Tsutakijuku 蔦木宿

Tsutaki-juku was the 42nd post station on the Kōshū Kaidō, counting from Edo. It was located in what is now Ochiai, Fujimi Town, Suwa District, Nagano Prefecture — 45 ri 30 chō from Edo, and 3 ri 4 chō from Kanazawa in neighbouring Chino.

The Kōshū Kaidō crosses the Kamanashi River at the Kokkaibashi bridge and enters Shinano Province; Tsutaki-juku was the first station inside the province. It was laid out in a planned fashion from around 1615 (Keichō 20). The station stretched in a straight line for 4 chō 30 ken between its eastern and western masugata (square bends in the road); the western masugata still retains its original form today.

According to the Kōshū Dōchū Shukuson Taigaichō, the station had 105 houses in total, one honjin, no waki-honjin, two toiya (relay offices) and 15 hatago inns. The honjin was kept by the Ariga family, under the house name Ōsaka-ya, and the toiya duty rotated every 15 days, providing relay men and horses.

During Emperor Meiji's imperial progress in 1880 (Meiji 13), the station served as a minor rest stop. In 1917, Viscount Watanabe Chiaki bought the honjin building and moved it to his villa "Bunsuisō" on Nangara-yama in the Fujimi Highlands, but it was demolished in the Shōwa 50s (1975–1984) because of dilapidation. The honjin's front gate, rebuilt after the fire of 1864 (Genji 1), was deposited in 1990 (Heisei 2) at the town's History and Folklore Museum, and in 1992 (Heisei 4) it was restored on the honjin site.