Biwako Otsukan English Garden

This Western-style English garden is located in Saki Kohan Park, a waterfront park with willows spreading along the shores of Lake Biwa.

In the vast 6,000-square-meter garden, 2,000 roses of about 100 varieties as well as seasonal herbs and flowers are in full bloom.

Mr. Kay Yamada, a British horticultural researcher, created the basic design. The garden consists of three areas: the Gravel Garden, the Border Garden, and the English Landscape Garden, and is beautifully planted with 20,000 flowers, plants, and trees.

Pretty flowers and herbs are planted in the gravel gravel area. In the Border Garden, which stretches along walking paths and walls, taller plants are designed three-dimensionally as you go deeper into the garden.

In the knot garden, boxwood and other plants have been trimmed, and flowers and herbs have been planted between them to emphasize the pattern.

In addition, the Landscape Garden, with beautiful Lake Biwa in the background, features a water lily pond, a drum bridge, and a gazebo on a hill overlooking Lake Biwa, providing a picturesque view of the lake.

In addition, there is a chapel for garden weddings in front of the water lily pond.

In the Fragrance Rose Garden, under the supervision of Ken Osanai, a rose sommelier, 3,000 roses of about 300 varieties, from rare old roses to the latest modern roses, release their elegant fragrance. Since roses bloom in all four seasons, visitors can enjoy roses from spring to early winter.

In winter, the garden is illuminated at night, creating a fantastic atmosphere.

A guest house surrounded by flowers and lakes

The Biwako Otsu-kan is also located in the park, overlooking the lake, and its interior has a Showa-era atmosphere, offering a pleasant moment.

The Biwako Otsu-kan is a modern building constructed in 1934 as the Lake Biwa Hotel. Shinichiro Okada, an architect known for his work on the Tokyo Kabuki-za Theater, designed the building, and Shogoro Okada took over and completed it.

The beautiful building was called “the guesthouse of the lake country,” and many celebrities such as Emperor Showa, Helen Keller, and John Wayne stayed at the hotel, which boasted the highest prestige in Shiga Prefecture.

After the Lake Biwa Hotel relocated in 1998, Otsu City restored the site and building, and the building was reborn as a new cultural facility with a restaurant overlooking Lake Biwa, a cafe, a multipurpose hall, a gallery, rental conference rooms, and the Lake Biwa Hotel Museum.

Lake Biwa sightseeing boats depart from Yanagisaki Lakeside Park Port for a relaxing day out.