Omihachiman, shaped by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Hidetsugu, became a merchant city that later produced the Omi merchants who helped build the capital foundation of Meiji Japan.
Hachiman-bori was not merely a canal but a true source of Japan’s economic history and commercial spirit.
American architect W. M. Vories was drawn to this exceptional merchant culture and flourished within it.

They later scattered across the country, becoming what are known as the Omi merchants, vigorously accumulating capital and preparing the economic development of Meiji Japan.
2018-01-31.
The following is a continuation of the previous section.
Thus Hideyoshi and Hidetsugu issued even a decree of free markets and open guilds here, much like Azuchi Castle, and when Hidetsugu was transferred elsewhere and the castle became vacant, only lively merchants remained in this town.
It may be said that the town itself became a marketplace.
Considering the fact that they later spread nationwide, became the so-called Omi merchants, and boldly accumulated capital to prepare the economic development of Meiji Japan, Hachiman-bori is literally one of the sources of history.
Money flowed here.
And so W. M. Vories came to such a commercial city in the Meiji period.
He was an American.
When he first saw this canal and was told by townspeople, “Ah, that dates back to Lord Hidetsugu’s time, about three hundred years ago,” he must have been astonished.
Three hundred years earlier, the Mayflower had not yet reached his homeland.
There was no president.
Indeed, the history of the nation itself had not yet begun.
—So, I have come to an old country.
Vories must have thought so.
Moreover, the quality of this history was, quite exceptionally, not one of samurai rule.
It was almost purely that of merchants.
This can only be called a miracle.
Vories himself, in his home country, had been a genius at selling things since childhood.
Had he come to Kyoto or Tokyo instead, would he have been able to extend his talents this far.
Even if he had built buildings, could he have gone further and sold that “panacea,” Mentholatum, so successfully.
The land lent him its strength.
…While thinking such things, I became so chilled that I rushed into a nearby restaurant.
Warming myself by a gas stove, I ate simmered sweetfish, but to me it was somewhat too rich and sweet.
Even in an age when sugar was a luxury, the people of this town must have tasted the blessings of Lake Biwa with this flavor.