Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture is Japan’s largest lake in area and water reserves.

Lake Biwa, with an area of 669 square kilometers, perimeter of 235 kilometers, maximum depth of 103 meters and water reserves of 28 cubic kilometers, is Japan’s largest lake by a decisive lead.  About 450 rivers and streams flow into the lake from surrounding mountains and hills, and just one river, the Yodo, flows out from the southern tip of the lake.  The Yodo runs for 75 kilometers through Kyoto Prefecture and Osaka City toward Osaka Bay.  About 40 ponds connected with narrow waterway were found along the lakeshore, but about 15 ponds have disappeared by reclamation work since the end of the Second World War. 

A residence of an emperor was set up in Otsu, lying along the southern shore of the lake, in the 7^th century, then Kyoto, just 10 kilometers west of Otsu, became a capital city of Japan in the 8^th century, in addition Osaka, just 55 kilometers south of Kyoto, prospered as the largest commercial city in Japan in early-modern times.  Thus, the lake was depicted so often from olden times in poetry, novels, paintings and performing arts as a leading picturesque scenery in the country.  In this connection, a famous Japanese saying “Isogaba Maware”, meaning “More haste, less speed”, stems from a verse in the 16^th century depicting the water route of the lake.  When people traveled to Kyoto, it was usually faster to use a boat crossing the lake.  But once a strong wind hit the lake, the boat service was necessarily suspended.  In this case, it was faster to take a longer land route along the lakeshore instead.

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