Nakamura-ya ryokan in Musa.
A two-story ryokan called Nakamura-ya (中村屋) in Musa, Omi-Hachiman has been totally destroyed by an early-morning fire on Dec. 10, 2010. The owner/operator couple of the 200-year-old inn were sleeping on the 1st floor, but managed to escape after hearing a fire alarm. No customers were staying in the ryokan at the time. A neighbor reported the fire a little before 5 am. The fire spread rapidly as it was a wooden building. Some 24 fire trucks put out the blaze after about 3 hours.
Nakamura-ya has a 400-year history as one of the hatago inns of Musa, the 66th post town on the Nakasendo Road linking Tokyo (Edo) and Kyoto through an interior route. The building that burned down was about 200 years old. Shiga has ten historical post towns on the Nakasendo. Musa, today a small and quiet neighborhood, is near Ohmi Railways Musa Station, a short ride from Omi-Hachiman.
