YODO RIVER

Japanese Yodo-gawa, river, central western Honshu, Japan. The Yodo is the sole outlet of Lake Biwa, the country's largest freshwater lake, from which it issues in a southwesterly direction to Osaka Bay, connecting the Kyoto Basin with the Osaka Plain. It was a major means of transportation and communication during the Tokugawa period (16031867). The river is dammed for hydroelectricity and irrigation.