Byoudou-In
Fujiwara clan once enjoyed its power which even surpassed that of emperors. At the height of its power, Fujiwara created the Byoudou-In to re-create the Buddhist Paradise called Joudo. Houou-Doh is named after Houou (which is Chinese Phoenix) because the structure has 2 wings and a tale lookin from the above. This is also famous as a design used as the back of 10-yen coin. Everybody was watching the coin, including myself. Houou-Doh felt more freely designed compare with the temples in Kyoto, which looked somewhat cramped. One bad news is there are not much to see in Byoudou-Inn other than Houou-Doh. Everything had burnt into ashes. There was a museum displaying some artifacts and Buddha statues. I was more impressed with the building itsel. It was a modern structure kind of like the Kyoto station. Kyotonians know what is a good design for a structure.

A shot of sunset from the Biwako-railline.

To Nagoya via Biwako-Railline
It was still 3 o'clock after coming back to Kyoto station from Uji. It only takes 2 hours to Tokyo via Shinkan-sen (bullet train). How about taking a slow normal railways? I took a train ride along the east side of Biwa-Lake. This stretch is filled with historical events for more than 2000 years. This is something only western Japan could offer; not around Tokyo.

The Biwako-line entered into a tunnel just outside of Kyoto. This reminded me about the fact that Kyoto is a city surrounded by steep mountain ranges. And they are quite steep, which could have been a serious effort to overcome before the industrial age. Today, it takes only 5 minutes to city of Otsu through this tunnel. Otsu is a city strategically located at Biwa-Lake side, and it was once a capital of Japan for a brief period (like a a year or so.) From Otsu, taking a western side of Biwa-Lake lead to city of Sakamoto and Hieizan. A famous Japanese writer, Shiba Ryoutarou, traveled along this lakeshore before. I would like to come here with his book on one hand.

The book describes alot about "Omi" which means "Nearby Ocean". It means the ocean nearby Kyoto, and points to Biwa-Lake. So Omi is a country around Biwa-Lake... Hmm, I guess I heard this before. But it is a lot easier to remember such fact after knowing the real place. The Biwako-line runs through the very heart of Omi country.

The area is flat and wide to my surprise. Then there goes a city called Azuchi, where Nobunaga created a magnificant castle whose fame was even heard in Europe (so I heard). His strong intension to build a new capital here as a ruler of Japan.

The train stopped at Maibara, and headed east to Nagoya. The town of Nagahama is only a few more stations along the Biwa-Lake. It used to be called "Azai", where Azai clan used to rule this place. Nobunaga, who ruled Nagoya, had a long plan to "visit" Kyoto. On the way to Kyoto, he had to pass Azai. So, he send his sister to get married with Azai. Nobunaga must have thought Mr. Azai was now his friend. But Azai betrayed Nobunaga. After some battle, Nobunaga finally conquered Azai, and gave the land to Hideyoshi. What he did first? He changed the name to Nagahama. I looked up Japanese map, and found small town of Azai nearby.

Sekigahara was coming up next. The clouds got lower and rain started to fall. It is a somewhat large basin surrounded by mountains as if they were hanging over me. Sekigahara has also been a crossroad for wet-wind from Japan Sea to Pacific Ocean. Also, the western Japan ends here, and Central Japan starts. Thus, it had become the battle fields between the eastern and western Japan. The most famous battle was the one in 1600, which determined that Tokugawa would rule Japan.

The train passed the city of Gifu. It was after dark, and train was filled with business person going home. Shinkansen was also packed with businessman.