An amazing panoramic view over the north Lake Biwa, Japan

 Today I went to Mt. Shizugatake located in northern Nagahama City, Shiga prefecture.  Mt. Shizugatake is a mountain with an altitude of 421 m. It is famous for a major battle of the Warring States period. It was fought on Mt. Shizugatake in May 1583.

More about Mt. Shizugatake and detailed explanations about the battle, please refer to the following Web site.

Mt. Shizugatake - Visit Omi (visit-omi.com)

Now, this is the western view from the summit. The right side is the northern end of Lake Biwa. In the left, we can see the small island, Chikubu-Jima, the second largest island in Lake Biwa but unmanned.

This is the southern view from the summit. We can see the central Nagahama city in the left back. Biwa is the right side. 

The eastern view from the summit. This area is Kinomoto town in Nagahama city. This area is not urbanized and keeps countryside view.

 

This is the northern view. 

This is the subsidiary lake, Lake Yogo. It is located in the north of Lake Biwa, separated by Mt. Shizugatake. It has an area of about 1.8 square kilometers, a circumference of about 6.4 km, a depth of 13 m.

There is a monument to the old battlefield here. And there is also "statue of a soldier tired of battle" near the monument. The tired look on the statue's face is so well expressed that it looks like a real soldier.

This is an ema in commemoration of climbing. In general, an ema is a wooden plaque that you write a wish or prayer on. People buy one at a Shinto shrine, write a wish on it, and hang it up at the shrine so that the deities will find it. But here in the unmanned circumstances, you can get an ema by putting coins worth 300 Japan Yen in the box.

I took a chairlift, only 6 minutes trip. But we can climb this mountain through a narrow forest road and it takes about 1.5 hour, taking a rest.