Teradaya Inn to revise its “unchanged” description

An investigation has found that the Teradaya Inn, a site where Sakamoto Ryoma is said to have narrowly escaped a raid aimed at taking him out, is not actually the original building it claims to be:

Teradaya, located in Kyoto’s Fushimi-ku, explains in a tape that the “inn, which became a stage for reformation, remains as it was at the time.” Guests were under the impression that the stairs which Sakamoto’s wife Oryo, who had been bathing, ran up unclothed to warn her husband of an attack, and bullet and sword marks from confrontations, had been left as they were at the time.

However, after doubts were raised, the city conducted an investigation. Based on news reports from the time and information on a memorial in the neighboring plot of land mentioning the remains of the inn, officials concluded that the inn was burned down in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi accompanying the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

The inn has been a major tourist attraction for many years, claiming in official descriptions that it was “unchanged” from its original appearance. Even if it may have been rebuilt shortly after it burned down in 1868, it doesn’t quite explain the so-called bullet and sword scars it has been showing off to tourists. Kyoto city has asked its owners to revise their official descriptions to clarify that the original structure actually burned down, and the owners are expected to comply with the request.