Maibara (米原市, Maibara-shi) is a city in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

[3] Per Japanese census data,[5] the population of Maibara has seen relatively little fluctuation over the past century.

Maibara is home to three former post stations: Banba-juku, Samegai-juku and Kashiwabara-juku, and was the location of a port on Lake Biwa where travelers could shorten their journey by taking boat to Ōtsu-juku.

During the Muromachi and Sengoku periods, the Kyōgoku clan domained most of Ōmi Province from their base in what is now Maibara.

Maibara has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 18 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of Shiga 2nd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

There are two public high schools operated by the Shiga Prefectural Department of Education.