Yonako Falls: Gongen and Fudo, Suzaka City
Article

20207 / すざかし

Nagano Prefecture

Suzaka City

A caldera stream falls down a cliff.

Yonako Falls: Gongen and Fudo

Photo by Qurren (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 / Former Kamitakai District Office

Its pale green walls are boardslaid in the German lap style.

Former Kamitakai District Office in Suzaka City
Photo by Asturio Cantabrio (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Built in 1917 (Taisho 6), this two-story wooden Western-style building has double-hung windows, and above the entrance porch sit a terrace and a gabled pediment. It served as the Kamitakai District Office until 1926. The city records that it strongly shows features of the Baroque style.

  • Built 1917 (Taisho 6)
  • City Tangible Cultural Property, 2020
  • German lap-style walls

02 / Former Odagiri House and the Uragawa Canal

A canal ran behind the houses,and water-wheel power could be drawn anywhere.

Former Odagiri House and the Uragawa Canal in Suzaka City
Photo by Asturio Cantabrio (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Former Odagiri House keeps its main house, gatehouse, shop and storehouse together as one group, and is a Nagano Prefecture Treasure. The present buildings were rebuilt in the Meiji era by Odagiri Tatsunosuke. The city records that power from water wheels, drawn from the Uragawa Canal behind the rows of houses, led to the growth of mechanized silk reeling.

  • Prefectural Treasure (building), 2018
  • Main house, gatehouse, shop, storehouse
  • Uragawa Canal

03 / Nobe Raiko Nenbutsu

Partway through the chanting,a male and a female lion appear.

According to the Hachijuni Cultural Foundation's Shinshu Traditional Culture, members strike gongs at the Nobe hall in time with a drum and chant hymns. As the chanting builds, two lions modeled on deer, one male and one female, appear. It is held four times a year, at the spring and autumn equinox, at Obon and in November, and is a Nagano Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

  • Four times a year, Nobe Town hall
  • Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 1997
  • Chanted hymns and the lion dance

Suzaka City from the sky

Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Now (shot September–October 2024)Shot 1974–78

Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) GSI Tiles(全国最新写真(シームレス)/国土画像情報(第一期:1974〜1978年撮影))

Open in GSI Maps (now)Open in GSI Maps (1974–78)

Living here

Fifteen minutes from Nagano Station by Nagaden.

  • about 50,000 people

Suzaka spreads across the eastern side of the Zenkoji plain and covers 149.67 km². Its highest peak, on the city boundary, is Mt. Azumaya at 2,354 m. The city's own site gives the ride from Nagano Station on the Nagano Electric Railway as 15 minutes. Four stations of the Nagano Line lie in the city, Suzaka, Kita-Suzaka, Hino and Murayama, and the gateway is Suzaka Station.

People living here
49,559people
19952020

−2.3% since 2015

53,842 → 49,559

Area
149.67km²

47.38km² of it habitable

2024

Households
18,839households

2.6 people per household

2020

Rent (average for rentals)
43,198yen

National average 60,630 yen

2023

Healthcare
2 hospitals / 39 clinics

8.3 per 10,000 people

2023

Area149.67km²Habitable land47.38km² / 32%
Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103
Children waiting for childcare
—15 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy
—
Average annual temperature
—

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

Shape

Borders 5 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Suzaka City in Japan36.651°N 138.307°E
OsakaSuzaka City
Territory of Suzaka City
Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号 平27情使、第585号)

North to south

16.8km

Gunma Prefecture
Tsumagoi Village

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Suzaka City isthis kind of town.

  1. 01Yonako Falls, where about a dozen cascades pour down a rock face above the upper Yonako River, is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty, centered on Gongen Falls and Fudo Falls
  2. 02The Former Kamitakai District Office is city-designated and the Former Odagiri House is a prefectural treasure; the city records that water-wheel power from the canal behind the houses led to mechanized silk reeling
  3. 03The Nobe Raiko Nenbutsu is held four times a year at the Nobe Town hall, and the city also has a district of storehouse streetscapes selected in 2024 as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings

See the town as it is now.

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.