Article

25213 ／ひがしおうみし

Higashiomi City

Some houses rise right from canal walls.

Iba Naiko rural landscape

Photo by Indiana jo (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Old documents

A medieval village's rules and deedswere kept at its guardian shrine.

The documents kept at Imabori's Hiyoshi Shrine number 947, mostly from the Muromachi period, and the oldest original dates from Koan 7 (1284). They include over 200 deeds of sale and donation records, and many sets of rules showing the community's internal norms. The documents are now deposited at the Shiga University Faculty of Economics archive.

947 documents
Oldest original: 1284
Important Cultural Property, 1987

02 ／ Woodturners

They made woodturners nationwide parishionersand went round collecting shrine funds.

Hirutani and Kimigahata in the Ogura valley are said to be the birthplace of the kijishi, woodturners who make bowls on a lathe. In the Edo period Hirutani's Tsutsui Shrine, citing that tradition, treated woodturners across the country as its parishioners and went round to collect funds. Kimigahata had a very similar practice, and the records of both are prefecturally designated parishioner registers.

Prefectural designation, 1981
Hirutani and Kimigahata
Until the Meiji 20s

03 ／ Hananoki

Trees whose red flowers come before the leavesstand in both Hanazawa, north and south.

The hananoki trees of Kita-Hanazawa and Minami-Hanazawa were both designated national natural monuments in 1921. The hananoki is a tall deciduous tree whose dark red flowers open before the leaves (Aichi Prefecture material). The Agency for Cultural Affairs database calls the Kita-Hanazawa tree a representative giant tree.

National natural monument, 1921
Kita-Hanazawa and Minami-Hanazawa
Habitat designated by the prefecture, March 2026

Living here

From the Suzuka mountains in the east to the lake in the west.

about 110,000 people
90 min to a city centre

The city was formed in 2005 by the merger of Yokaichi City with Eigenji, Gokasho, Aito and Koto, and in 2006 the former Gamo and Notogawa towns were added. It spans about 33.3 km from east to west. The gateway is Yokaichi Station on the Ohmi Railway, and JR Special Rapid trains stop at Notogawa Station on the JR Biwako Line.

People living here: 112,819people
Area: 388.37km²
Households: 42,899households
Rent (average for rentals): 46,638yen
Healthcare: 7 hospitals ／ 79 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Population from 2010 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-02-11 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。2006-01-01 に編入合併（蒲生町・能登川町）。2010年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —20 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Higashiomi City in Japan35.113°N 136.208°E

to KyotoJR Special Rapid40min
to OsakaJR Special Rapid70min

Travel times follow 東近江市観光協会（一般社団法人）の観光サイト『アクセス・地図』（https://www.higashiomi.net/guide/access.html）の『大阪・京都方面からJR東海道本線（米原敦賀方面行）能登川駅下車　大阪駅―能登川駅（新快速で1時間10分）京都駅―能登川駅（新快速で40分）』。JR西日本『JRおでかけネット』区間時刻表（2026年10月7日のページ）で確かめた。line-timetable/2235（琵琶湖線・JR京都線・JR神戸線姫路～大阪～米原上り）：京都『発』→能登川『着』は新快速が25本（運転日注意欄が空欄＝毎日の列車が8本〈12:00・13:00・14:00・14:30発ほか〉、『平』＝平日のみが17本）＋『Ａ新快速』（平日）2本で、最速は40分（12:00→12:40の3448Mほか）。大阪『発』→能登川『着』は新快速が27本（毎日8本）で最速は70分（11:30→12:40の3448Mほか）。ほかに快速（京都から48分・大阪から84〜92分）と普通がある。能登川→京都は line-timetable/2234（米原～大阪～姫路下り）で新快速の最速が40分、能登川→大阪は70分（往復とも同じ）。 (checked 2026-10-07). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 9 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Higashiomi City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

22.5km

Shiga Prefecture: 近江八幡市, 日野町, 愛荘町, 多賀町, 甲賀市, 彦根市, 竜王町
Mie Prefecture: いなべ市, 菰野町

Higashiomi City isthis kind of town.

01Part of Iba, on an inner lake of Lake Biwa, was selected in 2018 as a national Important Cultural Landscape, where some houses rise straight out of the canal walls in a style called kishidachi
02The town has Imabori's Hiyoshi Shrine, with its medieval village documents, Hirutani and Kimigahata, where registers of woodturners treated as parishioners remain, and Hanazawa, where hananoki trees are national natural monuments
03It also has Hyakusai-ji Temple, whose grounds are a national historic site, Ishido-ji Temple, with its stone three-storied pagoda, an Important Cultural Property, and Gokasho Kondo, home to the main houses of Omi merchants, a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings

See the town as it is now.

Facebookhigashiomicity ↗

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Higashiomi City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗