Lake Suwa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lake Suwa 諏訪湖 |
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Coordinates | |
Primary inflows | 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 not a well-defined measure. |
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 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] In fiction
In the movie Kagemusha by Akira Kurosawa, Lord Shingen is buried in the lake.
In the factual novel Autobiography of a Geisha, Sayo Masuda tries to drown herself in the lake but is frightened of a dragon she believes exists within it.