A 4,750-meter canal dug in 1585, when Toyotomi Hidetsugu, nephew of Hideyoshi, built his castle on Mt. Hachiman and laid out the town. Linked to Lake Biwa, it let lake boats call at the castle town, bringing people, goods and information, and with them prosperity. In 1972 a plan to fill it in was proposed, but the local Junior Chamber rallied residents under the slogan "regret begins the moment the canal is filled," its members waded in to clean the canal every Sunday, and in 1975 the prefecture cancelled the work. In 1991 the area around Hachimanbori, Shinmachi street and Nagaharacho street became Shiga's first nationally designated preservation district for groups of traditional buildings, and in 2006 the canal and Nishinoko lake were selected as Japan's first Important Cultural Landscape. The boat tour of the canal takes about 30 minutes.
This moment in the journey
Along the Hachimanbori canal by wooden boat
Past a street of shop signs, I reached the Hachimanbori canal. It was dug in 1585, when Toyotomi Hidetsugu built his castle on Mt. Hachiman, to link the castle town with Lake Biwa. Boats crossing the lake called here, people and goods gathered, and the canal played a major role in the rise of the Omi merchants and the prosperity of the town.
I climbed into a wooden boat with a roof and windows, sat on the tatami, and watched the town from the water. White-walled storehouses stand on stone embankments, and bare cherry trees stretch their branches over the surface. The boat moved slowly through the atmospheric scenery.
Back on land, I walked along stone pavements still patched with snow. On the latticed window of a souvenir shop were notices for reed flutes, Omi mosquito nets and freshwater pearls from Lake Biwa. The white-walled street ran straight ahead.
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More notes from this journey
Omihachiman, Shiga
Funazushi ochazuke
Funazushi is a fermented sushi found throughout Shiga: crucian carp from Lake Biwa, salted and then layered with cooked rice in a tub to ferment for more than h…
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Omi beef steak
Omi beef is Shiga's pride, Japan's first brand of beef and counted among the three great wagyu.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Chojifu with mustard dressing
Chojifu is Omihachiman's local wheat gluten, cut into squares.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Old Hachiman Post Office
A two-story wooden Western-style building designed by William Merrell Vories and completed in 1921.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Hakuunkan
Built in 1877 as the Hachiman East School by Omi merchants to educate their children, in a Western-influenced style, with most of the cost covered by donations.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Himure Hachimangu Shrine
An ancient shrine long revered as the guardian of the Omi merchants.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
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Kyoto City, Kyoto
Kyoto-style ozoni (white miso New Year soup)
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From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
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Each osechi dish carries a wish.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
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From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
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My first chestnut rice, made with chestnuts I had picked myself.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
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From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
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From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast