have to say I was quite impressed by Kashiwaya Ryokan--the facilities, the service and the food were all incredible. For anyone looking for a traditional Japanese inn with a quiet, historic feel, I highly recommend Kashiwaya Ryokan. This was my first experience with a really historic Ryokan, and I'm planning to go back.
Information/Disclaimer: through February 2012, Kashiwaya Ryokan is offering a special rate for guests who come and "buzz" about the hotel. I took advantage of that and hence, this writeup is one such buzz.
