Lake Biwa - Castles, temples and boat rides

May 27, 2024

For the Memorial Day holiday we took a trip to Lake Biwa with our friends, Chad and Sloan Guisinger. We rented a van from MWR and drove to Moriyama - it took us about 6 hrs. At the rest area where we stopped for dinner there was a tank of fish swimming right below a sign advertising how they will look when cooked. It was too odd, and not appetizing, in my opinion.

The next day we drove to Sakamoto on the opposite side of the lake from Moriyama. We took the cable car to the top of Mt. Hiei. There is a huge temple complex at the top, and it is possible to take a ropeway down the other side of the mountain and then you would be in Kyoto.

The view of the lake was lovely and we enjoyed walking around and seeing the temples and pagodas and interesting museum with extremely old statues and carvings (from the 9th century). Sadly you are not allowed to take pictures in the museum.

Our next stop was to Karasaki Jinja, which is suppose to be the place where dango was first invented. We got some very nice dango and sat and ate it at the lakeside.

Sakamoto is famous for its large stone walls, built a long time ago and still standing today.

We ended the day at Ukimido Floating Hall. The story of this place is that one of the priests up on Mt. Hiei looked down and saw a light coming from the lake in this spot every night. He was curious so he came down to check it out, and using a net he scooped up from the lake a glowing golden Amida Butsu. In memory of this he carved 1000 Buddha statues and then built this hall to house them. They are still in the hall today (You can see them when you look inside, but you can't take a picture of them.)

The next morning I took a walk through Moriyama to a nearby park. The walk went along a canal and there were rice fields planted in and around the neighborhoods. It was really beautiful and so much like Japan in the non-tourist sense.

We checked out of our hotel in Moriyama and headed to the Hachiman-bori Moat. There we took a peaceful boat ride along the canal/moat. This waterway was first built as part of the moat for the Hachiman Castle, which is no longer standing. We saw the remains of the castle walls on the hill above the moat. In more recent times the canal has been used for commerce to moved goods through the area. The boat we rode in had tatami mats on the floor so we took our shoes off before getting in. Then we sat on cushions on the tatami mats for the ride.

Next we visited Hikone Castle and Genkyuen Garden. Hikone Castle is one of 5 castles designated as a National Treasure (Himeji, Matsumoto, Inuyama, Hikone, and Matsue). The garden was the most beautiful Japanese garden I have even seen!

We finished off an amazing day with a cruise to Chikubu Island in the northern part of Lake Biwa. Once on the island you can visit several different temples and shrines including Hogon-ji. It is believed this temple was first built on the island in the 7th century.

There are a few "fundraisers" you can participate in - you can buy small plates and write your name and wish on the plate. Then throw it towards the torii and if it goes through, your wish will come true. You can also buy a small wooded doll (Daruma), write you wish on a slip of paper and stuff it in the hole drilled on the bottom of the doll. It is then stacked in the shrine and your wish should come true. Finally you can buy cedar planks for the roof of shrine. Lots of way to help pay for the upkeep of the property!