[1] Moriyama-juku was one of the original staging points on the ancient Tōsandō highway connecting the capital of Heian-kyō with the provinces of eastern Japan from the end of the Nara period onwards.

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 1700 in 415 houses, including two honjin, one waki-honjin, and 30 hatago.

During the Bakumatsu period, Princess Kazu-no-miya stayed at Moriyama-juku on her way to marry Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi in Edo.

One of the surviving buildings is the Uno house, formerly a sake brewery operating from the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji era.

On the right, a waitress tries to entice travelers into a tea house, but a peddler, man on a packhorse, and porters with a kago (palanquin) pass by.