Banba-juku has a very long history, and was located on the ancient Tōsandō highway connecting the capital of Heian-kyō with the provinces of eastern Japan from the Asuka period.

According to the medieval Taiheiki chronicle, during the 1333 Kenmu Restoration, the final Rokuhara Tandai, Hōjō Nakatoki committed seppuku together with 430 of his family and retainers at the temple of Renge-ji in Banba-juku after their defeat at the hands of Sasaki Takauji, who was acting under the authority of Emperor Go-Daigo to assist the Ashikaga clan in overthrowing the Kamakura shogunate.

In 1611 a cutting through the hills to Maibara port on Lake Biwa made travel by boat to Ōtsu-juku possible.

Per the 1843 "中山道宿村大概帳" (Nakasendō Shukuson Taigaichō) guidebook issued by the Inspector of Highways (道中奉行, Dōchu-būgyō), the town had a population of 808 people in 178 houses, including one honjin, one waki-honjin, and 10 hatago, and was thus one of the smallest of the stations in Ōmi Province.

On the opposite side of the road a man observes a traveller dressed with a stray hat and a green cloak depart.