BIWA, a lake of South Japan having an area of i8osq.m. which is about the size of the Lake of Geneva. It lies (35° i5' N. 136° 5' E.) in a zone of dislocation which cuts in a north easterly to south-westerly direction across the entire width of the Japanese arc. The frontier between the Japanese invaders (the Yamato) and the aboriginal Ainu long lay about this zone. It was not until after the introduction of iron and the expulsion of the Japanese ruling house from South Korea in the latter half of the 7th century that the Japanese finally advanced beyond it into North Honshu. During the halt the Japanese capital was for strategic reasons removed from Kyushu to Kyoto, within a few miles of Lake Biwa, where it remained until 1868. Lake Biwa and its vicinity are rich in the historical associations and legends of Old Japan, and its beauty has been the theme of much Japanese poetry.