Takebe Taisha

Takebe Taisha.

In the city of Otsu, on the southern shore of Lake Biwa — Japan's largest lake — this shrine remembers a hero who never reached home.

Nearly two thousand years ago, according to the oldest written records, a young prince was sent on a long campaign to pacify the eastern provinces. He succeeded. But on the journey home, he fell ill and died, far from the capital, looking westward toward the mountains he could no longer reach.

This shrine was built in the place where his return would have continued.

In 1159, a different traveler stopped here. A young exile named Minamoto no Yoritomo, fleeing defeat in war, prayed in this shrine for the return of his family's fortunes. Decades later, he founded the first samurai government, transforming the country.

Two journeys, both interrupted, both ending differently than the travelers expected. The shrine seems to specialize in this — the moment when a long path bends, suddenly, away from the direction you assumed it was going.

Three giant cedar trees, over a thousand years old, grow inside the grounds. Their roots, beneath the surface, are connected. They have grown together that long.

Outside the shrine, the Seta River flows out of Lake Biwa, on its long way to Osaka and the sea. The water that passes here today will reach Kyoto by evening, Osaka by tomorrow.

Some journeys complete themselves only after the traveler is gone.