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Harie Shozu no Sato

kabataspring waterHarieTakashimavillage life

Shiga · Takashima

35.3644°N, 136.0488°E

In Harie, spring water comes up inside the houses. Groundwater filtered through the Hira mountains is tapped in a structure called a kabata built into the kitchen or the yard: the first basin is drinking water, the second cools vegetables and beer, and the third holds carp that eat the rice grains and scraps washed off the dishes. The overflow runs out to the canal, to the paddies, and into Lake Biwa. Nothing is pumped and nothing is wasted.

Around 170 households still use them. The village is not a preserved site and the kabata are inside private homes, so the only way to see one is on a guided walk with a resident, which the community organises itself and charges for. The water holds about 13 degrees year-round and is drunk straight from the pipe.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Guided walks at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM, about 60 minutes each, by advance telephone booking

Closed: Closed Mondays

Entrance Fee

¥1,000 per adult for the guided walk

Best Season

Year-round | Summer, when the 13-degree water is most striking

Visit Duration

1.5–2 hours including the walk

Getting There

Access Information

Harie, Shin-asahi-cho, Takashima City. About 15 minutes on foot from Shin-asahi Station on the JR Kosei Line. Kabata are inside private property and cannot be visited without a guide. Tours run at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM, take about 60 minutes and cost ¥1,000 per adult; booking by telephone in advance is required, with the village office taking calls 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Closed Mondays.

Insider Guide

Premium

**You cannot look round on your own.** The kabata are in people's kitchens and yards. Turning up and wandering is the one thing the village asks people not to do, and the guided walk exists precisely so that it does not happen. **Book by phone, in advance.** Two departures a day and closed Mondays. This is a community committee rather than a tourism operator. **The carp are functional.** They live in the third basin and eat what comes off the plates, which is why the water leaving the house is clean enough to go into the paddy system. It is a working closed loop, not a decorative pond. **Drink the water.** Thirteen degrees, straight out of the pipe, and the guides expect you to. **Filming here changed things.** An NHK documentary in 2004 made the village nationally known and the guided-walk system was set up to manage what followed. Respecting it is the reason it still works. **Shirahige Shrine is 20 minutes north.** The torii standing in the lake pairs naturally with this if you have a car.

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