River
Shinano River
367 km from source to mouth · Japan.
JapanFlows into Sea of Japan1st longest in Japan
In numbers
Length
367km
Average flow
460m³/s
Basin
11,900km²
Drop
806m
from 804 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
367 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 6 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmMount Kobushiat 804 m
- 0 kmLake Hibara10 km²
- 2 kmLake Onogawa1.6 km²
- 4 kmAkimoto Lake2.8 km²
- 15 kmInawashiro13,810 people
- 30 kmLake Inawashiro103 km²
- 37 kmŌtera3,322 people
- 49 kmOikawa3,081 people
- 81 kmNozawa5,770 people
- 117 kmTsugawa9,965 people
- 172 kmChitose-o-hashi
- 174 kmYachiyo Bridge
- 174 kmNiigata Minato Tunnel
- 174 kmSyouwa-o-hashi, Niigata
- 174 kmRyūto Bridge
- 174 kmNiigata790,646 people
- 174 kmBandai Bridge
- 174 kmHakusan Park
- 174 kmFormer Niigata Customs House
- 175 kmSea of Japanat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Longest river of Japan
At the mouth it carries 456 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.5 seconds. It drops from 804 m to -2 m, 2.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 11,900 km², about the size of QA. 670,000 people live in it. Highest water: from March to April and December. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (16% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- NiigataLargest city on its banks · 790,646 people
- Niigata Airport (KIJ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire at KIJ airport (Niigata)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to June and OctoberThe best months to visit
Shinano River, month by month
Highest water: from March to April and December
Best months to visit: from May to June and October.
From about 57 m³/s in the lowest month to 540 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Shinano River: the basin in numbers
7,802 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 670,000people live in the basin
- 88/km²people per km²
- 689maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,716mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.2°Caverage air temperature
- 30%protected areas
- 1.9%covered by lakes
- 1.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 74% Forest
- 12% Cropland
- 5% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Shinano River: what you find on the way
- 6Weirs
- 1Locks
- 1Waterfalls
- 2Ferry piers
- 1Marinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Shinano River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
4lakes on its wayLakeyas
3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
17mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (4)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Hibarakm 0 · 30 m deep10km²
- Lake Onogawakm 21.6km²
- Akimoto Lakekm 42.8km²
- Lake Inawashirokm 30 · 94 m deep103km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (3)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Yorii Hama9.3 km away26.3°C
- Igarashi Hama19 km away26.3°C
- Ikarashi-hama18 km away26.3°C
Mountains at the source (17)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount Bandai7.9 km away1,819m
- Mount Azuma9.6 km away2,035m
- Mount Nishiazuma9.6 km away · prominence 1,046 m2,035m
- Mount Higashiazuma15 km away1,975m
- Mount Nakaazuma11 km away1,931m
- Mount Nekomagadake7.7 km away1,404m
- Kōzone Yama8.3 km away1,443m
- Ōgiga Mine11 km away
9 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (15)
Also: Uono River, Saigawa River, Ikarashi River, Kariyata River, Nakatsu River, Matsu River, Asa River, Kiyotsu River, Shibumi River, Nigori River, Tsūsen Gawa, Torii River, Kakigawa River, Suyoshi River, Mizunashi River
In the same basin
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Japan210 km450 m³/s0 km awayMogami RiverJapan229 km250 m³/s122 km awayAbukuma RiverJapan239 km67 m³/s155 km awayArakawa RiverJapan173 km30 m³/s255 km awayTone RiverJapan322 km260 m³/s284 km awayTama RiverJapan138 km37 m³/s272 km awayFuji RiverJapan128 km63 m³/s316 km awayLake BiwaJapan63 km57 m³/s405 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q734455) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit