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Light at the end of a tunnel.
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For Japanese citizens 130 years ago, it symbolized a miracle.
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This waterway runs through residential Kyoto.
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Unlike natural urban rivers, this artery is man-made.
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Shiga Prefecture, which neighbors Kyoto beyond its eastern mountains, is home to Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake.
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From there, abundant water flows to Kyoto through tunnels and waterways.
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The Lake Biwa Canal stretches some 30 kilometers in length.
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In 1869, the emperor moved to Tokyo.
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The city’s population declined by nearly two-thirds, causing significant loss to industry and the economy.
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The city had lost its vitality.
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The Lake Biwa Canal was planned as a way to turn the city around.
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Kyoto lost its role as the capital and fell into decline.
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The determination to reverse that produced a physical symbol of the city’s modernization.
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Even today, the canal functions as a lifeline, supporting the daily needs of Kyoto’s residents with water, electricity and more.
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It is also a valuable tourist attraction.
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Core Kyoto explores the impact of the Lake Biwa Canal and how it has enriched Kyoto life for over 100 years.
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Sightseeing boats that traverse the canal have been in regular operation since 2018.
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Let’s give the crew on shore a big wave. Off we go!
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Long ago, boats plied the waters carrying cargo and passengers until 1951.
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In 2018, canal traffic was revived with sightseeing boats, fulfilling the wishes of Kyoto residents.
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In spring and autumn, the boats carry visitors back and forth along the main 8-kilometer-long route between Shiga and Kyoto.
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As the popular event is seasonal, reservations fill up quickly.
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Cherry blossoms in spring create the illusion of a floral tunnel.
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The turning leaves in fall show a relaxed Kyoto landscape.
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With a depth of just over 1 meter and a width spanning 4.5 to 6 meters, the canal was clearly designed for rowboats 130 years ago.
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Moreover, the tunnels are long and dark; thus, piloting prowess is required to maneuver motorized vessels.
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When passenger boats were reintroduced, the call went out for experienced captains.
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The canal is narrow and shallow –
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so you need to steer the boat near the center, both up- and downstream.
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It’s more challenging than most waterways.
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Segawa Akihiko has been navigating boats for five decades since his 20s,
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gaining his sea legs aboard overseas vessels and large cruise boats on Lake Biwa.
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Though he had retired from the sea,
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Segawa returned to the waters upon hearing that passenger boats would be reinstated on the canal, which traversed his home turf.
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The idea of introducing people to the canal was irresistible.
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The waterway is wonderful, and can hold its own against any other.
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You’ve got tunnels, residential areas, and forested sections.
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The canal provides variety in scenery, the sound of water, and birds.
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There is much to enjoy.
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In 1885, as Kyoto’s population dwindled, construction on the canal began, in an effort to rejuvenate the city.
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The equivalent of twice Kyoto Prefecture’s annual budget was invested in the project, which took five years to complete.
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The mountains separating Kyoto from Lake Biwa made traveling between them challenging.
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The prefectural governor at the time reasoned that a waterway would make access for cargo and passengers from the north and east easier.
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The design was entrusted to an engineering major, Tanabe Sakuro, a fresh college graduate.
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He was selected for the position because his graduation thesis focused on the design of a canal stemming from Lake Biwa.
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At the time, major civil engineering projects relied on the design and supervision of engineers from overseas.
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Although the canal’s structure employed Western technology,
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it was the first time everything, from design to construction, was carried out solely by Japanese.
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However, stumbling blocks lay ahead for a project of this magnitude.
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The most challenging was the excavation of the 2.4-km tunnel.
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Construction was stymied by the hard earth and incessant gush of groundwater.
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Tanabe rose to the challenge, employing Japan’s first usage of vertical shafts.
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Workers dug a shaft straight down from the mountaintop, perpendicular to the intended tunnel.
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Construction then proceeded in four directions, from within and without the tunnel, for four years.
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The first canal was completed in 1890.
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Boats soon began journeying along the new waterway linking Kyoto with Lake Biwa.
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They transported rice, lumber, coal, and other goods in both directions.
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In its heyday, the canal saw annual transport of 220,000 tons of cargo and 300,000 passengers, making it a key mode of transportation.
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It was also used to generate hydroelectric power, boosting the mechanization of Kyoto’s factories.
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In 1895, with that electricity, Kyoto became the first Japanese city to introduce a commercial electric railway.
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The streetcars became a highlight when Kyoto hosted the National Industrial Exhibition.
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The venue was lined with various pavilions displaying some 170,000 state-of-the-art products, arts, and crafts from all over the country.
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The exhibition drew one million visitors, three times Kyoto’s population at the time.
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These many achievements, made possible by the Lake Biwa Canal, paved the path for Kyoto’s recovery.
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The infrastructure laid for the canal’s construction continues to bolster Kyoto life even today.
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Hydroelectric power is generated here, using water from the Lake Biwa Canal.
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Canal water is drawn into the power plant to support round-the-clock operation of the turbines.
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Those, in turn, supply power to Kyoto.
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The Keage Power Plant generates some 17.8 million kWh of electricity per year.
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That’s equal to the annual power usage of about 5,700 average households.
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We hope to carry on our forefathers’ work, providing electricity from Keage.
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The canal also sources the city’s water supply.
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After the first canal was completed, Kyoto’s population began to grow again.
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The city realized it needed to secure a greater water supply, so a second canal was completed underground in 1912.
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Japan’s first rapid filtration equipment was installed in a water purification plant,
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and Kyoto residents enjoyed safe drinking water originating from Lake Biwa.
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Today, the lake’s water reaches the taps of 1.44 million Kyoto residents,
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and accounts for 99 percent of the city’s water consumption.
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A serene Japanese-style garden.
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The water that flows through it is drawn from the Lake Biwa Canal.
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The garden belongs to Murin-an, built about 130 years ago.
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The villa was originally owned by Yamagata Aritomo, who twice served as Japan’s prime minister.
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The ample windows offer expansive views of the spacious garden.
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The Higashiyama mountains to the east create a towering backdrop,
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while the lush greenery and broad lawn create an impressive setting.
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The brook meandering through the garden imbues a sense of vibrancy.
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The scenery changes right before your eyes as you stroll through Murin-an.
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You can enjoy it like an unfolding story.
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It was distinctively designed to be enjoyed using all five senses.
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Yamagata designed the garden on his over-3,000-square-meter estate, in collaboration with famed garden architect Ogawa Jihei.
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Earlier gardens often had ponds as their central feature.
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But Yamagata Aritomo loved flowing water.
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The wandering brook provides a rippling sound and the reflection of light.
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The Lake Biwa Canal, which flows nearby, was initially intended for transportation and irrigation,
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but several estates in the area arranged to draw some of its water into their gardens.
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The waterfall and the mountainous backdrop is reminiscent of the countryside.
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Very nostalgic scenery.
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The sound of water flowing nearby is soothing.
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The atmosphere is totally different from that of everyday life – very calming.
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Other stories lie buried in the canal’s history.
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Ishida Jun’ichiro, a specialist in modern architectural history, finds this structure particularly intriguing.
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This is the Suirokaku.
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It was built to straddle the valley for the canal’s branch line flowing north.
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Water flows above the Suirokaku aqueduct, carrying canal water northward.
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Situated on the grounds of Zen Buddhist temple Nanzen-ji, it was designed by the canal’s engineer Tanabe Sakuro.
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When it was built, from the 1880s to the 1890s –
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people were just starting to prize Kyoto’s historical landscape.
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Having the aqueduct pass through Nanzen-ji, a major temple –
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encouraged the addition of decorative features.
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The use of Western design drew some opposition, even criticism.
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But the features ultimately won the hearts of the citizens.
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Another of the canal’s historical legacies lies nearby.
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These rails here were laid on a slope.
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This incline railway was put to good use when the boats exited the tunnel.
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There was an elevation difference of 36m from there to the Nanzen-ji boat pool.
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They compensated by loading the entire boat – cargo and all –
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onto a trolley and lowering it.
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It was like a prototype of a cable car.
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While the incline is no longer in use, the spot has become known for its cherry blossoms each spring.
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The canal’s historical heritage fulfills different needs in different eras.
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Heian Jingu was built in 1895, to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the capital’s establishment in Kyoto.
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The gardens, covering an area of 33,000 square meters, surround the Shinto shrine.
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Although created and maintained by human hands, the gardens are home to many living creatures.
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The ponds are fed with water from the Lake Biwa Canal.
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Researchers travel here to investigate the pond’s inhabitants.
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They retrieve the baskets and examine the number and types of freshwater fish living in the pond.
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One of these created quite a surprise.
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– A striped bitterling.
– Isn’t it pretty.
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It is the most valuable species here.
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They are all but extinct in Lake Biwa, but miraculously they’re still found at Heian Jingu.
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The research is a collaborative effort between the shrine and the Lake Biwa Museum, located on the lake’s shores.
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Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest freshwater lake, is four million years old and home to over 60 endemic species.
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The museum researches and exhibits the lake’s history, culture, and wildlife.
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Kawase Seigo, a specialist in freshwater fish, conducts research on fish living in the Heian Jingu ponds.
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He notes that 13 species of fish found in Lake Biwa have made the shrine ponds their habitat.
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Heian Jingu’s ponds are large, protected bodies of water, so Kawase speculates that this makes it easier for the fish to breed.
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The shrine’s pond water is sourced from the canal, which is how fish have come to live here.
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Non-native fish in Lake Biwa have greatly reduced the population of endemic fish.
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So it took several coincidences to produce their miraculous survival here.
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The man-made canal was intended to foster industrial and economic growth,
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but, as Kawase notes, Lake Biwa fish were conserved here by coincidence.
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Lessons in biodiversity research have emerged from this discovery.
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Nature and biodiversity are difficult and can’t tolerate an excess or absence of human intervention.
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The Heian Jingu gardens are managed by the priests with a balanced approach.
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That’s why nature’s being maintained here.
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The shrine is in town, but our ponds are linked to Lake Biwa –
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enabling these prized fish to survive.
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I hope they enjoy enduring protection along with the shrine culture.
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In spring, boat passengers are greeted with cherry trees in full bloom,
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along with yellow rapeseed flowers, as they enter Kyoto’s Yamashina area.
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The rapeseed flowers are planted and tended each year by local residents.
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Ninety-two-year-old Tanaka Toshihiro has lived by the canal for decades.
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His daily routine includes caring for the flowers he has planted along the banks.
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– “Domo.”
– “Konnichiwa.”
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Today we’re going to plant seedlings.
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Let’s start together over there.
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Others in the community also lend a hand.
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On this summer day, everyone is busy replanting seedlings that will blossom in the fall.
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These are a type of cosmos.
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Every year, we plant rapeseed blossoms for the spring and yellow cosmos for the fall.
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I’m removing the weeds between the cosmos plants. Got to keep it clear.
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The deer eat all the shoots – the tender part on top.
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So we set up a double layer of netting as protection. It’s a lot of work.
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The volunteers engage in this annual effort to bring joy to visitors coming to view the canal.
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The endeavor dates back some 30 years, to when one neighbor planted rapeseed flowers on a whim.
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If we planted lots more, the flowers might become famous nationwide, along with the cherry blossoms.
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The neighbor who started this said he’d bring me seedlings, if I was really committed.
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So I thought I’d have a go. That’s how it started.
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Other neighbors who love the canal landscape joined in,
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spreading the blooms over an increasingly broad area, that in time extended to both sides of the canal.
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I love it when people are overjoyed by the flowers.
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Visitors are always surprised.
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They’re amazed that this is so close to downtown Kyoto.
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You’ve got flowing water here and the mountains nearby.
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I think you can’t beat the Lake Biwa Canal landscape.
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Kyoto experienced major changes in the latter half of the 19th century.
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Architectural expert Ishida Jun’ichiro believes that the canal megaproject was indispensable
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in realizing Kyoto’s modernization.
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The project was a culmination of the introduction of advanced Western engineering –
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the diligence of the engineers, and the desire to revive Kyoto.
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The canal itself was the result that bolstered Kyoto’s modernization.
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The canal continues to sustain the dreams of the Kyoto forefathers, as it quietly supports life in the city.
AloJapan.com