was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the

Tōsandō is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it. It is part of the ''Gokishichidō'' system. It was situated along the central mountains of northern Honshu, specifically th ...

circuit. Its nickname is . Under the '' Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countries" (大国) in terms of importance, and one of the "near countries" (近国) in terms of distance from the capital. Ōmi bordered on Wakasa and Echizen Provinces to the north, Mino and Ise Provinces to the east,

Iga Iga may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ambush at Iga Pass, a 1958 Japanese film * Iga no Kagemaru, Japanese manga series * Iga, a set of characters from the Japanese novel '' The Kouga Ninja Scrolls'' Biology * ''Iga'' (beetle), a g ...

and Yamato Provinces to the south, and Yamashiro and Tanba Provinces to the east. Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, is located at the center of the province.

History

The area of Ōmi has been settled since at least the Yayoi period, and the traces of several large settlements have been found. During the Kofun period, the area appears to have been dominated by several powerful immigrant clans, most notably the Wani clan, originally from

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder J ...

. The names of "Ōmi" or "Lake Biwa" do not appear in the '' Kojiki'', '' Man'yōshū'' or other ancient documents. Ōmi was originally called by various names. Wooden tags from the ruins of Asuka-kyō state "Ahaumi" (淡海), or variations therefore, including "Chikaumi" (近淡海), meaning "fresh-water sea or "nearby freshwater sea", which evolved into or Ōmi-no-umi, (近江海). The name was only fixed to "Ōmi" after the enactment and enforcement of the

Taiho Code Taihō or Taiho can refer to: *Taihō (era), a Japanese name for the years 701–704 *Taihō Code, a reorganization of the Japanese government at the end of the Asuka period *Taiho Pharmaceutical *Taihoku Prefecture, a former administrative dist ...

in 701 AD and the decree of 713 AD that the names of the provinces as defined under the ''

Ritsuryō , , is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (律令制). ''Kyaku'' (格) are amendments of Ritsuryō, ''Shiki' ...

'' system should be named using two auspicious ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

''. The Ōmi Ōtsu Palace, located in what is now the city of

Ōtsu 270px, Ōtsu City Hall is the capital city of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,991 in 153458 households and a population density of 740 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ōtsu ...

, and later the Shigaraki Palace in the city of Kōka were briefly the capitals of Japan, and Ōmi was the location of several battles of the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after ...

Jinshin War. During the Nara period, the provincial capital and

provincial temple were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). History Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in ea ...

were built in Ōtsu near the ruins of the former Ōmi Ōtsu Palace. Takebe taisha was designated as the chief Shinto shrine (''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise ...

'') for the province."Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''," p. 1.
retrieved 2011-08-09 During the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...

, then proximity of Ōmi to the capital at Heian-kyō, its location on the Tōkaidō and Nakasendō highways connecting the capital with the provinces of eastern Japan, and the main route from the capital to the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

gave the province great strategic importance. With the spread of Buddhism in Japan, the great Tendai monastery of Enryaku-ji was constructed at Mount Hiei in Ōmi. From the late

and into the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle b ...

, the Sasaki clan controlled the post of ''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'' of Ōmi Province, and their cadet houses of the Rokkaku clan and

Kyōgoku clan The were a Japanese '' daimyō'' clan which rose to prominence during the Sengoku and Edo periods. The clan descend from the Uda Genji through the Sasaki clan.Papinot, Jacques. (2003)''Nobiliare du Japon'', pp. 27–28./ref> The name deriv ...

continued to dominate the province into the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...

. In the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, internal struggles weakened both clans, and Ōmi became a battleground between the

Azai The , also rendered as Asai, was a Japanese clan during the Sengoku period. History The Azai was a line of ''daimyōs'' (feudal lords) seated at Odani Castle in northeastern Ōmi Province, located within present day Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture. ...

and Asakura clans in the north, and the invading forces of Oda Nobunaga from the east. Nobunaga emerged victorious, and built Azuchi Castle near Lake Biwa in Ōmi, from which he planned to eventually rule all of Japan and beyond. Following Nobunaga's assassination, much of the province was awarded by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

Ishida Mitsunari Ishida Mitsunari (, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the ...

, Tokugawa Ieyasu's opponent at the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 ( Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

. After the establishment of the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, much of the province was divided into several feudal domains, then largest of which was Hikone Domain, ruled by the Ii clan. The southern part of the province was the home of the famous Kōga ninja, one of the two main founding schools of

ninjutsu , sometimes used interchangeably with the modern term , is the martial art strategy and tactics of unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare and espionage purportedly practised by the ninja. ''Ninjutsu'' was a separate discipline in some tra ...

. Ōmi continued in its role as a transportation conduit, with five

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

of the Tōkaidō and eight

of the Nakasendō. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, on November 22, 1871 Ōtsu Prefecture and Nagahama Prefecture were created from former '' tenryō'' and '' hatamoto'' territories within the province, and each of the former domains formed its own prefecture. These were merged on January 19, 1872 to form Shiga Prefecture. From August 21, 1876 to February 7, 1881 the Reinan region of

Fukui Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 (1 June 2017) and has a geographic area of 4,190 km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, ...

(west of

Tsuruga is a city located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 66,123 in 28,604 households and the population density of 260 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Tsuruga is located in cen ...

city) was part of Shiga Prefecture, thus giving it a shoreline on the Sea of Japan. The merger was strongly opposed by the local inhabitants, and the merger was withdrawn.

Historical districts

270px Ōmi was divided into 12 Districts (郡), which were further subdivided into 93 counties (郷), containing 1,597 villages. The total assessed value of the province in terms of '' kokudaka'' was 858,618 '' koku''. ** Azai District (浅井郡) *** Higashiazai District (東浅井郡) – dissolved *** Nishiazai District (西浅井郡) – merged into Ika District on April 1, 1897 ** Echi District (愛知郡) ** Gamō District (蒲生郡) ** Ika District (伊香郡) – absorbed Nishiazai District on April 1, 1897; now dissolved ** Inukami District (犬上郡) ** Kanzaki District (神崎郡) – dissolved ** Kōka District (甲賀郡) – dissolved ** Kurita District (栗太郡) – dissolved ** Sakata District (坂田郡) – dissolved ** Shiga District (滋賀郡) – dissolved ** Takashima District (高島郡) – dissolved ** Yasu District (野洲郡) – dissolved

Edo-period Domains

Notes

References

* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia''.
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

.
OCLC 58053128
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)
''Annales des empereurs du Japon''
('' Nihon Ōdai Ichiran''). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 5850691

Other websites

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omi Province Former provinces of Japan History of Shiga Prefecture