This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (May 2011)

Shiga Prefecture
Japanese transcription(s)
• Japanese	滋賀県
• Rōmaji	Shiga-ken
Symbol of Shiga Prefecture
Country	Japan
Region	Kansai
Island	Honshu
Capital	Ōtsu
Government
• Governor	Yukiko Kada
Area
• Total	4,017.36 km2 (1,551.11 sq mi)
Area rank	38th
Population (August 1, 2009)
• Total	1,402,132
• Rank	28th
• Density	332/km2 (860/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	JP-25
Districts	3
Municipalities	19
Flower	Rhododendron (Rhododendron metternichii var. hondoense)
Tree	Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)
Bird	Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Website	www.pref.shiga.jp

Shiga Prefecture (滋賀県, Shiga-ken^?) is a prefecture of Japan, which forms part of the Kansai region on Honshu Island.^[1] The capital is the city of Ōtsu.^[2]

History[link]

Shiga was known as Ōmi Province or Gōshū before the prefectural system was established.^[3] Omi was a neighbor of Nara and Kyoto, and junction of western and eastern Japan, so Omi was developed as the hinterland of capitals, the traffic important point and sometimes political center. In the years 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 north of Otsu and founded Enryaku-ji, the center of Tendai and one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Monuments of Ancient Kyoto now.

In the Medieval Period, Sasaki clan ruled Omi, and afterward Rokkaku clan, Kyōgoku clan and Azai clan ruled Omi. In 1570s, 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 important persons from Omi in Sengoku Period. In this times, Ninja was active in Kōka (See also Kōga-ryū).

In 1600, Ishida Mitsunari, born in 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, and Naomasa established the Hikone Domain. The Hikone Domain is famous for Ii Naosuke, who became the Tokugawa shogunate's Tairō and concluded commercial treaties with the Western powers and thus broke Japan's isolation from the world in the 19th century. Besides the Hikone Domain, many domains ruled Omi such as Zeze.

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

Geography[link]

Map of Shiga Prefecture

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

Lake Biwa 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 coast 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, there is a small lake which is famous for a legend of the heavenly robe of an angel (天女の羽衣, tennyo no hagoromo^?), which is similar to western Swan maiden.^[4]

The climate of Shiga makes a sharp contrast between northern and southern. Southern Shiga is usually warm, but northern Shiga is substantially cold with high snowfall and there are many skiing grounds. In Nakanokawachi, the northernmost village of Shiga, snow laid 5.6 meter deep on the ground in 1936.^[5]

Shiga Prefecture viewed from space

As of 31 March 2008, 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.^[6]

Municipalities[link]

Cities[link]

Thirteen cities are located in Shiga Prefecture:

Towns[link]

These are the towns in each district.

Mergers[link]

Politics[link]

• Shiga Gubernatorial election, 2006

Economy[link]

Merchant mansions in Omihachiman

The cultivated areas occupy nearly one-sixth the total area of Shiga. Rice is the principal crop of Shiga, and over 90 percent of the farmlands are rice fields. The average numbers of management farmland and farm income per household are small scale, so almost farmers depend on another business income. Eastern Shiga is famous for breeding of cattle, and southeastern Shiga is famous for cultivation of green tea. In villages on Lake Biwa, some people are engaged in fishery and freshwater pearl farming.

Since the Medieval Period, especially in Edo period, many Shiga people have been active in Japanese commercial fields and have been called Ōmi merchants (近江商人, Ōmi shōnin, Ōmi akindo^?). For example, Nippon Life, Itochu, Marubeni, Takashimaya, Wacoal and Yanmar are founded by people from Shiga. Ōmi merchants were often called Ōmi thieves (近江泥棒, Ōmi dorobō^?) by other jealous merchants. In their home towns such as Omihachiman, Hino, Gokashō and Toyosato, their mansions are preserved as tourist attraction now.

Since 1960s, Shiga developed its industry rapidly, a number of major companies have factories in Shiga such as IBM Japan, Canon, Yanmar Diesel, Mitsubishi, and Toray now. According to Cabinet Office's stastics in 2007, Secondary sector of the economy accounted for 44.8 % of Gross Shiga Product, it is the highest proportion in Japan.^[7] The traditional industry of Shiga includes textiles, Shigaraki ware, Butsudan in Hikone and Nagahama, medicines in Koka, fan ribs in Adogawa.

Demographics[link]

The population is concentrated along the southern shore of Lake Biwa in Otsu city (adjacent to Kyoto) and along the eastern shore of Lake Biwa. Cities on the eastern shore like Kusatsu and Moriyama 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 have settled in Shiga to work in nearby factories. 26,471 foreigners live in Shiga and 36% of foreigners are Brazilians as of December 2010.^[8] Shiga Prefecture services a weekly information program in Portuguese on Biwako Broadcasting from April 2011.^[9]

Culture[link]

Sagawa Art Museum

Biwa town (now a part of Nagahama) is a home of The Tonda Traditional Bunraku Puppet Troupe. Founded in the 1830s, the Tonda Puppet Troupe is one of the most active traditional Bunraku puppet theaters in Japan outside the National Theater in Osaka. Toyosato and Higashiomi are known to a mecca of Goshu ondo.

There is 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.^[10]

Cuisine[link]

Since ancient times, Shiga people have made use of fishery resources from Lake Biwa for their eating habits. The most famous lake-food of Shiga is fermented sushi of crucian carp (鮒寿司, funa-zushi^?). It retains ancient style of sushi and has a pungent odor and peculiar favor. Shiga is also famous for high quality wagyū, Omi beef. The Hikone Domain presented beef as medicinal food to shoguns.^[11] In addition, tsukemono of root crops, mallard nabe or mallard sukiyaki (鴨鍋 or 鴨すき, kamo-nabe or kamo-suki^?) in northern Shiga, red colored konjac (赤こんにゃく, aka konnyaku^?) in Omihachiman, sōmen with grilled mackerel (焼鯖素麺, yaki-saba sōmen^?) in Nagahama, and lightly seasoned champon in Hikone are examples of specific cuisine in Shiga.

• 

  Funa-zushi – fermented crucian carp

• 

  Nagahama yaki-saba sōmen

• 

  Hikone champon

Mass media[link]

Biwako Broadcasting services local TV programs and NHK has a Broadcasting Station in Otsu. Shiga is the only prefecture which has no own regional newspapers, and Kyoto Shimbun is a de facto regional newspaper of Shiga.

Education[link]

University of Shiga Prefecture

There are ten universities, two junior colleges, and a learning center of The Open University of Japan in Shiga.^[12]

• Shiga University (Hikone and Otsu)
• Shiga University of Medical Science (Otsu)
• University of Shiga Prefecture (Hikone)
• Seian University of Art and Design (Otsu)
• Seisen University (Hikone)
• Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology (Nagahama)
• Biwako-Gakuin University (Higashiomi)
• Biwako Seikei Sport College (Otsu)
• Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto and Kusatsu)
• Ryukoku University (Kyoto and Otsu)
• Shiga Junior College (Otsu)
• Shiga Bunkyo Junior College (Nagahama)

Sports[link]

The following sports teams are based in Shiga.

• Basketball: Shiga LakeStars
• Volleyball: Toray Arrows (women's volleyball team) (Otsu)
• Football (soccer): MIO Biwako Kusatsu (Kusatsu), Sagawa Shiga F.C. (Moriyama).

Tourism[link]

From Otsu port, the Michigan paddlewheel boat offers cruises on Lake Biwa

Hikone Castle

Shiga has a lot of tourism resources, but Shiga is overshadowed by its much more famous neighbor Kyoto, so many foreign tourists have never heard of Shiga. Over four million foreign tourists visited Japan in 2000, but only sixty-five thousand foreign tourists visited Shiga.^[13]

The main gateways to Shiga are the Maibara Station in northern Shiga and the city of Otsu in the south. The Maibara Station is about 2 hours and 20 minutes away from the Tokyo Station by the Tokaido Shinkansen. It is easy to go to Otsu from Kyoto and Osaka by rapid service trains.

Shiga's most prominent feature is Lake Biwa. The northern shore is especially scenic such as cherry blossom of Kaizu Osaki in spring and a sacred island Chikubu-shima. The western shore has white sand beaches, popular among Kyotoites during the summer. The scenery of the southern shore, particularly around Otsu, was selected as Omi Hakkei or Eight Views of Omi, popularized by Hiroshige's ukiyo-e. Unfortunately, most of the original eight views are now almost gone or changed from what they were centuries ago. One remaining view is the Ukimidō "floating temple" building at Mangetsu-ji temple in Katata, northern Otsu. It was reconstructed with concrete in 1937, but still has a tasteful scene — a small temple stands on the lake near the shore, accessible by a short bridge. Another scene features Ishiyama-dera temple in southern Otsu, which is also renowned for having a room where Lady Murasaki thought up the plan for some chapters of Tale of Genji.

Bacause there are many mountains around Lake Biwa, beautiful views of the lake can also be had from mountains. Mount Hira is a popular picnic spot with Kansai people. Mountain roads like the Oku-Biwako Parkway road up north and the Hiei-zan Driveway and Oku-Hiei Driveway overlooking the southwestern shore. In Otsu, the Otsu Prince Hotel's Top of Otsu restaurant provides a superb high, panoramic view of the lake and city, and the Michigan paddlewheel boat offers cruises.

Besides being natural beauty, there are historical buildings and festivals persons that rank among those of national importance. Shiga has 807 National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, that ranks the fourth large number in Japan.^[7]

Like other prefectures, festivals abound in Shiga. Unique festivals of Shiga include the hikiyama festival (floats parade festival). The hikiyama festival is held in ten areas such as Nagahama, Otsu, Maibara, Hino, Minakuchi and so on. The Nagahama hikiyama festival held each April is known as one of the three major hikiyama festivals in Japan, and was selected as Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1979. During this festival ornate floats are mounted with miniature stages on which highly skilled boys (playing both male and female roles) act in kabuki plays.^[14] Meanwhile, Higashiomi (formerly Yōkaichi) city holds a Giant Kite Festival every May along the riverbank. Ordinary people are invited to pull the rope that sends the kites aloft.

Shiga's most famous historical building is Hikone Castle, one of four national treasure castles in Japan. The castle tower is well preserved and also has many cherry trees. The neighboring city of Nagahama is also famous for tourism, and has a large number of sights, in addition to its hikiyama festival. Notable shrines include Hiyoshi Taisha in Otsu and Taga-taisha in Taga, which respectively head the seventh and twentieth largest shrine networks in Japan, at about 4,000 shrines and 260 shrines, respectively.

Transportation[link]

JR West "Special Rapid" train on Biwako Line

Biwako Ohashi Bridge

Railways[link]

• West Japan Railway Company
  • Tōkaidō Main Line (Biwako Line), Hokuriku Main Line, Kusatsu Line and Kosei Line
• Central Japan Railway Company
  • Tōkaidō Shinkansen (Maibara Station) and Tōkaidō Main Line
• Keihan Electric Railway
  • Keishin Line and Ishiyama Sakamoto Line
• Ohmi Railway
  • Main Line, Yōkaichi Line and Taga Line
• Shigaraki Kōgen Railway
• Sakamoto Cable

Roads[link]

Meishin Expressway, Shin-Meishin Expressway and Hokuriku Expressway pass through Shiga. National highway Route 1, 8, 21, 8, 161, 303, 306, 307, 365, 367, 421, 422 and 477 connect with neighbouring prefectures. Two toll bridges span southern part of Lake Biwa.

Boats[link]

With development of land transportation in the 20th century, waterborne transportation in Lake Biwa was disused except for steamer services to islands on the lake, and pleasure boats are popular now.

Miscellaneous topics[link]

• Sōsuke Uno - The 75th prime minister from Moriyama. He was one of the shortest-serving prime ministers in Japan, holding office for only three months (June–August 1989).
• Takanori Nishikawa - A singer and actor from Hikone and Yasu. He is also active as the first Cultural Ambassador for Shiga.
• Hizaki - A musician and songwriter, known for work as guitarist of Versailles.

Sister states[link]

Shiga has cooperative agreements with three states.^[15]

• Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
• Michigan, USA
• Hunan, People's Republic of China

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0-674-01753-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Shiga-ken hyakka jiten [Encyclopedia Shiga] (滋賀県百科事典, 1984). Tokyo: Yamato Shobo.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shiga prefecture

• Shiga Prefecture official page
• go.biwako - Travel Guide of Shiga Prefecture, Japan (Biwako Visiters Bureau)
• Shiga-ken.com

v t e Shiga Prefecture Cities Higashiōmi Hikone Kōka Konan Kusatsu Maibara Moriyama Nagahama Ōtsu (capital) Ōmihachiman Rittō Takashima Yasu Echi District Aishō Gamō District Hino Ryūō Inukami District Kōra Taga Toyosato See also: List of mergers in Shiga Prefecture

v t e Regions and administrative divisions of  Japan Regions Hokkaido Tōhoku Kantō Nanpō Islands Chūbu Hokuriku Kōshin'etsu Shin'etsu Tōkai Kansai Chūgoku San'in San'yō Shikoku Kyushu Northern Kyushu Ryukyu Islands Prefectures Hokkaido Hokkaido Tōhoku Aomori Iwate Miyagi Akita Yamagata Fukushima Kantō Ibaraki Tochigi Gunma Saitama Chiba Tokyo Kanagawa Chūbu Niigata Toyama Ishikawa Fukui Yamanashi Nagano Gifu Shizuoka Aichi Kansai Mie Shiga Kyoto Osaka Hyōgo Nara Wakayama Chūgoku Tottori Shimane Okayama Hiroshima Yamaguchi Shikoku Tokushima Kagawa Ehime Kōchi Kyushu Fukuoka Saga Nagasaki Kumamoto Ōita Miyazaki Kagoshima Okinawa

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

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2009)

Matsuri Hino (樋野 まつり, Hino Matsuri^?) is a Japanese manga artist born in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. She made her professional debut in the September 10, 1995 issue of LaLa DX with the one-shot title Ko no Yume ga Same Tara (この夢が覚めたら, When This Dream is Over^?) . Hino Matsuri is also well known for her anime/manga series 'Vampire Knight.'

Bibliography[link]

• (1999) Toraware no Mi no Ue (とらわれの身の上^?); English translation: Captive Hearts (2008)
• (2002) MeruPuri Meruhen Purinsu (めるぷり メルヘン☆プリンス^?); English translation: MeruPuri (2005)
• (2005) Wanted; English translation: Wanted (2008)^[1]
• (2005) Vanpaia Naito (ヴァンパイア騎士(ナイト)^?); English translation: Vampire Knight (2006)
• (2008) Vampire Knight: Ice Blue's Sin (ヴァンパイア騎士 憂氷の罪, Vanpaia Naito: Aisu Burū no Tsumi) (light novel)
• (2008) Vampire Knight: Noir's Trap (ヴァンパイア騎士 凝黒の罠, Vanpaia Naito: Nowāru no Wana) (light novel)

References[link]

1. ^ "Viz to Print Cat Eyed Boy, Black Lagoon, Tanemura Works". Anime News Network. 2008-01-24. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-01-24/viz-to-print-cat-eyed-boy-black-lagoon-tanemura-works. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 

External links[link]

• Profile at Hakusensha (Japanese)
• Matsuri Hino at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Hakusensha's Comicate issue 67 Interview with Matsuri Hino (Japanese)
• Hakusensha's Comicate issue 63 Interview with Matsuri Hino (Japanese)

This Japanese artist-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e