Ōmihachiman

Ōmihachiman is located on the east coast of Lake Biwa in central Shiga Prefecture. It’s the site of Azuchi Castle, the first Japanese castle of the early modern period, and it’s one of the towns from which the Ōmi merchants originated.

Ōmihachiman developed as a commercial city in the early modern period. It arose from the town at the base of the castle on Hachimanyama built in 1585 by Toyotomi Hidetsugu, the nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hidetsugu deregulated the markets and guilds of his domain, promoting commerce. He also required boats traveling on Lake Biwa to pass through Hachimanbori, the moat of Hachimanyama Castle, and make a stop, which further encouraged trade.

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In the 1700s, merchants from here began to peddle goods from provincial Ōmi in the large metropolitan centres, bringing back luxury goods from there to sell locally. They gradually established themselves as the business force behind many of today’s global companies.

The town is one of the few places in Japan with a strong appearance and atmosphere of olden times. Several streets are designated as Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. Ōmihachiman was also the home of the American architect William Merrell Vories, who left many works of modern architecture in the area. The town is often used as a location for filming historical dramas.

Hachiman is one of the Shintō gods and it’s a common misunderstanding that there’s a Shintō shrine here called “Ōmihachiman”. But the name of the shrine after which the place was named is Himure Hachiman Shrine. The shrine is one of the attractions at the heart of the city. Originally the town was called “Hachiman”, but in the Meiji period, the prefix “Ōmi” was added to distinguish it from similarly named towns in other parts of Japan.

Ōmihachiman is built on the Kotō Plain formed by rivers originating in the Suzuka Mountains. The city area is generally flat, but there are various small mountains scattered over the plain. Hachimanyama, site of Hidetsugu’s castle is one of them. Within the city area, another mountain forms the largest island in Lake Biwa, Okishima, which has a population of some 250 people.

In the northeastern part of the city, Lake Nishi, one of the subsidiary lakes of Lake Biwa, is counted among one of the eight beautiful scenes of Biwako. Ōmihachiman is one of the loveliest waterside towns in Japan, and the only one that remains substantially unchanged from the past. It was designated as Japan’s first Important National Cultural Landscape and Lake Nishi and the Chōmyōji River are Ramsar Convention wetlands. You can take a covered boat through a maze of reed beds. This kind of tour is known as the Suigō Meguri.

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The Suigō Meguri originated in the days of the Warring States period when Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hidetsugu sought recreation by imitating the elegant pastimes of the Imperial Court. Historical dramas are also frequently shot here too.

You can take the cable car to the top of Mt. Hachiman, site of the castle, but there’s also a nice hike over the mountain. Within thirty minutes’ travel, there are several other mountaintop castle ruins with fascinating stories and rewarding hiking trails – Kannonji, Chōkōji, and Azuchi. There are also beautiful Buddhist temples on the mountains scattered over the plain, particularly Kannonshō-ji and Chōmei-ji.

Hachimanbori

Ōmihachiman developed as a commercial city in the early modern period. It arose from the town at the base of the castle on Hachimanyama built in 1585 by Toyotomi Hidetsugu, the nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hidetsugu deregulated the markets and guilds of his domain, promoting commerce. The castle moat, Hachimanbori, functioned both as a defensive feature and as a canal. Hidetsugu also required boats traveling on Lake Biwa to pass through Hachimanbori and make a stop, which further encouraged trade.

The moat was connected to Lake Biwa and fairly large ships could enter the canal. Consequently, the town was able to participate in trade with Edo and Osaka, selling tatami mats, mosquito nets, rice, sake, tiles, and other locally produced goods. Large warehouses were built along the canal for storing these goods.

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To keep the canal open to boats, it was dredged periodically, and the silt was used as fertiliser on fields in the surrounding areas. The clay in these fields, with their high silt content, combined with organic matter from decaying reeds, was ideal for making roof tiles, and Ōmihachiman became known as a major regional producer of tiles.

After WWII, ships no longer visited, and dredging stopped. The moat began to fill up with silt and rubbish, and the city planned to fill it in and make a park and car park. But citizens groups protested, and volunteers began the work of cleaning up and restoring the waterway.

Today, Hachimanbori is the beautiful heart of Ōmihachiman. The warehouses have been converted into restaurants and shops. A tile museum, designed to harmonise perfectly with the older buildings around it, celebrates the town’s history as a tile producer. And boats once again ply the waters. You can take a little cruise in a covered boat from two places on the moat, choosing motor power or hand power.

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The boats pass under the picturesque bridge to Himure Hachiman Shrine, and proceed past Bukkō-ji Temple with its impressive belfry, and on to the site of an old tile factory where the old brick chimney is preserved as a rather unstable looking monument. Here, the boats turn around, offering splendid views of the ancient stone walls that still bear witness to Hidetsugu’s short-lived castle atop Hachimanyama.

Mt. Hachiman Castle

The town of Ōmihachiman extends southwards from a long mountain with a ridge running north to south called Mt. Hachiman. For a short time in the Warring States period, this mountain was the site of a significant castle. The top of the mountain can be reached by cable car or by a pleasant hiking trail, and if you take a boat ride on the moat of the castle, you can look up and see the walls of the main enclosure at the top of the mountain.

The castle was built for Toyotomi Hidetsugu, nephew of the second unifier of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, following the violent death of Oda Nobunaga whose splendid creation, Azuchi Castle stood a few miles away. Hachimanyama Castle became the successor to Azuchi Castle, which burned down shortly after it was built, but Hachimanyama Castle also proved to be short lived.

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It was built on the steep-sided Mt. Hachiman (283 m), one of several mountains dotting the plain. When the castle was built, it resembled Azuchi Castle in being protected on its east and west sides by subsidiary lakes of Lake Biwa, with a castle town in the plain to the south. A moat, Hachimanbori, was dug around the castle, fed by the water of Lake Biwa. It served as a canal as well as a defensive feature. In the 1970s, there was a plan to fill it in to create a park and parking spaces, but the townspeople protested. Today it’s a major attraction of the town, and it’s often used for filming historical dramas.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi made Hachimanyama Castle the provincial castle of Ōmi Province instead of Azuchi Castle, and Hideyoshi himself supervised its construction. The walls of the castle incorporated the foundations of several Buddhist temples, suggesting that it was built in a hurry, using cannibalised materials. Hachimanyama Castle was one of several castles in Ōmi Province, and Hideyoshi’s goal was to establish a network of castle towns here, controlled by loyal vassals, making it a very strong military and economic strategic region. From the Middle Ages the saying “Whoever controls Ōmi controls the world” was taken seriously, and the province was the site of many battles for control of the world at the time, which is to say, central Japan.

Toyotomi Hidetsugu entered the castle in 1586 at the age of 18. In 1590 he was transferred to Kiyosu Castle. But in 1595, Hideyoshi accused Hidetsugu of treason and forced him to commit suicide. All his family were executed too. Since it was so closely associated with him, Hachimanyama Castle was pulled down, just ten years after it was built. Hidetsugu’s mother Nisshu had a temple, Zuiryū-ji, built in Kyōto to mourn her son, and the surviving gate of this temple was moved to the site of Hachimanyama Castle in 1963.

Hidetsugu was regarded as a skilled administrator whose far-sighted policies established Ōmihachiman as a prosperous town. He required boats passing on Lake Biwa to pass through the castle moat, ensuring that Ōmihachiman became a commercial hub. This policy was reinforced by deregulation of markets and guilds, so that the town became the base of the Hachiman Merchants, one of the main groups of Ōmi Merchants.

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The stone walls of Hachimanyama Castle are still impressive. You can get to the top of the mountain by taking the cable car from the station next to Himure Hachiman Shrine, or by following the hiking trail behind it. Near the cable car station is an observation deck with a magnificent view towards Mt. Azuchi and Mt. Kinugasa, both sites of famous castles. There’s Zuiryū-ji Temple and a pretty Shintō shrine. Paths wander among the remaining stone walls, affording vistas of Lake Biwa, the Suigō Meguri, and the mountains around.

A clearly marked footpath leads right across the ridge of Mt. Hachiman, and it’s an easy walk back from there to the starting point, dropping into La Collina on the way back.

Kawara Museum

The beauty of Ōmihachiman is thanks in large part to the loveliness of its roof tiles, which impart a great deal of elegance and atmosphere to its buildings.

Until fairly recently, Ōmihachiman was a major producer of tiles, and one of the town’s landmarks is a very tall brick chimney, a vestige of this industry. The production of tiles was an unanticipated side effect of having a moat that also functioned as a canal open to boats. To keep the canal navigable, it was dredged periodically, and the silt was used as fertiliser on fields in the surrounding areas. The clay in these fields, with their high silt content, combined with organic matter from decaying reeds, was ideal for making roof tiles, and Ōmihachiman became a major regional producer of tiles. The canal was also crucial for shipping the finished tiles via nearby Lake Biwa.

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The museum itself is a modern building, but it’s designed to harmonise with its traditional surroundings. Grey tiles are used extensively on its complex roofs, as well as embedded in its walls. Old tiles have been repurposed to make the fascinating paths through the complex. There are several subsidiary buildings, including a workshop where decorative tiles are still made.

Exhibits in the museum include an overview of the history of tile manufacture in Ōmihachiman, the processes and tools used, and the place of tiles in traditional Japanese buildings. There are many examples of decorative tiles, reflecting a very sophisticated expressive skill and sensibility. When they weren’t making elaborate roof ornaments, the artisans were showing off their skill by making free-standing art objects with the materials of their trade. One wing is dedicated to a comparison of foreign tiles and tiles across Japan.

From the second floor of the museum, you can look over the tiled roofs of surrounding buildings and admire the beauty of their aged tiles.