Shiga
(2002 est. pop. 1.4 million). Shiga Prefecture is situated in the central region of Japan's island of Honshu, where it occupies an area of 4,016 square kilometers. Shiga's primary geographical feature is the nation's largest freshwater body, Lake Biwa, located in a basin ringed by mountains. Biwa is divided into the deeper North Lake and the shallow South Lake. Shiga is bordered by Kyoto, Mie, Gifu, and Fukui prefectures. Once known as Omi Province, it assumed its present name and borders in 1881.
The prefecture's capital city is Otsu, situated on Lake Biwa's southwest shore. Emperor Tenji established his palace and capital there in 667. After Tenji's death in 672, the capital was moved to Asuka. In later centuries Otsu flourished as a lake port and a highway post station during the Edo period (1600/1603–1868). In 1891, an assassination attempt was made on Russian Crown Prince Nicholas (later Czar Nicholas II) while he was visiting Otsu. In recent decades, Otsu has become the heart of the industrial zone south of Lake Biwa that abuts the Kyoto-Osaka metropolitan area. The prefecture's other important cities are Hikone, Nagahama, Kusatsu, and Omi Hachiman.
Ruled by a series of feudal warlords and often a strategic battlefield, the province came under the control of Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582), who in 1579 built a mountaintop castle in Azuchi to defend Kyoto. During the Edo period, most of the region was ruled by the Ii family from their castle town of Hikone.
Rice remains the prefecture's main agricultural product, while Lake Biwa is the source of various kinds of freshwater fish and also the site of pearl culture. Water from the lake is used for drinking, irrigation, and industry, both locally and in Kyoto, by way of the Biwako canal. Shiga's industries include textiles, electrical goods, chemicals, and transport machinery. Visitors are drawn to Lake Biwa, the Enryakuji Buddhist temple complex on Mount Hiei, Otsu's Hie Shrine and Buddhist temples, and the Edo-period merchant quarters in Omi Hachiman.
Further Reading
"Shiga Prefecture." (1993) Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha.
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