History and romance at Teradaya, Kyoto

150 years ago, the town of Fushimi was the closest river port to Kyoto, offering convenient water transportation between Kyoto and Osaka. This traffic led to the development of many inns, located right next to the canal... and one of these inns in particular, the Teradaya, became the seat of two dramatic events and one of the most famous inns from Japan.

The first event, a bloody battle between two groups of samurai from Satsuma, took place in 1862 and remained known as the Teradaya Incident.

The second event took place 4 years later and was also a samurai battle, but with a very romantic twist: Teradaya is where the love story of Ryōma Sakamoto and his wife Oryō began. One night, while Ryōma was staying at Teradaya, a large group of samurai attacked the inn, trying to capture or kill him. Oryō, who was working at the inn, heard the attackers while taking a bath. She then run naked to Ryōma's room, alerted him and since he wasn't caught unprepared, he fought and managed to escape with several light wounds. They soon married...

As you can see in the photo, Teradaya still looks exactly the same and the room where Ryōma stayed can now be visited...