1885 Japanese Map of Lake Biwa, Omi Prefecture, Japan

This is a scarce Meiji 18 or 1885 Japanese map of Like Biwa (琵琶湖), Ōmi Province (近江国 ), Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The map was issued by Yamaguchi Toshihide. Oriented to the east and centered on Lake Biwa, the map covers all of the traditional Ōmi Province. Like many Meiji Era work, this map is an amalgam of traditional Japanese cartographic conventions inherited from the Edo Period and western cartographic styles. For example, roads and waypoints are illustrated following a traditional cartouche model, but topography, such as mountains and swamps, are rendered using European shading techniques. Similarly, color scheme and overall layout is distinctly Meiji, while the printing method, lithography, is European.

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located in Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Because of its proximity to the ancient capital, references to Lake Biwa appear frequently in Japanese literature, particularly in poetry and in historical accounts of battles.