Lake Suwa
| Lake Suwa suwa-ko (諏訪湖?) |
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 Lake Suwa
Location in Japan
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| Location | Nagano prefecture |
| Coordinates | 36°02′54″N 138°05′03″E / 36.04833°N 138.08417°E |
| Primary inflows | 31 small rivers of the Kiso Mountains |
| Primary outflows | Tenryū River |
| Basin countries | Japan |
| Surface area | 13.3 km2 (5.1 sq mi) |
| Average depth | 4.7 m (15 ft) |
| Max. depth | 7.2 m (24 ft) |
| Shore length1 | 15.9 km (9.9 mi) |
| Surface elevation | 759 m (2,490 ft) |
| 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 Kiso Mountains, in the central region of Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
The lake is the source of the Tenryū River. It ranks 24th in lake water surface area in Japan.
The cities of Suwa and Okaya, and town of Shimosuwa, are located on the shores of Lake Suwa.
Lake Suwa is the site of an interesting natural phenomenon, The God's Crossing (御神渡り o-miwatari?). The lake has a natural hot spring under its surface. When the lake's surface freezes in the winter, its lower waters are still circulating. This results in ice pressure ridges forming in the surface ice, reaching heights of 30 centimetres (0.98 ft) or more.
Local tradition holds that the ridges are formed by the gods crossing the lake, when travelling between the various buildings of the Shinto shrine Suwa Taisha. Folklore says it is the guardian god of Suwa, Takeminakata-no-kami, leaving his sanctuary to meet with his wife, the goddess Yasakatome, joining the opposite bank by walking on frozen water.
Research on ice breakup on the lake and at the mouth of the Torne River in Finland suggested "global processes including climate change and variability are driving the long-term changes in ice seasonality."
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Wikipedia