Shiga Course Overview

Shiga prefecture is the eighth prefecture on the Tokai Nature Trail. The capital city of Shiga is Otsu, the Tokai Nature trail takes you through the city and offers views of Lake Biwa. Otsu was briefly the capital of Japan 1300 years ago. Shiga prefecture is also home to Hikone Castle, which is a complete castle, and Azuchi Castle which is now in ruins but was once the largest castle in Japan(76).

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Ibuki, Suzuka, Hira, and Hiei mountains Shiga prefecture, and Lake Biwa covers one-sixth of Shiga's total area making it the largest lake in Japan. 120 rivers feed into Lake Biwa, all coming from the surrounding mountians(77). Shiga also boasts the largest land area, 37%, of Natural Parks in Japan. Shiga is mainly a rural prefecture, with the majority of the people living in Otsu, which has a population of about 341,000(76).

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The Shiga course starts at Tenjinjya (天神社), and takes you to Misujino Falls (三筋の滝), Ishiyamadera

(石山寺) and Otowayama (音羽山).  The course ends at Ougitouge Pass (仰木峠).

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The website guides serve as an over view of each prefectural course the Ebook goes into much more detail about each section, this is because the prefectural courses offer multiple routes. 

The course overview of each prefecture shows the outline of the course, and some of the major points of interest.  The Tokai trail offers many different routes, and the maps, even those on the trail, do not always show all courses. To address this issues I wrote a free guidebook that covers the complete trail.