The honjin was the official inn reserved for daimyo, court nobles, and other important travelers moving along the Nakasendo. Tsumago's honjin has been reconstructed on its old site, but it still does useful work: it gives scale to the town's role in the Edo-period road system.
The rooms are spare rather than showy. That fits Tsumago well. The appeal is not luxury, but the practical machinery of travel before railways and highways changed the Kiso Valley.