Lake Nojiri - Nojiriko

This lake is located in Shinanomachi, Kamiminochi County, at the northern tip of Nagano Prefecture, near the border with Niigata Prefecture. It is also called Lake Fuyōko. It has an area of ​​4.4 square kilometers, a circumference of 14 kilometers, and a maximum depth of 38 meters. It is located at an altitude of 657 meters and was formed by damming the waters of Mount Madarao to the east. The lake shore has many inlets and inlets, the eastern shore forms a cliff, and Biwajima Island floats in the lake. There is a road that circles the shore, but apart from a restaurant and inn in one corner of the northwestern part, the lake is surrounded by forest. On the west shore, there is a villa village of about 260 houses owned by foreign missionaries who moved to Karuizawa at the end of the Taisho era to dislike the secularization of the area, and the surrounding area is being developed as a villa area. To the west, the three volcanoes Myoko, Kurohime, and Iizuna tower, and the lake is part of the Myoko-Togakushi Renzan National Park. Numerous fossils, including those of the Naumann's Elephant, have been excavated from the lake bottom and shore, and the Lake Nojiri Naumann's Elephant Museum is located here. There is a bus service from Kurohime Station on the Shinano Railway Kita-Shinano Line (formerly the JR Shinetsu Main Line).

[Hiroyoshi Kobayashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

長野県北端、新潟県境に近い上水内(かみみのち)郡信濃町(しなのまち)にある湖。芙蓉湖(ふようこ)ともいう。面積4.4平方キロメートル、周囲14キロメートル、最深部38メートル。標高657メートルに位置し、東方の斑尾山(まだらおさん)の噴出物でせき止められてできたもの。湖岸は出入りに富み、東岸は絶壁をなし、湖中に琵琶島(びわじま)が浮かぶ。湖岸を一周する道路があるが、北西部の一角に飲食店や旅館があるほかは森林に囲まれている。西岸に大正末期から軽井沢の俗化を嫌って移住してきた外国人宣教師たちの約260戸からなる別荘村があり、その周囲は別荘地として開発が進んでいる。西方には妙高、黒姫、飯綱(いいづな)の三火山がそびえ、妙高戸隠連山国立公園の一部となっている。なお、湖底や湖岸からはナウマンゾウなどの化石が多数発掘されていて、野尻湖ナウマンゾウ博物館がある。しなの鉄道北しなの線（旧、JR信越本線）黒姫駅からバスの便がある。

［小林寛義］

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