was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tà Âsandà  circuit. Its nickname is . Under the Engishiki classification system, à Âmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countries" (大å½) in terms of importance, and one of the "near countries" (è¿Âå½) in terms of distance from the imperial capital Kyoto.
à Âmi bordered on Wakasa and Echizen Provinces to the north, Mino and Ise Provinces to the east, Iga and Yamato Provinces to the south, and Yamashiro and Tanba Provinces to the west. Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, is located at the center of the province.
The area of à Âmi has been settled since at least the Yayoi period, and the traces of several large settlements have been found. During the Kofun period, the area appears to have been dominated by several powerful immigrant clans, most notably the Wani clan, which was originally from Baekje, a state in the southwestern Korean Peninsula. The names à Âmi and Lake Biwa do not appear in the Kojiki, Man'yà Âshà « or other ancient documents.
à Âmi initially had various names. Wooden tags in archaic Japanese from the ruins of Asuka, Yamato, the Yamato Kingship's capital on and off from 538-710, mention the , or variations thereof, including . The archaic name Apapumi evolved into the current Japanese form, . The name was fixed as Old Japanese only after the enactment and enforcement of the Taiho Code in 701 and the decree of 713, which stipulated that the names of the provinces defined under the Ritsuryà  system should be written using two auspicious kanji.
The Yamato state ruled briefly from this region. In the late Asuka period (538-710), Emperor Tenji () built à Âmi à Âtsu Palace in what is now the city of à Âtsu and ruled from it from 667 until 672. He issued the first legal code, the à Âmi Code, while ruling from the à Âmi à Âtsu Palace. After his death, the Jinshin War broke out among his fourteen children, one of the largest conflicts in Japanese history. à Âmi was the site of several battles, and afterwards, the capital returned to Asuka.
In the subsequent Nara period, during the reign of Emperor Shà Âmu (September 22, 701 â June 4, 756), the new Ritsuryà  system established a kokufu (provincial capital) at à Âmi Kokuchà  in à Âtsu, near the ruins of the former à Âmi à Âtsu Palace. He also established a provincial temple there. In 740, Emperor Shà Âmu built a personal residence, called Rakumura, in what is now Kà Âka, Shiga. He declared it the new capital in 745 and renamed it Shigaraki Palace, but abandoned it the same year due to expenses.
Takebe taisha, enshrining Yamato Takeru and his relics and à Âkuninushi, was designated as the ichinomiya (chief shrine) for the province.
During the Heian period (794-1195), the proximity of à Âmi to the capital at Heian-kyà Â, its location on the Tà Âkaidà  and Nakasendà  highways connecting the capital with eastern Japan, and the main route from the capital to the Sea of Japan, all gave the province great strategic importance. With the spread of Buddhism in Japan, Saichà  founded the great Tendai monastery of Enryaku-ji in 788 on Mount Hiei in à Âmi.
From the late Heian into the Kamakura period, the Sasaki clan controlled the post of shugo (military governor) of à Âmi Province, and two cadet branches, the Rokkaku and Kyà Âgoku, dominated the province into the Muromachi period.
In the tumultuous Sengoku period, internal struggles weakened both clans. Northern à Âmi became a battleground between the Azai and Asakura clans. In the south, the Rokkaku were supported by the Kà Âka ikki, whose shinobi operatives were infamous. In the late 1560s and early 1570s, Oda Nobunaga invaded from the east, defeating the Azai, Asakura, Rokkaku, Kà Âka, and finally, in 1573, the Ashikaga shogunate itself. Nobunaga built Azuchi Castle near the southwestern side of Lake Biwa in à Âmi, from which he planned to rule all of Japan and beyond.
After Nobunaga was assassinated at Honnà Â-ji on 21 June 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi awarded much of the province to Ishida Mitsunari. Mitsunari would later be Tokugawa Ieyasu's archrival at the Battle of Sekigahara on October 21, 1600.
After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603, much of the province was divided into several feudal domains, the largest of which was Hikone Domain, ruled by the Ii clan. à Âmi continued to serve as a transportation conduit, with five of the 53 Stations of the Tà Âkaidà  and eight of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendà Â.
Following the Meiji Restoration, on November 22, 1871, à Âtsu Prefecture and Nagahama Prefecture were created from former tenryà  and hatamoto territories within the province, and each former domain formed its own prefecture. These were merged on January 19, 1872 to form Shiga Prefecture. From August 21, 1876 to February 7, 1881, the Reinan region of Fukui Prefecture (west of Tsuruga, Fukui) was part of Shiga Prefecture, thus giving it a shoreline on the Sea of Japan. Local inhabitants strongly opposed the merger, and it was withdrawn.
à Âmi was divided into 12 Districts (), which were further subdivided into 93 counties (), containing 1,597 villages. The total assessed value of the province in terms of kokudaka was 858,618 koku.