Ryokan Nushiya

The communal baths at Ryokan Nushiya sit in a building moved whole from an Edo-period sake warehouse in nearby Gotsu: an indoor bath open to the surrounding trees, and a separate rotenburo for men and women, updated in 2021 with a shaded spot to linger by the outdoor tub. The water is clear and colorless, drawn from the shared Arifuku spring, and known locally as a beauty bath for how smooth it leaves the skin. Two private baths, Ishi (石) and Hinoki (檜, Japanese cypress), are free for guests, and three of the nine rooms, relocated late-Edo farmhouses moved from Hamada, come with their own open-air tub. Arifuku onsen sits in a remote corner of Shimane; a geography textbook once listed it as the town farthest from Tokyo. The ryokan itself has been run for more than 250 years in a hot-spring town that has drawn bathers for over 1,350 years, and guests describe soaking to the sounds of the surrounding woods, sometimes with the main bath almost to themselves.