Lake Suwa

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Lake Suwa (諏訪湖, Suwa-ko?)
Lake Suwa, Nagano prefecture
Primary sources	31 small rivers
Primary outflows	Tenryū river
Basin countries	Japan
Surface area	13.3 km²
Average depth	4.7 m
Max-depth	7.2 m
Shore length1	15.9 km
Surface elevation	759 m
Settlements	Okaya Suwa Shimosuwa
1 Shore length is an imprecise measure which may not be standardized for this article.

Lake Suwa (諏訪湖, Suwa-ko^?) is a lake in the central part of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It ranks 24th in Japan in surface area.

Lake Suwa is the site of o-miwatari, an interesting natural phenomenon. The lake has a natural hot spring under the surface, so that when the top freezes in the winter, the lower waters are still warm and circulating. This results in pressure ridges forming in the ice, reaching heights of 30 cm in height or more. Local belief holds that the pressure ridges are formed by the gods crossing the lake, travelling between the various buildings of Suwa Taisha.

[edit] See also

• List of lakes in Japan