Kuma Onsen Ehime

Kuma Onsen Ehime is situated in Kumakogen, a highland agricultural town in the mountainous interior of Ehime Prefecture on the Shikoku island, whose elevated plateau — rare in subtropical Shikoku — creates a cool summer climate that supports dairy farming, vegetable cultivation, and even a modest ski resort in winter, making Kumakogen an unexpected destination for skiing enthusiasts on an island more typically associated with warm Pacific coastal landscapes. The Kuma plateau's position in the heart of the Shikoku mountains provides exceptional panoramic views across the island's rugged interior, with the jagged ridgelines of the Shikoku Karst extending to the north in a landscape of limestone outcrops and rare alpine meadows unique in the Shikoku mountain system. The onsen here draw on silica-rich geothermal springs from the volcanic and hydrothermal geology of Shikoku's interior, providing mineral bathing in one of the island's coolest and most scenically elevated highland environments, offering a distinctly different Shikoku experience from the coastal hot spring culture of Matsuyama's famous Dogo Onsen.