was the twenty-first of the sixty-nine stations

69 Stations of the Nakasendo

The are the rest areas along the Nakasendō, which ran from Nihonbashi in Edo to Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyoto. The route stretched approximately and was an alternate trade route to the Tōkaidō.-Stations of the Nakasendō:...

 of the Nakasendō

Nakasendo

The , also called the , was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo to Kyoto in Japan. There were 69 stations between Edo and Kyoto, crossing through Musashi, Kōzuke, Shinano, Mino and Ōmi provinces...

. It is located in the present-day town of Miyota

Miyota, Nagano

is a town located in Kitasaku District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.As of April 2007, the town has an estimated population of 14,231 and a density of 242.12 persons per km². The total area is 58.78 km².-External links:*...

, in the Kitasaku District

Kitasaku District, Nagano

is a district located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.As of December 1, 2005, the district has an estimated population of 40,041.The district has three towns*Karuizawa*Miyota*Tateshina-District Timeline:...

 of Nagano Prefecture

Nagano Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

History

Otai-shuku originated between 473 and 492AD and developed into a post town over one thousand years later, during the Keichō

Keicho

was a after Bunroku and before Genna. This period spanned from October 1596 to July 1615. The reigning emperors were and .-Change of era:* 1596 : The era name was changed to Keichō to mark the passing of various natural disasters...

 era. Because Otai-shuku was small there were only five rest areas in the entire post town, daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

s tended to stay at the neighboring Oiwake-shuku

Oiwake-shuku

was the twentieth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day town of Karuizawa, in the Kitasaku District of Nagano Prefecture, Japan.-History:...

, which was much larger. The Otai-shuku Festival was established to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the post town; this festival takes place on August 16 of each year.