Keage Incline

Lake Biwa Canal is a man-made waterway that connects Otsu and Kyoto. Although it was made in the Meiji Period, it is still being used and made up of the roughly 20 km-long 1st Canal, the 7.4km-long 2nd Canal, and 3.3km-long Canal Branch, etc.

Shiga, Otsu, Kyoto, Yamashina, and Okazaki, each has their own characteristic scenery. Keage Area has a number of historical buildings such as the 1st Keage Power Plant, which began producing power in 1981 to the general public with Japan’s first hydro plant and the national tangible cultural property “the former imperial water pomp room.” Many come to visit Keage.

Keage Incline is the prominent historical site in this area and one of Kyoto’s tourist sites. Keage Incline is the 582m-long former railroad on a slope that connects Keage Pier and Nanzenji Pier. The railroad is preserved and you can freely walk along the area to see “Nejiri Manpo,” the tunnel that goes under the Incline or Nanzenji Temple’s canal bridge “Suirokaku.” There is a lot to see here. Stop by in your meandering.