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       For more than a millennium, Kyoto flourished as the imperial capital of Japan. But in a seismic upheaval known as the Meiji Restoration, in which feudal shogunates gave way to a modern nation-state, the capital was moved to Tokyo in 1868. And Kyoto fell into decline.

       The governor of Kyoto Prefecture looked to giant Lake Biwa to the east for a revival. Building a canal from the lake some eight miles into Kyoto would irrigate land for farms, generate hydro power for factories, and ramp up traffic of goods and people. The first canal was finished in 1890, and as a display at the Lake Biwa Canal Museum explains, “strongly led a depressed Kyoto into recovery.”

       It’s a safe bet that the governor, Kunimichi Kitagaki, had no idea that 134 years later his sepia portrait would be sharing that narrative with tourists barreling through the canal’s longest tunnel in a glass-topped boat. But there he was, projected on the side of the narrow tunnel, explaining in Japanese how workers drilled shafts into the mountain so they could dig out more than one section at a time.

       Image

       The Okazaki Jikkokubune Boat Ride runs on part of the Lake Biwa Canal system in the spring. Similar boats operate in Fushimi with a longer season.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

       “Three, two, one!” our cruise guide, Saki Tanaka, shouted over the public address system, pointing up at the low, arched ceiling.

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       A curtain of cold water crashed down from one of those shafts, splashing those of us seated in the front of our open-sided 12-person Lake Biwa Canal Cruise boat.

       A map of Kyoto and environs highlighting Lake Biwa Canal and showing several sites in the city and region.

       Kifune Shrine

       Japan

       Kibuneguchi Station

       Kyoto

       Kibune River

       Mt. Hiei

       Mabashihitodo Bridge

       Marutamachi

       Bridge

       Lake

       Biwa

       Detail

       area

       Lake Biwa Canal

       Kamo River

       Kyoto

       Kyoto

       Gekkeikan ōkura

       Sake Museum

       2 miles

       Marutamachi dori

       Kamo River

       Nanzenji Boat

       Reservoir

       Lake Biwa Canal

       Okazaki Park

       National Museum of

       Modern Art, Kyoto

       Lake Biwa

       Canal Museum

       Pontocho

       Shirakawa

       River

       Keage Boat Dock

       Shinmonzen-dori

       1/4 mile

       By The New York Times

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