OMIHACHIMAN, Shiga Pref. -- Among the many tours available for enjoying the beauty of Lake Biwa is a ride aboard a small wooden boat rowed by a skilled sculler who also serves as a guide.

The two-hour tour, which starts and ends at Honenbashi Bridge in the southern part of Omihachiman, moves slowly along the nation's largest lake through reed beds, providing passengers an opportunity to admire the abundance of nature.

The tour actually dates back some 400 years to when Toyotomi Hidetsugu (1568-1595), who ruled the area at that time, held a tea party afloat in imitation of boating at the Imperial court in Kyoto. The tour is now called "the slowest" in the country, according to Omihachiman Wasen Kanko Kyodo Kumiai (Omihachiman Tourist Cooperative Association of Boats), which organizes the tours.