Teradaya Incident 寺田屋事件

Official explanation

On the evening of March 9, 1866, officers from the Fushimi magistrate’s office arrived at the Teradaya Inn to conduct a raid. They had heard that anti-shogunate renegade Sakamoto Ryōma (1836–1867) was relaxing there with fellow radical Miyoshi Shinzō (1831–1901). The young woman who worked as a maid, Narasaki Ryō (also known as Oryō; 1841–1906), was taking a bath in the small wooden tub downstairs when the officers arrived. Alerted to the danger, she leapt from the bath and, without fully dressing, ran upstairs to warn Ryōma and Shinzō of the attack.

Ryō arrived just in the nick of time. Shinzō raised his spear, Ryōma fired his Smith & Wesson pistol, and the pair managed to escape to the safety of the Satsuma Domain’s mansion. Ryōma had sustained a serious wound to his hand and was elated to survive—thanks to Ryō’s quick-wittedness. Ryōma and Ryō married soon after, and their trip to the hot springs of Kirishima in Satsuma (now Kagoshima) is said to be Japan’s first honeymoon.

Read the full explanation

The Teradaya Inn burned down along with most of Fushimi during the Battle of Toba-Fushimi (1868), but it was rebuilt and operates today as an inn and museum. The second-floor room where Ryōma stayed has been lovingly replicated, as is Ryō’s bath and the staircase she hurried up to alert her future husband.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.