• Korea Science and Art Forum
• /
• v.16
• /
• pp.157-169
• /
• 2014

Lake Biwa Canal was a dream project that reminds us the passion and innovation of Kyoto Citizens more than water supply. It is a modernization project combining engineering knowledge and scientific technology, which started transportation by ship through big-scale civil construction as well as supplying electricity as the first waterpower plant in Japan, and it overcame the physiographic limit through adopting unique method of waterway transportation. Lake Biwa Canal, which has tangible and intangible culture heritage value as the traditional space of Kyoto, the Old Capital of 1200 years, conceives a cultural meaning that is connected through various mutual relation as well as scientific technologic factor. Lake Biwa Canal is not only the function for supplying water to gardens and temples of Kyoto region, but it is also a cultural fruit that is formed by complex causal relationship of various contents such as geographical and environmental background, the phases of the times, local development policy, political circumstances and religions. This study is aimed at interpreting the value of Lake Biwa Canal multilaterally by the convergence of cultural and technological aspects through the view of the world which the age tried to pursue, focusing on the construction of Lake Biwa Canal which was accomplished in the process of promoting the modernization of Kyoto.