Kasumigaura is the Japan's second largest lake after Lake Biwa, and is located at the south part of Ibaraki Prefecture.

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism defines Kasumigaura as an aggregation of Lake Nishiura (the largest lake), Lake Kitaura (the eastern lake) and a few other lakes and rivers.
But we commonly call Lake Nishiura Lake Kasumigaura.

Kasumigaura was originally a bay.
From the 10th to 15th century, much sand carried by many rivers had been deposited, so it became a brackish lake.
In the 1960s, purification of brackish water were done, then now it is a freshwater lake.

Since old times, fishing industry was maneged in this lake, but the fish catches are decreasing every year.
Now main method of fish catching is trawling. And the traditional catching by pulling a net on a sail boat has gone.
But for visitors and for preserving the traditional fishing method, the catching by the sail boat are performed on the weekend from late July to mid-October.

To visit Kasumigaura, Tsuchiura city is convenient.
It is located at the western end of the lake, and the pleasure boats leave from the port near JR Tsuchiura station.

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