Lake Biwa

Lake Biwa (Hepburn: Biwa-ko) is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. It is located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13th oldest lake in the world. Because of its proximity to the country's historical capital Kyoto, references to Lake Biwa appear frequently in Japanese literature, particularly in poetry and in historical accounts of battles.

The name Biwa-ko was established in the Edo period. There are various theories about the origin of the name Biwa-ko, but it is generally believed to be so named because of the resemblance of its shape to that of a stringed instrument called the biwa, and indeed, they use the same kanji: (biwa). Kōsō, a learned monk of Enryaku-ji in the 14th century, gave a clue to the origin of the name Biwa-ko in his writing: "The lake is the Pure Land of the goddess Benzaiten because she lives on Chikubu Island and the shape of the lake is similar to that of the biwa, her favorite instrument." The lake was formerly known as Aumi (Freshwater Sea) or Chikatsu Awa-umi (Freshwater Sea Near [the Capital]). The current pronunciation of this word has become Ōmi, as in the name of Ōmi Province. The lake is also called Nio no Umi ("Little Grebe Lake") in literature.

The area of this lake is about 670 km2 (260 sq mi). Small rivers drain from the surrounding mountains into Lake Biwa. Its main outlet is the Seta, which later becomes the Uji, combining with the Katsura and Kizu to become the Yodo River, which flows into the Seto Inland Sea at Osaka Bay. It serves as a reservoir for the cities of Kyoto and Ōtsu and is a valuable resource for nearby textile industries. It provides drinking water for about 15 million people in the Kansai region. Lake Biwa is a breeding ground for freshwater fish, including trout, and for the pearl culture industry. The Lake Biwa Canal, built in the late 1890s and later expanded during the Taishō era, played a crucial role in the revival of Kyoto's industrial life after a steep decline following the transfer of the capital t

Flows through: Japan.

River data from Wikidata (CC0); lengths normalised to a common unit.