Rittō, Shiga

Located in the southern part of Shiga prefecture, Rittō is located on Japan's main transportation arteries. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen, JR Tōkaidō Main Line, Meishin Expressway, Shin-Meishin Expressway, Japan National Route 1 and Japan National Route 8 all pass through the city. The opening of highway interchanges and new train station has led to increasing urbanization, as the city is within commuting distance of Kyoto and Osaka, and is relatively close to Nagoya to the east. About half of them city area is mountainous.

Per Japanese census data,[3] the population of Rittō increased rapidly since the 1960s.

Rittō is part of ancient Ōmi Province. During the Edo Period, much of the area which became Rittō was under control of either Zeze Domain or was tenryo territory directly administered by the Tokugawa shogunate. The area was organized into villages within Kurita District, Shiga with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On October 1, 1954 the villages of Konze, Hayama, Haruta and Daihō were merged to create the town of Rittō.

The kanji characters for Rittō are "chestnut" (栗; kuri) and "East" (東; higashi), despite the fact that Rittō is located in western Japan and is not known for chestnut trees. The name was taken from its location in the eastern portion of former Kurita District (栗太郡; Kurita-gun).

The Japan Racing Association opened the Ritto Horse Training Center on November 11, 1969, and has been one of the two major training centers for race horses in Japan.[4]

Rittō was raised to city status on October 1, 2001.

Rittō has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 18 members. Rittō contributes two members to the Shiga Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Shiga 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

The economy of Rittō was formerly centered on agriculture; however due to its location near the major population centers of Kyoto and Osaka and on major transportation arteries, it is increasing industrialized, with the city government aggressively pursuing the development of industrial parks. Sekisui Chemical and Nissin Foods are major employers.

Rittō has nine public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government. There are two public high schools operated by the Shiga Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

• Birmingham, Michigan, United States (1976)
• Hengyang, Hunan, China

• Otsuki Taisha, Shinto shrine
• Wachūsan Honpo, Edo Period pharmacy, National Historic Site
• Komasaka Stone Buddhas, National Historic Site

• Yuichi Fukunaga, horse trainer and former jockey
• Yutaka Kobayashi (actor), actor
• Masanori Morita, mangaka
• Koshiro Take, jockey
• Yutaka Take, jockey
• Kenichi Ikezoe, jockey

• Media related to Rittō, Shiga at Wikimedia Commons
• Rittō City official website (in Japanese)