The three main elements of a ryokan or hotel are facilities, food, and service. In addition to these, what makes a Japanese inn many times more appealing are the hot springs and baths.
In the coming season, soaking in a famous hot spring will relax your mind and body and set you up for a good year. In this 16th installment, we will introduce three inns in Gunma Prefecture as part of "Bath-Proud Inns: Kanto Edition 4."

Located next to the Yubatake, the symbol of Kusatsu Onsen, Hotel Ichii is a long-established inn with over 300 years of history dating back to the Edo period. While maintaining the same spirit from the time of its founding, the hotel has been proactively renovated and is transforming into an extremely comfortable inn.

The large public bath, Ishidono, will be renovated and reopened in August 2021. The indoor bath draws from the rare Shirahata hot spring, which is rich in hot spring minerals and is only available to about 10 facilities around the Yubatake area. There are three baths with different temperatures, so that people who don't like hot water and children can bathe safely.

The open-air bath "Sekitei" uses free-flowing Bandaiko hot spring water, which has a strong acidic and refreshing feel. It features a gazebo-style hexagonal roof, allowing you to enjoy a bath while feeling the refreshing breeze of the open plateau.

By comparing the two different hot springs, Shirohata and Bandaiko, you are sure to experience the profound depth of hot springs.

Renovations other than the baths are also noteworthy. In March of this year, the "Yubata Side Executive Room and Mountain Side Executive Room" were created on the top eighth floor of the main building.

The apartment is equipped with an inner terrace-style living room where you can relax on sofas made by Hida furniture, a Simmons bed with an 8.25-inch thick mattress for the ultimate sleeping experience, and a projector so you can enjoy TV and subscription services on a large screen, making your time in Kusatsu even more premium.

On October 1st, the large banquet hall on the 9th floor of the annex was renovated and a new dining venue, "Buffet Toun," opened.

Based on the concept of "enjoying special occasions," dinner offers a variety of carefully selected dishes, including Japanese, Western and Chinese cuisine, Joshu beef steak and roast beef prepared in the live kitchen, and special meatloaf made using the proprietress' recipe. Breakfast is centered around Japanese and Western cuisine, and includes freshly baked bread and omelets with your choice of toppings. Please enjoy a variety of colorful dishes.

Gensen Yunoyado Matsunoi, draws water from four private hot springs and pours it into two large public baths, three open-air baths, and five private baths. The water is known for being gentle on the skin, and the water that bubbles up from the bottom of the bath without being exposed to the outside air has been trademarked as "excellent aged hot spring" and "raw hot spring."

The two large baths are "Hotaruakari no Yu" which faces the murmuring stream and the Japanese garden, and "Tsukiakari no Yu" which has a sauna. Each bath has its own open-air bath and bathtub, allowing you to experience the wonder of hot springs. Two of the five private baths are open-air baths, where you can relax while enjoying the view of the Japanese garden.

There are 232 guest rooms in total, including Japanese-style rooms, Western-style rooms, and Japanese-Western style rooms, some with open-air baths and some with semi-open-air baths. The hotel also has a popular Japanese, Western and Chinese buffet, equipped with a stage kitchen and made with ingredients carefully selected from various regions and producers.

Nearby, "Momoyamanagare Shiki no Yuyado" opened in July last year as a "Matsunoi Bettei" (Matsunoi Villa). This luxury facility with seven rooms, each with a semi-open-air bath, is also not to be missed.

Located in the nature-rich Joshinetsu Kogen National Park, Manza Onsen Nisshinkan spring resort on a plateau at an altitude of about 1,800 meters. The milky white water has the highest sulfur concentration in Japan, and it has long been said to cure all kinds of illnesses.

Manza Onsen is characterized by its natural flow, free-flowing, high-temperature source, high efficacy, and cloudy water. It boasts a daily volume of 5.4 million liters of hot water, with the source temperature at about 80 degrees. All of the baths at Nisshinkan are free-flowing, and you can enjoy wooden baths such as the open-air "Gokuraku-yu" bath with a view of the mountains and the starry sky, the "Manten-no-yu" bath in the modern new building, which is decorated with cypress, and the large bath "Choju-no-yu" supported by thick wooden pillars.

The menu for meals is designed with consideration for the health and longevity of guests, and dinner and breakfast are served as a buffet. The main lobby, which was renovated four years ago, has an open feel from the entrance to the front desk, and there are a total of 138 guest rooms. Guests can choose from Japanese-style rooms, Western-style rooms, and modern Japanese-Western style rooms. In addition to the hot springs, you can enjoy the charms of a stay in each of the four seasons, such as lingering snow and fresh greenery in spring, escaping the heat in summer, autumn leaves in autumn, and snowy scenery in winter.