It turned out to be Lake Biwa day. I know it’s time for me to leave; I’m having a very hard time deciding where to go and what to see. I am feeling the pressure of limited time, but I’m not doing anything about it. This morning I decided to go to Otsu, about 15 minutes from Kyoto on Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest inland lake. There is a famous set of Hiroshige prints called Eight Views of Omi, showing scenes around Lake Biwa, at least one of which shows the scene from Miidera Temple, located near Otsu, and having seen an exhibition of treasures from Miidera I thought it would be good to go to the temple.
At Kyoto Station, where I would get the train, I first encountered a tourism promotion about Okazaki, which is somewhere in central Japan. They were pulling out all the stops, with demonstrations about their crafts and this guy in armor. I don’t usually want my picture taken, but I couldn’t resist this one.
Making arrows, a local craft
This year's commemorative photo
After I got on the train there was a big announcement and about half the passengers left. I knew I should ask about this, or get off myself, but I didn’t. Within ten minutes I knew I had made a mistake. Instead of going to Otsu, which is due east, I was going north around the lake. I wasn’t too concerned, after all, these would be the views of Omi. It seemed like fun to go around the lake, stopping at a few places to see the towns, but today being the first really cold day, I just sat in the warm train looking at the lake and the mountains surrounding it. It was great for a while, but by the time we got to the top of the lake I was feeling pretty antsy. I wasn’t even sure I could go around, or would I have to go back the way I came. By carefully changing trains at the right station (I can hear the Japanese names if I know what to listen for) I started down the other side. Halfway down and almost two hours later, we got to a station where I could get the shinkansen and within 15 minutes I was back in Kyoto.
Lunch came first then a different train to Otsu, where I arrived about 2:15 to find I had just missed the once an hour bus to the temple. I walked down to the lake and walked around looking for views of Omi until I felt too cold, then back to the train with just enough time to get a warm can of green tea from one of those ubiquitous vending machines.
The lake shore is a little different than Hiroshige saw it.
Yes, very different than Hiroshige’s view. But I truly appreciate seeing you on site.