is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the city had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 38,259 in 14761 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 150 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Maibara is located in northcentral Shiga Prefecture, on the eastern shore of

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. It is located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13 ...

, and extending inland to the Ibuki Mountains and the border with

Gifu Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,910,511 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture ...

. Parts of the city are within the borders of the

Biwako Quasi-National Park is a List of national parks of Japan, Quasi-National Park in Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It was founded on 24 July 1950 and has an area of . In June 1993 an area of 65,984 Hectare, ha beside Lake Biwa was designated a Ramsar si ...

Mount Ibuki is a mountain, on the border of Maibara, Shiga, Maibara, Shiga Prefecture, and Ibigawa, Gifu, Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It is one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains, and is also included on the lists of the 100 Kinki Mountains and the ...

is in the northeastern part of the prefecture. It is the highest peak in the prefecture. The Anegawa River and Amanogawa River pass through the city. About 70 percent of the city is forest.

Neighboring municipalities

Gifu Prefecture *

Ibigawa is a town located in Ibi District, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 21,319 in 8,015 households and a population density of 27 persons per km2. The total area of the town was . Geography Ibigawa is located in f ...

Ōgaki is a city located in Gifu, Japan. As of October 31, 2018, the city had an estimated population of 161,539, and a population density of 782 persons per km2 in 65,931 households. The total area of the city was . Ōgaki was the final destination fo ...

Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

Shiga Prefecture *

Hikone is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 111,958 in 49,066 households and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hikone is located in central Shig ...

* Nagahama * Taga

Climate

Maibara has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Maibara is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Maibara was on 14 August 2024. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 4 February 2012.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Maibara has seen relatively little fluctuation over the past century.

History

Maibara is part of ancient

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

and the route of 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 ...

(later the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

) highway connecting

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mo ...

with the eastern provinces passed through the area. Maibara is home to three former

post stations Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Detroit, co-locating with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, after spending 10 years in Chicago. ...

Banba-juku 280px, Main Hall of Renge-ji in Banba-juku was the sixty-second of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located in the present-day city of Maibara, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. ...

Samegai-juku Samegai-juku in Maibara from Ōmi-meisyo-zue (1814) was the sixty-first of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located in the present-day city of Maibara, Shiga Prefecture, Ja ...

and

Kashiwabara-juku Kashiwabara-juku today was the sixtieth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located in the present-day city of Maibara, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. History Kashiwabara-juku ...

, and was the location of a port on Lake Biwa where travelers could shorten their journey by taking boat to

Ōtsu-juku 260px, The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō">Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō'' series was the last of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō, as well as the last of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It was from th ...

. During the

Muromachi The , also known as the , is a division of History of Japan, Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially establ ...

and

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

s, the

Kyōgoku clan The were a Japanese ''daimyō'' and samurai 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 ...

domained most of Ōmi Province from their base in what is now Maibara. Most of the area came under the control of

Hikone Domain was a '' fudai'' feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It was located in eastern Ōmi Province, in the Kansai region of central Honshu. The domain was centered at Hikone Castle, located in what is now the city of H ...

during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1,1889, the village of Irie was established. It was raised to town status on November 15, 1923, becoming the town of

Maihara was a town located in Sakata District, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 12,212 and a density of 285.46 persons per km2. The total area was 42.78 km2. On February 14, 2005, Maihara, along with th ...

. On February 14, 2005 Maihara merged with the neighboring towns of Santō and Ibuki (all from Sakata District) and was raised to city status, changing its name from "Maihara" to "Maibara" at that time. The new city name was based on the name of Japan Railways'

Maibara Station is an interchange passenger railway station located in the city of Maibara, Shiga, Japan. On the border between West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), it is jointly operated by both companies, al ...

which many people in Japan knew as a station on the

Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the San'yō Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opening in 19 ...

Line. The adjacent town of Ōmi was merged into Maibara on October 1, 2005. Maibara was struck by an F2 tornado on June 29, 2018. The tornado caused major damage to homes and injured 8 people.

Government

Maibara has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

city council of 18 members. Maibara contributes two members to the Shiga Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Shiga 2nd district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

The economy of Maibara is centered on agriculture and light manufacturing. There are several

industrial park An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

s in the city.

Education

Maibara has ten public elementary schools and seven public middle schools operated by the city government. There are two public high schools operated by the Shiga Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

JR Tōkai –

* JR Tōkai –

Tōkaidō Main Line The Tōkaidō Main Line () is one of the most important railway corridors in Japan, connecting the major cities of Tokyo and Kobe via Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. The line, with termini at Tokyo Station, Tokyo and Kōbe St ...

* - - -

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

–

Biwako Line The is the nickname used by the operator of the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) to refer to the portion of the Tōkaidō Main Line (between Maibara Station and Kyoto Station) and the Hokuriku Main Line (between Maibara Station and Nagaham ...

–

Hokuriku Main Line The Hokuriku Main Line () is a railway line owned by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) connecting Maibara Station in Maibara, Shiga, with Tsuruga Station in Tsuruga, Fukui. The line formerly extended as far as Naoetsu Station in ...

* -

Ohmi Railway is a Japanese private railway company which operates in Shiga Prefecture, and a member of the Seibu group since 1943. The company is named after the Ōmi Province, the former name of the present-day Shiga. The railway is nicknamed by local users ...

– Main Line *

Highway

Meishin Expressway The , or Nagoya-Kōbe Expressway is a toll expressway in Japan. It runs from a junction with the Tōmei Expressway in Komaki, Aichi (outside Nagoya) west to Nishinomiya, Hyōgo (between Osaka and Kobe). It is the main road link between Osaka a ...

Hokuriku Expressway The , (abbreviated as , is a 4-laned national Expressways of Japan, expressway in Japan. It is owned and managed by East Nippon Expressway Company and Central Nippon Expressway Company. Overview The first section was opened in 1972 by Japan ...

* * *

Local attractions

* Amanogawa River — In June, fireflies come out at night. Parts of the river are designated as a protected areas for fireflies. * Kamaha Castle ruins, National Historic Site * Kyōgoku clan ruins, sites related to the Sengoku-period Kyōgoku clan, a National Historic Site *

— The lakeshore road is very scenic on fine days. *

— With an elevation of 1,377.4 meters, Mount Ibuki is Shiga Prefecture's tallest mountain and a popular spot for skiing in winter and camping and hiking in the warmer months. A gondola and ski lifts carry visitors to the top which affords fine views of Lake Biwa and the surrounding area. The nearest station is Omi-Nagaoka Station. *

stage towns — The

was an old highway linking Kyoto with Edo (present-day Tokyo). The highway had 67 stages and the three in Shiga were

and

in Maibara city. Even today, you can see remnants of these stage towns established for highway travelers to lodge and trade. * Samegai Trout Farm — Established over a century ago, this is the largest trout farm in Asia and with many ponds. There is a shallow pond where children can try catch (and release) the trout. Riverside restaurants serve fresh trout. *

Tokugen-in is a Buddhist temple in the Kiyotaki neighborhood of the city of Maibara, Shiga Prefecture Japan. It belongs to the Tendai school of Japanese Buddhism and its main image is a ''hibutsu'' statue of Sho-Kannon Bosatsu. The temple is noted as t ...

, ''

bodaiji A in Japanese Buddhism is a temple which, generation after generation, takes care of a family's dead, giving them burial and performing ceremonies in their soul's favor.Iwanami kojien The name is derived from the term , which originally meant ju ...

'' of the

, rulers of most of Ōmi province in the

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

, and National Historic Site

Festivals and events

* Maibara Hikiyama Festival — Parade of ornate floats which have a small stage featuring kabuki performed by children. Early October. * Samegai Baikamo Flowers — Underwater flowers which bloom in Jizogawa River

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Shiga Prefecture Maibara, Shiga