【Day3】Biwa lake & Mt.Hiei autumn leaves(F-1)⭐⭐⭐⭐
’21. 15th, Nov
This route(F-1) is in Area-F “Kinki". See Area-F map / See Japan map
Sight & Entertainment ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Foods & Drinks ⭐⭐⭐⭐(Due to my condition. Up to planning)
Easiness ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Road condition ⭐⭐⭐(West shore of Lake Biwa)
Safety ⭐⭐⭐(West shore of Lake Biwa)
Next day of E-1(day2). My stomach was still in bad condition but my legs condition recovered. Today I was planning to visit Mt.Hiei, a headquarter of Japanese Buddhism which I’ve never visited before, of course after leaving my bike at guesthouse. So it was around 80km ride.
Looking at Hikone castle on the left hand side(pic.1) at 8:00, I slowly started. Soon reached the shore(pic.2) from which riding on the cycling road. BTW I noticed that Lake Biwa recommended counterclockwise riding though I did clockwise due to my plan. Sometimes I should go inland(pic.3) but I passed the Biwa Ohashi(pic.5) without toughness in about 2hrs. Gradually the Hiei mountains on the opposite shore came closer(pic.6) and finally I reached Seta kara hashi(pic.7) at the south end of Lake Biwa. From this point, I could not find any exclusive cycling road on the west shore. And the width for bike became narrower to the north. I wanted to drop in Ogoto hot spring but it already passed noon, so I hurried to my guest house since I booked 4:00PM entry to Enkoji temple in Kyoto. Soon after reaching my guest house, I started to Mt.Hiei by using taxi toward Sakamoto cable car station.
Though I paid around \3000- for taxi, it’s better to use that since there was 1km uphill slope from train stations to Sakamoto cable station.
The Sakamoto cable car itself has a good story. It is the longest railway in Japan as a cable car which every 30min depart from the station. From the hill top station, I had to walk for a few hundreds meter to Mt.Hiei Enryakuji temple. As many tour guides say, Enryakuji consists of 3 temples areas, the nearest from Sakamoto cable car and oldest one is To-do which I visited. Since I didn’t eat anything in lunch time and already 2:00PM, I ordered Matcha(Powdered green tea) with sesame dumpling(pic.11), which are traditional tea ceremony set in Japan.
Unfortunately the main hall, Konpon Chudo was under restoration till ’26. But those sacred other temples were nice enough for me to feel the origin of our soul. I expected many leaves had turned red but it was a little early this year. Some trees still had green leaves. Pls refer to your tour guide or website for more information. And pls take care for the time to downhill. To go to Kyoto from To-do, I had to take a shuttle bus to “Hieisancho" to get to ropeway, then change to cable car to Yase-Yamaguchi station. It takes around 1hr even if timing is good.
My last visit on that day was visiting Enkoji temple which I saw very beautiful autumn leaves from its main hall on the web site. But as I imagined on the Mt.Hiei, those leaves were still young(pic.19), though its garden was very beautiful. On the hill back the temple(pic.21, 22), there was a grave of Ieyasu Tokugawa who opened Edo era in 1603, and also opened this temple.
The east side mountains in Kyoto have many temples with beautiful gardens like this, so I recommend to visit some of them in a right timing for each season, though it’s difficult to adjust your plan.
Actually even after visiting Enkoji, my stomach was not in a good condition. But I didn’t want to miss eating Ohmi beef which is one of the most famous high-grade beef in Japan, so I bought expensive medicine(Gaster 10). Though I didn’t know that was placebo or real effect, I felt better in 30min and went Ohmi beef restaurant, Daikichi, near my guest house. Assortment of 3 types(pic.25) which I could choose from map of beef(pic.24) was \3580-. I felt happy since I could enjoy its taste without stomach concern, though I could not enjoy Japanese Sake in Shiga prefecture. Shiga has many good Sake, and many Ohmi beef restaurants as well, I strongly recommend you to stay one night in Shiga at least and visit one.
<Transportation info>
How to get to Mt.Hiei Enryaku temple
<Other recommended spots near my route>
Azuchi castle archaeological Museum (this area was the center of the age of civil war in 16th century)
<Connection routes>
E-1: Fukui to Lake Biwa