time slips
At the top of the Keage Incline 蹴上インクライン and looking down to the masses that were gathering under the trees below.
The Lake Biwa Canal 琵琶湖疏水 served as an important route for the transportation of goods for the city, but the sections of the canal have an elevation difference of 36 metres, so a way to transport boats between them was needed. Frequently moving boats using locks would have been slow, so they devised and constructed a roughly 600 metre long railway lift instead. Boats could simply manoeuvre into a submerged cart without having to unload cargo and then be transported up or down in just 10 to 15 minutes.
The incline lift operated from 1891 through to 1948 when transportation by train had taken over as the preferred choice, but the tracks have been retained and the path is now lined by sakura 桜, making it a popular place to visit.