Trip Ideas

Discover Historic Temples and Craft Ceramics on Lake Biwa

Discover Historic Temples and Craft Ceramics on Lake Biwa

Day 1

Spot No. 1 JR Nagahama Station

  • 15 min by taxi (car)

Spot No. 2 Mizuguki-yaki Hokkokugama

Experience authentic pottery making using a potter’s wheel and coloring ceramics. You can make reservations from the homepage for the ceramics classes, but if seats are open you can also participate on the day without a reservation. An instructor will help you at every step, allowing even beginners to participate without any worries.

Mizuguki-yaki Hokkokugama
  • Stroll

Spot No. 3 Kurokabe Square

The Kurokabe Square building was erected during the Meiji period (1868-1912) as a bank. It is currently used as a gallery for glassware, displaying and selling such items as glass accessories and music boxes. They also offer hands-on lessons that include making glass accessories and stained glass.
【Trip Report】
http://en.biwako-visitors.jp/foreigners/blog/2017/02/20170218-trip-to-nagahama-part2.html
http://en.biwako-visitors.jp/foreigners/blog/2017/02/20170218-trip-to-nagahama-kurokabe-bonbai-exhibition.html

Kurokabe Square
  • 5 min by taxi (car)

Spot No. 4 Nagahama Port

  • 30 min by ship

Spot No. 5 Chikubushima Island

This small island, with a circumference of just 2km, is located in the offing of Lake Biwa, approximately 6km from shore. Here you can find both Hogonji Temple and Tsukubusuma-jinja Shrine. The Benzaiten (Sarasvati) at Hogonji Temple is known as one of the three best in Japan, and the temple also receives many visitors as the 30th location on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage.
The gabled karamon gate at Hogonji Temple is said to be only remaining piece of Hideyoshi’s Osaka-jo Castle, and it is a registered national treasure alongside the main shrine at Tsukubusuma-jinja Shrine. Revered since ancient times as an island where the god of water dwells, this god has also been worshipped for providing safe passage for travel across water. The island is now widely known as one of the most powerful spots for spiritual energy on Lake Biwa, and is a place to truly experience water and prayer.

Chikubushima Island
  • 30 min by ship

Spot No. 6 Omi-Imazu Port

  • 17 min by taxi (car)

Spot No. 7 Shirahige-jinja Shrine

Shirahige-jinja Shrine was founded 1900 years ago, boasting the longest history for a shrine Omi. This is also one of the constituent elements of the Japan Heritage story. Against the backdrop of the lake island of Okishima, the sight of fishing boats going about their business between the torii gates in the offing is particularly stunning. Furthermore, the gates are illuminated at night. (Illumination times: Saturday and Sunday – around 2 hours after sunset, September 5 – from sunset until around 10pm, New Year’s Eve – until dawn, January 1 to January 5 – from sunset until around 9pm)
Early morning is a particularly recommended time to visit, with the morning sun rising inside the Torii gate, and this has recently also become is a popular time to take photos.

Trip Reports :
https://en.biwako-visitors.jp/foreigners/blog/2018/07/takashima-trip.html

Shirahige-jinja Shrine
  • 30 min by taxi (car)

Spot No. 8 Saikyo-ji Temple

Saikyo-ji Temple is the head of the Tendai Shinsei Sect, which has more than 450 branch temples across Japan. The grounds feature a total of four separate gardens, each styled differently and all worth seeing.
There is also a garden here in the path-around-a-pond style, with the pond itself shaped like Lake Biwa, creating a unique landscape that links Lake Biwa with prayer and imparting to all visitors the nature of prayer in the region.

Saikyo-ji Temple
  • 7 min by taxi (car)

Spot No. 9 JR Hieizan Sakamoto Station

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