List of Famous people born in Shiga Prefecture, Japan

Ohatsu (お初) or Ohatsu-no-kata (お初の方) was a prominently placed figure in the late Sengoku period. She was daughter of Oichi and the sister of Yodo-dono and Oeyo. Alongside her sisters, she was active in the political intrigues of her day. Ohatsu's close family ties to both the Toyotomi clan and the Tokugawa clan uniquely positioned her to serve as a conduit between the rivals. She acted as a liaison until 1615 in Siege of Osaka, when the Tokugawa eliminated the Toyotomi.

Masanobu Deme was a Japanese film director.

Nobuyasu Okabayashi is a Japanese folk singer-songwriter. He has been called "Japan's Bob Dylan."

Fukumi Shimura is a Japanese textile artist who has created kimono since 1958. Shimura was awarded multiple honours including the Living National Treasure in 1990 and the 2014 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy.

Miya Tachibana is a Japanese competitor in synchronised swimming from Ōtsu, Shiga.

Kodai Sakurai is a former Japanese baseball player from Yasu, Shiga Prefecture.

Aika Mitsui is a member of Hello! Project and a former member of the J-pop group Morning Musume, joining as a member of the eighth generation from the audition in Japan during December 2006. Mitsui's audition process was documented during the late 2006 episodes of Hello! Morning. She performed Ayumi Hamasaki's "Blue Bird" in round one of her audition and Morning Musume's "Furusato" and "Osaka Koi no Uta" in rounds two and three. She graduated from Morning Musume on May 18, 2012. She retired from the entertainment industry to pursue culinary studies in New Zealand on November 3, 2018.

Kaoruko Himeno is a Japanese writer. She has been nominated five times for the Naoki Prize and won the 150th Naoki Prize for her novel Showa Dog . Two of her novels have been adapted for film.

Yuki Ogura was a Japanese nihonga painter. Her maiden name was Yuki Mizoguchi. She was known for her bijinga.

Masayoshi Takemura is a Japanese politician. Elected as a representative of the Liberal Democratic Party, in 1993 he broke away to form New Party Sakigake, before joining the newly formed Democratic Party of Japan in 1997. He served as chief cabinet secretary and then finance minister in the Japanese government of the mid-1990s.