Festivals Otsu Festival 2025 Mid Oct Otsu Matsuri takes place in early October and features thirteen ornate floats with ingenious mechanical puppets.
Culture Otsu: Oddly Overshadowed Arlene Bastion Otsu has its own merits including Lake Biwa and shrines significant to Buddhist-Shinto origins. It need not be overshadowed as a..
Historical Hiking to Enryaku-ji Temple Ryoji Aramaki Hike to Enryakuji is a great way to see a world heritage site for free.
Culture Corn Festival 2025 Late Jul - Mid Aug Corn is a vital crop with immense importance as a food, feed, and fuel source. The Yatsugatake corn variant grows well in Japan..
Culture Enryaku-ji Ian VanDuzer It may not attract the huge crowds of other Kyoto temples, but Enryaku-ji is one temple complex you don't want to miss.
11 Temples & Shrines Ishiyama Temple in Otsu Cathy Cawood A large, unusual wollastonite rock formation is surrounded by beautiful temple buildings of Ishiyama-dera in Otsu.
Culture Amazing Hieizan Arlene Bastion Hieizan, the home of the awesome Enryakuji, with its immense, luxurious forests, emanates its own sacred and spiritual feeling...
Historical Ishiyama-dera Ash Ishiyama-dera is a beautiful, peaceful temple Shiga Prefecture.It is said that Murasaki Shikibu, author of The Tale of Genji, began..