Night Light Post at Kofunairi

There used to be many landing places called seki at the Otsu Port in the Edo Period [between the 17th and mid-19th centuries], where lots of ships used to come and go so that night light posts were built at lakeshore as a landmark for the ships to find their route. The Night Light Post at Kofunairi was built in 1808, and its height is 5.4 meters. The names of a Funakata-chu [a sailor] and a Kofunairi-chaya-chu [a tea house owner at Kofunairi] are engraved on the stone face as caretakers of Otsu. Kofunairi flourished as the port linking to Yabase, the opposite side of the lake, and tea houses used to stand side by side.