Ohtsu has been well-known as a town of marchants, and it was prosperious as the center of both land and sea transportation. In addition, there had been so many legends and incidents from the ancient to the modern Japanese history, and you need more than day for sightseeing in Ohtsu.

Here is one of the important incidents occuring in Ohtsu: Ohtsu jiken or Ohtsu incident. In 1891, a prince of Russian emperor visited Ohtsu. One of the police offiers who guarded the prince suddenly slashed at the prince. In the later 19th century, Russia was constructing the Russian railroad and expanded its size of land and power itself. Japanese goverment really feared Russia and treated the prince as a special guest when he visited Japan---the incident happened at that time. The Japanese government was in a panic; they were afraid that the incident could be a trigger to start an international war or they would have to give part of the land. Luckly, the prince was not seriously injured and he said that he did not have a negative image toward Japan. The next concern was how the police office should be treated. The government strongly insisted that the police officer should be executed, whereas the presiding judge of the Supreme Court asserted that he should be judged based on the constitution, which was just established two years before the incident. After all, the principle of the judicial power was kept; the officer was sentenced to imprisonment for life. The Rossian prince became an emperor three years after the incident. 10 years later, Japan-Russia war occured and the emperor was executed with his family after all.

• Distance from Nihonbashi: 481.1 km

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