Azuchi Town (安土町)

Azuchi Town is located on the east bank of Lake Biwa in the east part of Shiga Prefecture.
It is known as the place where the Azuchi-jo Castle was built which is the word origin of Japanese historical period 'the Azuchi-Momoyama period.'

Although Azuchi Town is often pronounced with a high falling intonation in the Japanese common language, it is pronounced without inflection in the local language.

Geography

Lake Biwa

Nishi-no-ko Lake

Mt. Kinugasa

432.7 meters high.

Mt. Mitsukuri

375.3 meters high.

Mt. Azuchi

198.9 meters high.

Adjacent Cities

Omihachiman City

Higashiomi City

History

1954: Azuchi Town was established by the merger of Azuchi Village and Oiso Village in Gamo County.

1955: Shimizuhana district was incorporated into Gokasho Town (now Higashiomi City), Kanzaki County (Shiga Prefecture).

Refer to the article of Azuchi-jo Castle for the history centering on the Azuchi-jo Castle.

Government

Mayor: Takashi TSUMURA

In Japan

Oda Nobunaga Summit (Summit of cities related with Nobunaga ODA)

Kiyosu City (Aichi Prefecture)

Komaki City (Aichi Prefecture)

Gifu City (Gifu Prefecture)

Ogaki City (Gifu Prefecture)

Azuchi City (Shiga Prefecture)

Takashima City (Shiga Prefecture)

Echizen Town (Fukui Prefecture)

Kanra Town (Gunma Prefecture)

In Overseas

Mantova (Lombardia, Italy)

It established a sister city relationship on February 20, 2005.

Facilities

Azuchi Municipal Library

The capacity of the library is about 110,000 books. It has also 'Azuchi Bunko Archives' which contains materials on Nobunaga ODA.

Azuchi Town Community Center

Lessons for residents and workers of Azuchi Town are held regularly at this community center. The community center promotes learning on cooking, local history.

Takumi no Sato (Craft Village)

This was built with the goal of contributing to the succession of the town's history and culture. There are one building for training and one for the facility's specialty.

Railway

West Japan Railway Company (JR West)

Tokaido Main Line: Azuchi Station

Roads

National Route

National Route 8

Main regional road

Shiga Prefectural Road 2 Otsu-Notogawa-Nagahama Line

Other regional roads

Shiga Prefectural Road 198 Azuchi-Teishajo Kuwanomidera-Temple-Hondo Line

Shiga Prefectural Road 201 Azuchi-Nishorai Line

Shiga Prefectural Road 511 Kurimi-Shinden-Azuchi Line

Shiga Prefectural Road 526 Iba-Maruyama Line

Sightseeing

Bungei no Sato (a cultural facility and park)

Shiga Prefectural Azuchi Castel Archaeological Museum

Former Miyaji family residence

Built in 1754, a national important cultural property.

Former Azuchi junsa chuzaisho (police station)

Built in 1885, a registered tangible cultural property.

Former Ryugen Gakko school building

Built in 1876, a cultural property designated by Shiga Prefecture. It was moved from Ota, Shin Asahi-cho, Takashima City.

Azuchi Castle Tenshu Nobunaga no Yakata Museum

This is the restored tenshu (the fifth and sixth storeys) of the Azuchi-jo Castle, which was exhibited at the Seville World Expo.

Bungei Seminario Hall

Azuchi Marieto Hall

Azuchi Castle Museum

Folk Museum

Former Iba family residence (built in 1913, a Western-style building designed by William Merrell Vories)

The former site of Azuchi-jo Castle

This place is also famous for cherry-blossom viewing.

Oiso Forest

Oiso-jinja Shrine

Its main hall is a national important cultural property.

The remains of Kannonji-jo Castle

Kannonsho-ji Temple: Stamp office for temple number 32 of the Saigoku Sanjusankasho (the 33 temples that are visited during the Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage)

Kuwanomi-dera Temple

Soken-ji Temple

Jogonin Temple

Azuchi Dialogue (the Azuchi religious debate) was conducted by Jodo (Pure Land) and Nichiren sects at this temple.

Sasaki-jinja Shrine

This shrine is the cradle (birthplace) of the Sasaki-Genji (Minamoto clan).

Iwato yama Jusanbutsu (13 Buddha of Mt. Iwato)

The site of Azuchi Seminario

[Original Japanese]