Five highways were established in the Edo period (1603-1867), called the Gokaido. The 67th stop on one of these roads, Nakasendo, is Moriyama-juku in present-day Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture.
Nakasendo is the inland side of the two roads connecting Edo and Nihonbashi in Edo and Sanjo Ohashi in Kyoto.
The distance between Kyoto and Moriyama is 8 ri and 6 towns (approx. 32.6 km), which is exactly the same distance as the daily itinerary of common people in the Edo period (1603-1867).
Therefore, people traveling from Kyoto to Edo via the Nakasendo route stayed overnight in Moriyama.
For this reason, Moriyama-juku and was the first stop for people traveling on the Nakasendo from Kyoto to Edo (now Tokyo).
