Shiga Prefecture’s food identity is shaped almost entirely by Lake Biwa. The lake provides a suite of endemic freshwater fish that appear nowhere else on Japanese menus, and the pastures and rice paddies of the surrounding basin have nurtured Japan’s oldest named wagyu beef tradition. Eating well in Shiga means understanding these local ingredients — and being willing to venture beyond the expected.
Omi Beef — Japan’s Oldest Wagyu Brand
Most visitors know Kobe beef. Fewer know that Omi beef, raised in Shiga’s Echi and Koka areas, is older as a named brand and predates both Kobe and Matsusaka wagyu in recorded history. The tradition of raising cattle in Shiga and presenting the beef as a gift to the Tokugawa shogunate dates to the late Edo period. When the Tokaido road brought wealthy travellers through the region, Omi beef’s reputation spread nationally.
The characteristic of good Omi beef is its fat quality: clean, delicate, and with what Japanese food critics call a “cool” finish — it melts at a lower temperature than some heavily marbled styles, giving a more elegant rather than aggressively rich sensation. The preferred preparations are sukiyaki (thin-sliced beef simmered in a sweet soy and mirin broth, dipped in raw egg) and grilled steak, where the fat’s purity comes through clearly.
Where to Eat Omi Beef
Tsurukisoba in Hikone is a long-established sukiyaki specialist with roots in the Meiji era, serving set courses that include the thin-sliced beef, seasonal vegetables, tofu, and shirataki noodles in the traditional Shiga sukiyaki style. Omi Beef Morino in Nagahama focuses on steak and yakiniku courses and is popular with both locals and tourists visiting Kurokabe Square.
Lunch courses typically run ¥4,000-10,000 depending on the cut grade. For those wanting to take Omi beef home, vacuum-packed gift portions are available at Hikone Station souvenir shops for ¥2,000-5,000.
Funazushi — Japan’s Original Sushi
Before the hand-pressed nigiri of Edo, before the rolling vinegared rice of modern sushi, there was nare-zushi: fermented fish packed with cooked rice and left to mature. Funazushi is the last living example of this ancient tradition, and Shiga is its home.
The fish used is nigorobuna, a crucian carp species endemic to Lake Biwa. After the spring spawning season, the fish are cleaned, packed tightly with cooked rice and salt, weighted under stones, and left to ferment for a minimum of six months and typically one to three years. The result is intensely sour, pungent, and complex — a flavour profile that is not easily described to anyone unfamiliar with serious fermented foods. The fermented rice surrounding the fish has a creamy, almost cheese-like texture.
Funazushi is not widely available at casual restaurants. It is found at specialist shops in Moriyama and at select ryokan that include it as part of a full Shiga kaiseki dinner, typically in small slices as a palate-testing appetiser. Approach it as a cultural experience rather than casual dining. A small portion at a shop costs ¥2,000-4,000.
Lake Biwa Fish Cuisine
The lake’s 4-million-year isolation has produced a suite of endemic species that appear on no other menu in Japan. The nigorobuna crucian carp is the funazushi source. Biwa trout (biwa masu) is a large landlocked salmonid served as sashimi and grilled fillet at high-end Hikone and Nagahama restaurants — the flesh is a clean, pale pink with a mild salmon flavour.
Ayu sweetfish are in season from July to September, caught using the same Nagara River cormorant fishing tradition associated with Gifu Prefecture. Grilled whole on salt-coated bamboo skewers, the ayu has a delicate, slightly bitter interior from its diet of river algae. Shirauo (Japanese icefish, or smelt) are caught in spring and served as kakiage tempura — a light, crispy fritter. Lake fish cuisine at its most complete is best experienced at a ryokan dinner in Hikone or Nagahama, where a kaiseki course will typically feature three or four lake species across different courses.
Omi Chanpon
Shiga’s distinctive noodle dish is hearty, filling, and undeservedly unknown outside the prefecture. Omi chanpon uses thick, slightly chewy noodles in a pork bone and soy broth, topped generously with cabbage, sliced pork, bamboo shoots, and sometimes a soft-boiled egg. It differs from Nagasaki chanpon (which is lighter and uses more seafood) in its inland, mountainous-winter character — this is sustaining food for people who work outdoors. Popular at lunch restaurants in Hikone and Omihachiman, it costs ¥800-1,200 and represents some of the best value eating in the prefecture.
Local Sake
Shiga’s sake tradition is concentrated in the Hiyoshi Shrine area of Otsu, where breweries draw on the filtered mineral water that runs from the surrounding mountains through the limestone and granite bedrock toward Lake Biwa. The water is soft and clean, producing sake that is typically smooth, light, and well-suited to fish and vegetable-based cuisine.
Key labels to look for include Biwano Choju (a delicate junmai from a small Otsu brewery), Nanakusa (dryer, with a clean finish), and Shiga no Kaori (fragrant ginjo style). These are available at souvenir shops in Nagahama’s Kurokabe Square, at station gift counters throughout the prefecture, and at restaurants serving Omi beef and lake fish dishes.
Practical Notes
Shiga’s food culture rewards visitors who stay at least one night and opt for a full ryokan or traditional restaurant dinner. The combination of funazushi (for the adventurous), biwa trout sashimi, ayu in summer, and Omi beef sukiyaki or steak represents one of Japan’s most distinctive regional food experiences. Budget for dinner at a proper Omi beef restaurant (¥6,000-12,000 per person with drinks) at least once. For budget eating, Omi chanpon at a local lunch counter (¥1,000) is filling and authentic.