Lake Biwa
Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. It is located entirely within Shiga Prefecture, northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old.| Tap on a place to explore it |
Photo: Lonely Planet Japan, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Type: Lake
- Description: freshwater lake in Japan
- Also known as: “Biva L.”, “Biva Lake”, “Biwa”, “Biwa Ko”, “Biwa L.”, “Biwa Lake”, “Biwa-ko”, “Biwako”, “L. Biva”, “L. Biwa”, and “Lake Biva”
Photo: Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Lake Biwa
- Categories: tectonic lake, ancient lake, Class A river, and body of water
- Location: Shiga, Kansai, Japan, East Asia, Asia
- View on OpenStreetMap
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikipedia.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.
Satellite Map
Discover Lake Biwa from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
In Other Languages
From Arabic to Yue Chinese—“Lake Biwa” goes by many names.
- Arabic: “بحيرة بيوا”
- Armenian: “Բիվա լիճ”
- Azerbaijani: “Biva gölü”
- Azerbaijani: “Biva”
- Balinese: “Danu Biwa”
- Basque: “Biwa aintzira”
- Basque: “Biwa lakua”
- Belarusian: “Біва”
- Belarusian: “Возера Біва”
- Bosnian: “Biwa”
- Bulgarian: “Бива (езеро)”
- Bulgarian: “Бива”
- Burmese: “ဘိဝရေကန်”
- Catalan: “biwa-ko”
- Catalan: “llac Biwa”
- Catalan: “Llac Biwa”
- Cebuano: “Biwa-ko”
- Central Bikol: “Danaw nin Biwa”
- Chinese: “Pî-pê-ô͘”
- Chinese: “琵琶湖”
- Chuvash: “Бива”
- Croatian: “Biwa”
- Czech: “Biwa”
- Czech: “Biwako”
- Czech: “Jezero Biwa”
- Dutch: “biwa-ko”
- Dutch: “Biwa-meer”
- Dutch: “biwako”
- Dutch: “Biwameer”
- Egyptian Arabic: “بحيره بيوا”
- Esperanto: “Biwa”
- Esperanto: “Lago Biŭa”
- Esperanto: “Lago Biwa”
- Estonian: “Biwa järv”
- Finnish: “Biwa”
- Finnish: “Biwajärvi”
- French: “biwa-ko”
- French: “biwako”
- French: “lac Biwa”
- French: “Lac Biwa”
- Georgian: “ბივა”
- German: “Biwa-ko”
- German: “Biwa-See”
- German: “Biwako”
- German: “Biwasee”
- Greek: “Λίμνη Μπίβα”
- Hebrew: “אגם ביווה”
- Hindi: “बिवा झील”
- Hungarian: “Biva-tó”
- Indonesian: “Danau Biwa”
- Italian: “biwa-ko”
- Italian: “Biwa”
- Italian: “biwako”
- Italian: “lago Biwa”
- Italian: “Lago Biwa”
- Japanese: “Mother Lake”
- Japanese: “びわこ”
- Japanese: “びわ湖”
- Japanese: “水海”
- Japanese: “淡海”
- Japanese: “淡海の海”
- Japanese: “琵琶湖”
- Japanese: “細波”
- Japanese: “近江の海”
- Japanese: “近畿の水瓶”
- Japanese: “鳰の海”
- Korean: “비와호”
- Latin: “Lacus Aumius”
- Latin: “Lacus Biva”
- Latin: “Lacus Biwa”
- Latvian: “Bivas ezers”
- Latvian: “Lake Biwa”
- Latvian: “Omi ezers”
- Lithuanian: “Biva”
- Lithuanian: “Bivos ežeras”
- Malayalam: “ബിവ തടാകം”
- Min Nan Chinese: “Pî-pê-ô·”
- Min Nan Chinese: “Pî-pê-ô͘”
- Mongolian: “Бива нуур”
- Norwegian Bokmål: “Biwasjøen”
- Norwegian: “Biwasjøen”
- Persian: “دریاچه بیوا”
- Persian: “دریاچهٔ بیوا”
- Polish: “Biwa”
- Polish: “Jezioro Biwa”
- Portuguese: “biwa-ko”
- Portuguese: “biwako”
- Portuguese: “Lago Biwa”
- Portuguese: “pipa hu”
- Quechua: “Biwa qucha”
- Romanian: “Lacul Biwa”
- Russian: “Бива”
- Samogitian: “Bėvas ežers”
- Samogitian: “Bivas ežers”
- Serbian: “Jezero Biva”
- Serbian: “Бива”
- Serbian: “Језеро Бива”
- Slovenian: “Biva (jezero)”
- Slovenian: “Biva”
- Slovenian: “Jezero Biva”
- Spanish: “Biwa-ko”
- Spanish: “Biwako”
- Spanish: “Lago Biwa”
- Swahili: “Ziwa Biwa”
- Swedish: “Biwa-ko”
- Swedish: “Biwasjön”
- Thai: “ทะเลสาบบิวะ”
- Turkish: “Biwa Gölü”
- Ukrainian: “Біва”
- Ukrainian: “Озеро Біва”
- Uzbek: “Biva”
- Vietnamese: “Hồ Biwa”
- Welsh: “Llyn Biwa”
- Yue Chinese: “琵琶湖”
- “Bivas ežers”
Localities in the Area
Explore places such as Shingaihama 1-chome and Kurimidezaikecho.
Shiga: Must-Visit Destinations
Delve into Otsu, Hikone, Kusatsu, and Nagahama.
Explore These Curated Destinations
Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikipedia page “Lake Biwa”. Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.