Ōmi Province (近江国, Ōmi no Kuni; Japanese pronunciation: [ó̞ò̞.mʲì (nò̞ kɯ̈̀.ɲ̟ì)]) was a province of Japan, which comprised the same land area as modern-day Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is Gōshū (江州). 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 imperial capital Kyoto.
Ōmi bordered on Wakasa and Echizen Provinces to the north, Mino and Ise Provinces to the east, Iga and Yamato Provinces to the south, and Yamashiro and Tanba Provinces to the west. Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, is located at the center of the province.
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Naming
Prior to the establishment of Ōmi as the province name, modern-day Lake Biwa and the region surrounding it, historically, had been referred to using a variety of different names. These names were essentially of two types: ones that reflected the meaning 淡海, "freshwater sea", including 「あはうみ」 and 「あふみ」, and ones that reflected the meaning 近淡海, "near freshwater sea", including 「ちかつあはうみ」 and 「ちかつあふみ」. The "sea" meaning reflected the then-held notion of a lake as an inland sea. The "near" meaning reflected the proximity of the lake to the capital region at the time, and was prepended to the name to contrast it with the "far" freshwater sea now known as Lake Hamana.
Consistent with changes over time to other Japanese pronunciations, the spoken name of the region evolved from あはうみ to あふみ to おうみ. The written form of the province name, however, followed a different path, and therefore is inconsistent with the spoken form. After the enactment and enforcement of the Taiho Code in 701 and the decree of 713, which stipulated that the names of the provinces defined under the Ritsuryō system should be written using two auspicious kanji, the kanji 近江 were assigned to the province, with the first of these reflecting "near", and the second reflecting "body of water". Thus, this name is an example of a jukujikun reading, in which a multi-character word's overall reading (i.e., pronunciation) does not correspond directly to any of the ordinary readings of its individual characters.
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, which was originally from Baekje, a state in the southwestern Korean Peninsula. The names Ōmi and Lake Biwa do not appear in the Kojiki, Man'yōshū or other ancient documents.
The Yamato state ruled briefly from this region. In the late Asuka period (538-710), Emperor Tenji (r. 626 – January 7, 672) built Ōmi Ōtsu Palace in what is now the city of Ōtsu and ruled from it from 667 until 672. He issued the first legal code, the Ōmi Code, while ruling from the Ōmi Ōtsu Palace. After his death, the Jinshin War broke out among his fourteen children, one of the largest conflicts in Japanese history. Ōmi was the site of several battles, and afterwards, the capital returned to Asuka.
In the subsequent Nara period, during the reign of Emperor Shōmu (September 22, 701 – June 4, 756), the new Ritsuryō system established a kokufu (provincial capital) at Ōmi Kokuchō in Ōtsu, near the ruins of the former Ōmi Ōtsu Palace. He also established a provincial temple there. In 740, Emperor Shōmu built a personal residence, called Rakumura, in what is now Kōka, Shiga. He declared it the new capital in 745 and renamed it Shigaraki Palace, but abandoned it the same year due to expenses.
Takebe taisha, enshrining Yamato Takeru and his relics and Ōkuninushi, was designated as the ichinomiya (chief shrine) for the province.
During the Heian period (794-1195), the proximity of Ōmi to the capital at Heian-kyō, its location on the Tōkaidō and Nakasendō highways connecting the capital with eastern Japan, and the main route from the capital to the Sea of Japan, all gave the province great strategic importance. With the spread of Buddhism in Japan, Saichō founded the great Tendai monastery of Enryaku-ji in 788 on Mount Hiei in Ōmi.
From the late Heian into the Kamakura period, the Sasaki clan controlled the post of shugo (military governor) of Ōmi Province, and two cadet branches, the Rokkaku and Kyōgoku, dominated the province into the Muromachi period.
Historical districts
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