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Ōtsu is the capital of Shiga Prefecture, Japan, on the south-west shore of Lake Biwa below Mount Hiei, famous for the World Heritage monastery of Enryaku-ji and the Eight Views of Ōmi. Its top sights are Enryaku-ji, Mii-dera, Ishiyama-dera, Hiyoshi Taisha and the Ukimidō hall over the lake.
Emperor Tenji made Ōtsu the capital of Japan from 667 to 672, and the town later thrived as a Lake Biwa port and as Ōtsu-juku, a post station on the Tōkaidō and Nakasendō. In 1891 the Ōtsu incident, an attack on the future Tsar Nicholas II, took place here, and the Lake Biwa Canal opened to Kyoto in 1890.
Ōtsu became a city on 1 October 1898 and covers 464.51 km², with about 344,000 people in 2021. Seven of the Eight Views of Ōmi, chosen in 1500 and painted by Hiroshige, lie within the city, and the October Ōtsu Matsuri parades 13 floats with mechanical karakuri dolls.
Enryaku-ji is the head monastery of Tendai Buddhism, spread over Mount Hiei above Ōtsu, Japan, and founded by Saichō in 788. Its 150 or so halls in three precincts are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the founders of Jōdo, Zen and Nichiren Buddhism all trained here.
Mii-dera, formally Onjō-ji, is the head temple of the Tendai Jimon school at the foot of Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, Japan, and one of the four great temples of old Japan. Its grounds hold a National Treasure main hall and a hall over a sacred spring, and its evening bell is one of the Eight Views of Ōmi.
Ishiyama-dera is a Shingon temple on the Seta River in Ōtsu, Japan, founded in 747 by the monk Rōben. Its main hall stands on a huge wollastonite rock that is a Natural Monument, tradition says Murasaki Shikibu began The Tale of Genji here, and it is stop 13 on the Saigoku pilgrimage.
Saikyō-ji is the head temple of the Tendai Shinsei school, with over 400 branch temples, in Sakamoto at the eastern foot of Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, Japan. It flourished after the monk Shinsei arrived in 1486, legend credits its founding to Prince Shōtoku, and it keeps a memorial to Akechi Mitsuhide.
Hiyoshi Taisha is the head of about 3,800 Hiyoshi, Hie and Sannō shrines across Japan, at the foot of Mount Hiei in Sakamoto, Ōtsu. Its West and East Main Halls are National Treasures, its peaked Sannō torii are unique, and its 40-hectare grounds are a National Historic Site.
Hiyoshi Tōshō-gū is a shrine to Tokugawa Ieyasu founded by the monk Tenkai in 1623 at Sakamoto in Ōtsu, Japan. Its lacquered and carved halls, rebuilt in 1634 just before those of Nikkō, are said to be the first in the gongen style, earning it the name Nikkō of the Kansai.
Ōmi Shrine was completed in 1940 in Ōtsu, Japan, on the presumed site of the Ōmi Ōtsu Palace, and enshrines Emperor Tenji, who set up Japan's first water clock. It has a clock museum, and each January it hosts the Meijin and Queen title matches of competitive karuta.
Takebe Taisha is the ichinomiya, or first shrine, of old Ōmi Province, in the Seta area of Ōtsu, Japan, where it was moved in 675. It enshrines the hero Yamato Takeru, and Minamoto no Yoritomo prayed here in 1160 on his way into exile, so it is known for luck in getting ahead.
Ukimidō is the hall of the Zen temple Mangetsu-ji that juts out over Lake Biwa at Katata in Ōtsu, Japan, said to have been founded around 995 by the monk Genshin. Rebuilt in 1937 after a typhoon, it is the scene of Wild Geese at Katata in the Eight Views of Ōmi painted by Hiroshige.
Seta no Karahashi is a 223.7 m bridge over the Seta River in Ōtsu, Japan, counted with the Uji and Yamazaki bridges as one of Japan's three great old bridges. Until 1889 it was the only bridge on the river, and it gives its name to Sunset at Seta in the Eight Views of Ōmi.
Lake Biwa Canal carries water from Lake Biwa at Ōtsu, Japan, to Kyoto, its first channel finished in 1890 and its second in 1912. Its water ran Japan's first commercial hydroelectric plant from 1891 and powered the first electric trams, and it became a National Historic Site in 1996.
Gichū-ji is a small Tendai temple in Ōtsu, Japan, holding the grave of the warlord Kiso Yoshinaka, killed nearby at the Battle of Awazu, and of the poet Matsuo Bashō, buried beside him in 1694 at his own wish. Its grounds became a National Historic Site in 1967.
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