Hikone, Shiga

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Hikone, Shiga

is a city

Cities of Japan

|||}A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of ....
located in Shiga

Shiga Prefecture

is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan which is part of the Kansai region on Honshu Island. The capital is the city of Otsu, Shiga....
, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. The city was incorporated on February 11, 1937.

Hikone's most famous historical site is Hikone Castle

Hikone Castle

is the most famous historical site in Hikone, Shiga, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This Edo period castle traces its origin to 1603 when Ii Naokatsu, son of the former daimyo Ii Naomasa, ordered its construction....
. Its construction was begun in 1603, by Ii Naokatsu, son of the former lord, Ii Naomasa

Ii Naomasa

was a general under the Sengoku period Daimyo, and later Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. His family, like Tokugawa's, had originally been retainers of the once-powerful Imagawa clan, and Naomasa, then a very small child, was personally lucky to escape death in the confusion and general chaos which followed the death of the clan's leader, Imagawa Y...
, but was not completed until 1622. Naokatsu's lands had been taken from him in the interval by the Tokugawa shogunate, and when his brother Naotake assumed control of Omi Province

Omi Province

is an old provinces of Japan of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tosando Circuit . It is nicknamed as ...
, he was able to complete the castle by collecting stones from the former Sawayama Castle

Sawayama Castle

is a castle in the city of Hikone, Shiga, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This castle was an important military stronghold of Omi Province. The Azai clan held this castle in the Sengoku Period....
.

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Encyclopedia

is a city

Cities of Japan

|||}A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of ....
located in Shiga

Shiga Prefecture

is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan which is part of the Kansai region on Honshu Island. The capital is the city of Otsu, Shiga....
, Japan

Japan

Hikone Castle

Ii Naomasa

Omi Province

Sawayama Castle

is a castle in the city of Hikone, Shiga, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This castle was an important military stronghold of Omi Province. The Azai clan held this castle in the Sengoku Period....
. When the Meiji period

Meiji period

The , or Meiji era, denotes the 45-year reign of the Meiji Emperor, running, in the Gregorian calendar, from 23 October 1868 to 30 July 1912. During this time, Japan started its modernization and rose to world power status....
began in 1868, many castles were scheduled to be dismantled and only a request from the emperor himself, touring the area, kept Hikone Castle intact. Today it remains one of the oldest original-construction castles in Japan.

Hikone lies on the Nakasendo

Nakasendo

The was one of the Edo Five Routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo to Kyoto in Japan. There were 69 Stations of the Nakasendo between Edo and Kyoto, crossing through Musashi Province, Kozuke Province, Shinano Province, Mino Province and Omi Province Old provinces of Japan....
, which was one of the most important trading routes during the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of History of Japan running from 1603 to 1868. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu....
, and is home to two former post stations

Shukuba

were post stations during the Edo period in Japan, generally located on one of the Edo Five Routes or one of its sub-routes. They were also called shukueki ....
, Toriimoto-juku

Toriimoto-juku

was the sixty-third of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendo of the Nakasendo. It is located in the north of Hikone, Shiga, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.Even today, there are remnants of the former post town around....
and Takamiya-juku

Takamiya-juku

was the sixty-fourth of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendo of the Nakasendo. It is located in the present-day city of Hikone, Shiga, Shiga Prefecture, Japan on the right bank of the Inukami River ....
. Today, a small area south of the castle, called the Yume Kyobashi Castle Road, is built in the old style and attracts visitors keen to see modern construction fused with traditional looks. Even the Biwako

Lake Biwa

, formerly known as Omi Lake, is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located in Shiga Prefecture , northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto....
Bank in this district has remodeled itself to fit in with the surrounding structures.

Hikone is the home of the Japan Center for Michigan Universities

Japan Center for Michigan Universities

The , a study center operated by a consortium of the fifteen public universities in the State of Michigan and the government of Shiga Prefecture in Japan, is located on the shore of Lake Biwa, in the city of Hikone....
(JCMU), a facility operated jointly by a consortium of the fifteen public universities in the State of Michigan and the government of Shiga Prefecture that offers programs for American university students and scholars for the study of Japanese language and culture, as well as courses in English for the citizens of Shiga Prefecture. The Michigan Center, as it is known, was founded in 1989, under the auspices of the Michigan-Shiga Sister State Agreement, the oldest such relationship between a US state and Japanese prefecture.

In 2003, meetings were held to discuss the merger of Hikone with the towns of Toyosato

Toyosato, Shiga

is a towns of Japan located in Inukami District, Shiga, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 7,292 and a population density of 937.28 persons per square kilometer. The total area is 7.78 km?....
, Kora

Kora, Shiga

is a towns of Japan located in Inukami District, Shiga, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 8,024 and a population density of 587.41 persons per km?....
, and Taga

Taga, Shiga

is a towns of Japan located in Inukami District, Shiga, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 8,322 and a population density of 61.22 persons per square kilometer....
. However, a survey conducted by the city in February 2004, revealed that most of the city's citizens opposed the merger, leading the city government to shelve the proposal for the time being. The Bridgestone Corporation has a tire manufacturing plant here.

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External links

in Japanese