Mount Mikami

This mountain is located in Yasu City in the central-southern part of Shiga Prefecture. It is a 432-meter-high hill that was formed when Lake Biwa collapsed. Due to its beautiful shape, it is affectionately known as "Omi Fuji" and has also been written about as a utamakura (poem of poetry). The summit is divided into Mt. Oyama and Mt. Meyama, and it has long been an object of worship as a sacred mountain. Even today, there is a sacred rock at the summit. Mikami Shrine, which is included in the Engishiki (Chronicles of the Engishiki), was once located on the summit, but is now enshrined at the foot of the mountain. This place is said to have been the base of Yasunokuni no Miyatsuko, and it is safe to say that it was certainly a place of great political power from the ruins around the foot of the mountain. It is also called Centipede Mountain due to the legend of Fujiwara no Hidesato (Tawara Touta) slaying a centipede.

[Seiichi Takahashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

滋賀県中南部、野洲市(やすし)にある山。琵琶(びわ)湖陥没時の残丘で標高432メートル。美しい山容から「近江富士(おうみふじ)」の名で親しまれ、歌枕(うたまくら)としても詠まれてきた。頂上は雄山と雌山に分かれ、古くから神体山として信仰の対象とされてきた。現在も山頂部に磐座(いわくら)がある。『延喜式(えんぎしき)』所収の御上(みかみ)神社もかつては山頂にあったが、現在では山麓(さんろく)に祀(まつ)られている。この地は安国造(やすのくにのみやつこ)の本拠地であると伝えられ、山麓一帯の遺跡などから強大な政治的権力が存在したことは確実であるといってよい。藤原秀郷(ひでさと)（俵藤太(たわらとうた)）の百足(むかで)退治の伝説からムカデ山ともよばれる。

［高橋誠一］

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