Shiga Prefecture

"Shiga" redirects here. For other uses, see Shiga (disambiguation).

Shiga Prefecture (滋賀県, Shiga-ken, Japanese pronunciation: [ɕiꜜ.ɡa, -ŋa, ɕi.ɡaꜜ.keɴ, -ŋaꜜ.keɴ][2]) is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu.[3] Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of 4,017 km2 (1,551 sq mi). Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the northeast, Mie Prefecture to the southeast, and Kyoto Prefecture to the west.

Ōtsu is the capital and largest city of Shiga Prefecture, with other major cities including Kusatsu, Nagahama, and Higashiōmi.[4] Shiga Prefecture encircles Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan, and 37% of the total land area is designated as Natural Parks, the highest of any prefecture. Shiga Prefecture's southern half is located adjacent to the former capital city of Kyoto and forms part of Greater Kyoto, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Japan. Shiga Prefecture is home to Ōmi beef, the Eight Views of Ōmi, and Hikone Castle, one of four national treasure castles in Japan.[citation needed]

History

See also: Historic Sites of Shiga Prefecture

Shiga was known as Ōmi Province or Gōshū before the prefectural system was established.[5] Omi was a neighbor of Nara and Kyoto, at the junction of western and eastern Japan. During the period 667 to 672, Emperor Tenji founded a palace in Otsu. In 742, Emperor Shōmu founded a palace in Shigaraki. In the early Heian period, Saichō was born in the north of Otsu and founded Enryaku-ji, the center of Tendai and a UNESCO World Heritage Site and monument of Ancient Kyoto now.

During the Heian period, the Sasaki clan ruled Omi, and afterward, the Rokkaku clan, Kyōgoku clan, and Azai clans ruled Omi. While during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, Oda Nobunaga subjugated Omi and built Azuchi Castle on the eastern shores of Lake Biwa in 1579. Tōdō Takatora, Gamō Ujisato, Oichi, Yodo-dono, Ohatsu, and Oeyo were Omi notables during this period.

In 1600, Ishida Mitsunari, born in the east of Nagahama and based in Sawayama Castle, made war against Tokugawa Ieyasu in Sekigahara, Gifu. After the battle, Ieyasu made Ii Naomasa a new lord of Sawayama. Naomasa established the Hikone Domain, later known for Ii Naosuke. Ii Naosuke became the Tokugawa shogunate's Tairō and concluded commercial treaties with the Western powers and thus ended Japan's isolation from the world in the 19th century. Besides the Hikone Domain, many domains ruled Omi such as Zeze.

Map of Shiga Prefecture, 1880

With the abolition of the han system, eight prefectures were formed in Omi. They were unified into Shiga Prefecture in September 1872. "Shiga Prefecture" was named after "Shiga District" because Otsu belonged to the district until 1898. From August 1876 to February 1881, southern Fukui Prefecture had been incorporated into Shiga Prefecture.

In 2015, Shiga Governor Taizō Mikazuki conducted a survey asking citizens whether they felt it necessary to change the name of the prefecture, partly to raise its profile as a destination for domestic tourism.[6]

Geography

Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture viewed from space

Shiga borders Fukui Prefecture in the north, Gifu Prefecture in the east, Mie Prefecture in the southeast, and Kyoto Prefecture in the west.

Lake Biwa, Japan's largest, is located at the center of this prefecture. It occupies one-sixth of its area. The Seta River flows from Lake Biwa to Osaka Bay through Kyoto. This is the only natural river that flows out from the lake. Most other natural rivers flow into the lake. There were many lagoons around Lake Biwa, but most of them were reclaimed in 1940s. One of the preserved lagoons is the wetland (水郷, suigō) in Omihachiman, and it was selected as the first Important Cultural Landscapes in 2006.

The lake divides the prefecture into four different areas: Kohoku (湖北, north of lake) centered Nagahama, Kosei (湖西, west of lake) centered Imazu, Kotō (湖東, east of lake) centered Hikone and Konan (湖南, south of lake) centered Otsu.

Plains stretch to the eastern shore of Lake Biwa. The prefecture is enclosed by mountain ranges with the Hira Mountains and Mount Hiei in the west, the Ibuki Mountains in the northeast, and the Suzuka Mountains in the southeast. Mount Ibuki is the highest mountain in Shiga. In Yogo, a small lake known for the legend of the heavenly robe of an angel (天女の羽衣, tennyo no hagoromo), which is similar to a western Swan maiden.[7]

Shiga's climate sharply varies between north and south. Southern Shiga is usually warm, but northern Shiga is typically cold with high snowfall and hosts many skiing grounds. In Nakanokawachi, the northernmost village of Shiga, snow reached a depth of 5.6 metres (18 ft) in 1936.[8]

As of 1 April 2014, 37% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks (the highest total of any prefecture), namely the Biwako and Suzuka Quasi-National Parks; and Kotō, Kutsuki-Katsuragawa, and Mikami-Tanakami-Shigaraki Prefectural Natural Parks.[9]

Municipalities

See also: List of cities in Shiga Prefecture by population

Cities

Map of Shiga Prefecture
     City      Town
Hikone
Nagahama

Thirteen cities are located in Shiga Prefecture:

Name Area (km2) Population Population density (per km2) Map
Rōmaji Kanji
Higashiōmi 東近江市 388.58 113,460 291.99
Hikone 彦根市 196.84 113,349 575.84
Kōka 甲賀市 481.62 89,202 185.21
Konan 湖南市 70.4 54,240 770.46
Kusatsu 草津市 67.82 141,945 2092.97
Maibara 米原市 250.46 38,473 153.61
Moriyama 守山市 55.73 80,768 1449.27
Nagahama 長浜市 680.79 119,043 174.86
Ōmihachiman 近江八幡市 177.45 82,116 462.76
Ōtsu (capital) 大津市 464.51 341,187 734.51
Rittō 栗東市 52.75 67,149 1272.97
Takashima 高島市 693 49,168 70.95
Yasu 野洲市 80.15 50,233 626.74

Towns

These are the towns in each district:

Name Area (km2) Population Population density (per km2) District Map
Rōmaji Kanji
Aishō 愛荘町 37.98 20,730 545.81 Echi District
Hino 日野町 117.63 21,677 184.28 Gamō District
Kōra 甲良町 13.66 6,932 507.47 Inukami District
Ryūō 竜王町 44.52 12,130 272.46 Gamō District
Taga 多賀町 135.93 7,382 54.31 Inukami District
Toyosato 豊郷町 7.78 7,588 975.32 Inukami District

Mergers

Main article: List of mergers in Shiga Prefecture

Politics

Ōtsu City's prefectural government building

Taizō Mikazuki, a former member of the House of Representatives from Shiga, was narrowly elected governor in July 2014 with center-left support against ex-METI-bureaucrat Takashi Koyari (supported by the center-right national-level ruling parties) to succeed governor Yukiko Kada. In June 2018, he was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term against one challenger, a communist.[10][11][12]

The prefectural assembly has 44 members from 16 electoral districts, and is elected in unified local elections. As of July 2019, the assembly was composed by caucus as follows: LDP 20 members, Team Shiga (CDP, DPP, former Kada supporters etc.) 14, JCP 4, Sazanami Club (of independents) 3, Kōmeitō 2, "independent"/non-attached 1.[13]

In the National Diet, Shiga is represented by four directly elected members of the House of Representatives and two (one per ordinary election) of the House of Councillors. For the proportional representation segment of the lower house, the prefecture forms part of the Kinki block. After the national elections of 2016, 2017 and 2019, the directly elected delegation to the Diet from Shiga consists of (as of August 1, 2019):

Economy

Merchant mansions in Omihachiman

According to the Cabinet Office's statistics in 2014, the manufacturing sector accounted for 35.4% of Shiga's economic production, the highest proportion in Japan.[14]

Demographics

Shiga prefecture population pyramid in 2020
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1920 651,050—    
1930 691,631+6.2%
1940 703,679+1.7%
1950 861,180+22.4%
1960 842,695−2.1%
1970 889,768+5.6%
1980 1,079,898+21.4%
1990 1,222,411+13.2%
2000 1,342,832+9.9%
2010 1,410,777+5.1%
2015 1,412,916+0.2%
Source: [1]

The population is concentrated along the southern shore of Lake Biwa in Otsu city (adjacent to Kyoto) and along the lake's eastern shore in cities such as Kusatsu and Moriyama, which are within commuting distance to Kyoto. The lake's western and northern shores are more rural and resort-oriented with white sand beaches. In recent years, many Brazilians settled in Shiga to work in nearby factories. 25,040 foreigners live in Shiga and 30% of foreigners were Brazilians as of December 2016.[15]

Culture

Sagawa Art Museum
Aquarium of Lake Biwa Museum

Biwa Town (a part of Nagahama) is a home of The Tonda Traditional Bunraku Puppet Troupe.[citation needed]

Museums include the Sagawa Art Museum in Moriyama, the Lake Biwa Museum in Kusatsu and the Miho Museum in Kōka. In Kōka, a ninja house is preserved as a visitor center.[16]

Education

University of Shiga Prefecture

Ten universities, two junior colleges, and a learning center of The Open University of Japan operate in Shiga.[17]

Sports

The following sports teams are based in Shiga.

Tourism

Ukimidō hall at Mangetsu-ji temple near Katata, Ōtsu
From Otsu port, the Michigan paddlewheel boat offers cruises on Lake Biwa
Hikone Castle

In 2000 sixty-five thousand tourists visited Shiga.[18]

Festivals include the hikiyama (floats parade) festival, held in ten areas includingNagahama each April, one of the three major hikiyama festivals in Japan, which was designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1979. During the festival ornate floats are mounted with miniature stages on which boys (playing both male and female roles) act in kabuki plays.[19]

Notable people

See also: Category:People from Shiga Prefecture

Sister states/provinces

Shiga has cooperative agreements with three statesnor provinces in other countries.[20]

Notes

  1. ^ "2020年度国民経済計算（2015年基準・2008SNA） : 経済社会総合研究所 - 内閣府". 内閣府ホームページ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  2. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, ed. (24 May 2016). NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典 (in Japanese). NHK Publishing.
  3. ^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Shiga-ken" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 853, p. 853, at Google Books; "Kansai" at Japan Encyclopedia, p. 477, p. 477, at Google Books.
  4. ^ Nussbaum, "Ōtsu" at Japan Encyclopedia, p. 765, p. 765, at Google Books.
  5. ^ Nussbaum, "Provinces and prefectures" at Japan Encyclopedia, p. 780, p. 780, at Google Books.
  6. ^ "Shiga Prefecture mulls name change to draw more visitors". The Japan Times.
  7. ^ Shiga Prefecture. 余呉湖・天女の衣掛柳 [Lake Yogo - a willow hung a celestial robe] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  8. ^ Encyclopedia Shiga. p436.
  9. ^ "General overview of area figures for Natural Parks by prefecture" (PDF). Ministry of the Environment. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  10. ^ Shiga prefectural government: Governor's office (Japanese, English machine translation available by clicking "Foreign Language")
  11. ^ The Japan Times, July 14, 2014: LDP candidate flounders in Shiga governor race, retrieved August 1, 2019.
  12. ^ NHK Senkyo Web, June 24, 2018: 2018滋賀県知事選, retrieved August 1, 2019.
  13. ^ Prefectural assembly: Members by caucus (in Japanese), retrieved August 1, 2019.
  14. ^ Shiga Prefecture. 滋賀県の紹介（滋賀県なんでも一番） [Introduction of Shiga prefecture; Best scores of Shiga] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  15. ^ Shiga Prefecture. 滋賀県内の外国人人口 [The number of foreigners in Shiga Prefecture] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  16. ^ Biwako Visitors Bureau. "Experiencing Ninjutsu (Ninja's techniques) at the ninja's native place – Koka Ninjutsu Yashiki". Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  17. ^ Shiga Prefecture. 滋賀県内の大学・短期大学 [Universities and junior colleges in Shiga prefecture] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  18. ^ Shiga Prefecture. 湖国観光交流ビジョン 第２章 滋賀県観光の現状と課題 [The vision for tourism and exchange of the Lake Country. Chapter 2: present situation and problem about the Shiga tourism] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  19. ^ Biwako Visitors Bureau. 滋賀県観光情報：長浜曳山まつり [Shiga tourism information: Nagahama hikiyama festival] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  20. ^ Shiga Prefecture. 滋賀県の紹介（滋賀県の国際交流 姉妹・友好都市） [Introduction of Shiga prefecture; International exchanges of Shiga, friendship sister cities] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2010-11-25.

References

35°7′N 136°4′E / 35.117°N 136.067°E / 35.117; 136.067