National Treasure 2025
A National Treasure next door.
The Lake Biwa Canal's Keage Incline
On August 27, 2025, five facilities of the Lake Biwa Canal were designated National Treasures. One of them, the Keage Incline, lies right next to Nanzenji Yachiyo. Together with the Suirokaku Aqueduct at Nanzen-ji, a 5-minute walk away, it makes for a lovely stroll through Meiji-era industrial heritage.
- Keage Incline
- Completed around 1889 (Meiji 22). An inclined railway that carried boats on carts up and down the slope by cable. About 582 m long with a height difference of about 36 m, it was the longest in the world when built. Next door
- Suirokaku Aqueduct, Nanzen-ji
- Completed 1888 (Meiji 21). A red-brick aqueduct running through the grounds of Nanzen-ji Temple. 5-minute walk
Completed in 1890 (Meiji 23), the canal brought Lake Biwa's water to Kyoto for drinking water, hydroelectric power, boat transport, irrigation, garden streams and firefighting, and helped revive the city after the capital moved to Tokyo. The Agency for Cultural Affairs praised it as a rare structure built with the best civil engineering of the mid-Meiji period, a landmark of modern urban infrastructure in Japan. In all, 24 canal facilities between Otsu and Kyoto are Important Cultural Properties, five of them National Treasures. To learn more, visit the Lake Biwa Canal Museum of Kyoto by the Incline.
Lake Biwa Canal facilities designated National Treasures at the same time: Tunnel No. 1, Tunnel No. 2, Tunnel No. 3, the Incline, and the Suirokaku Aqueduct at Nanzen-ji
