Sakamoto Ryoma at Teradaya Inn

The Teradaya (Terada Inn) is located in Fushimi, south of Kyoto. It was a known gathering place for ronin loyal to the pro-imperial cause and was the scene of two of the most spectacular events in the Bakumatsu era.

The first, in 1862, known as the “Teradaya disturbance”, was a bloody dispute between retainers of the Satsuma Domain, with nine people being killed. The second, in 1866, known as the “Teradaya incident”, was an attack by the men of the Fushimi magistrate on famous samurai Sakamoto Ryoma, who was hiding out in the inn.

photos: Junko Nagata © Japanbyweb.com

The incident is famous for the actions of Sakamoto’s wife Oryo who became aware of the attackers and is said to have jumped out of the bath naked and to go and warn him of the pressing danger.

Sakamoto Ryoma

Sakamoto Ryoma, one of the most famous and influential people in Japanese history and a prominent figure in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period in Japan, stayed in 1866 at the Teradaya with a friend from Choshu, Miyoshi Shinzo.

Although he was trying to keep a low profile, it became known to Fushimi’s Bakufu bugyo (government commissioner) that a big-named member of the pro-loyalist movement was staying at the Teradaya.

Even though it was not known that the actual “big name” was Sakamoto Ryoma, the Fushimi bugyo ordered 20 heavily armed Bakufu patrolmen to apprehend the “big fish”. Luckily for Ryoma, he wasn’t taken off guard. Using his Smith & Wesson revolver, Ryoma and Shinzo battled their way out of the deathtrap and to safety. During the melee, which also included hand-to-hand exchanges that forced Ryoma to use the revolver to parry slashing attacks from short swords, Ryoma sustained light wounds to his hands. After downing some of the Bakufu samurai with rounds from his pistol, the patrolmen pulled back in order to re-group. Unable to handle his weapon any longer due to his wounds, Ryoma and Shinzo took advantage of the lull in the fighting to make their escape to freedom through the unguarded back stairs.

Ryoma’s actions on that night at the Teradaya have become forever immortalized in both print and film. Today, visitors to the reconstructed Teradaya can see reconstructions of the room in which Ryoma and Shinzo made their desperate stand, along with a collection of Ryoma-related artifacts. The rooms and reconstructed building overall are presented as though they remain largely unchanged since that fateful night. Numerous sword scars and a bullet hole have been recreated as testament to the fury of the fighting.

Τext from wiki samurai-archives

Teradaya
Open: 10:00a.m.-4:00p.m.(entry until 3:30p.m.) Closed :Monday
263 Minamihama-cho, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto.