The are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

to the west of

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13th ol ...

on the border of

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the north ...

and Kyoto Prefecture,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. The range runs north to south. It is narrowest in the southern part of the range, running east to west, and broadest at the northern part of the range, running km east to west. The eastern side of the Hira Mountains looks steeply over Lake Biwa, while the western side of the range forms a gentler valley in Kyoto. The three main peaks of the Hira Mountains are Mount Bunagatake, the highest with an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of ; Hōraisan, at , and Mount Uchimi at . The spring snow of the Hira Mountains is one of the Eight Views of Ōmi.

Hira-oroshi

A strong local wind often blows from Hira Mountains to Lake Biwa especially in the late days of the March. The wind sometimes sinks boats on the lake and stops trains of the

Kosei Line The is a commuter rail line in Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Metropolitan Area, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The line was completed in 1974 by the former Japanese National Railways (JNR) to provide faster access from the Kansai region t ...

, a JR line passing along the foot of the mountains. In every 26 March,

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

priests hold a memorial service for casualties of shipwreck accidents.

Recreation

The Hira Mountains are a popular destination for skiing, hiking, and mountain climbing.

References

Mountain ranges of Shiga Prefecture Mountain ranges of Kyoto Prefecture {{Shiga-geo-stub