Otai-shuku (小田井宿 Otai-shuku) was the twenty-first of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day town of Miyota, in the Kitasaku District of Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
Otai-shuku originated between 473 and 492AD and developed into a post town over one thousand years later, during the Keichō era.[1] Because Otai-shuku was small there were only five rest areas in the entire post town, daimyos tended to stay at the neighboring Oiwake-shuku, which was much larger.[2] 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.[3]
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