is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the town had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 7,926, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 22.2 persons per km². The total area of the town was . The town is famous for its

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

Geography

Yuzawa is located in southwestern Niigata Prefecture, in a mountainous area bordering northern Nagano Prefecture and northern Gunma Prefecture. Due to its geographical location between the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

and the surrounding

Japanese Alps The is a series of mountain ranges in Japan which bisect the main island of Honshu. The peaks that tower over central Honshu have long been the object of veneration and pilgrimage. These mountains had long been exploited by local people for raw m ...

it has one of the highest annual snowfalls in Japan. There are numerous ski resorts within the region. Mount Naeba (2143 meters) is partly located within the town limits. Much of the town is within the borders of either the

Jōshin'etsu-kōgen National Park is a national park in the Chūbu region of the main island of Honshū, Japan formed around several active and dormant volcanoes. It spans the mountainous areas of Gunma Prefecture, Gunma, Nagano Prefecture, Nagano, and Niigata Prefecture, Niiga ...

or the Uonuma Renpo Prefectural Park.

Surrounding municipalities

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

** Minakami ** Nakanojō *

Nagano Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture ...

** Sakae *

** Minamiuonuma ** Tōkamachi ** Tsunan

Climate

Yuzawa has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Köppen ''Dfa'') characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Yuzawa is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Yuzawa has declined over the past 30 years.

History

The area of present-day Yuzawa was part of ancient

Echigo Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen Province, Uzen, Iwashiro Province, Iwashiro, Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Etchū Province, ...

. The villages of Yuzawa, , , , , and were created on 1 April 1889 as part of the modern municipalities system. On 1 November 1901, Futai and Asakai merged to become the village of . Yuzawa, Mikuni, Kandatsu, Tsuchidaru, and Mitsumata merged on 1 April 1955 to become the town of Yuzawa.

Education

Yuzawa has one public elementary school and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town no longer has a high school.

Transportation

Railway

– Jōetsu Shinkansen * -

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Jōetsu Line The is a major railway line in Japan, owned by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Takasaki Station in Gunma Prefecture with Miyauchi Station (Niigata), Miyauchi Station in Niigata Prefecture, linking the northwestern Kanto regi ...

* - - - Hokuhoku-Line Logo

Hokuhoku Express - Hokuhoku Line *Echigo-Yuzawa

Highway

Kan-Etsu Expressway The is a national expressways of Japan, expressway in Japan. It is owned and managed by East Nippon Expressway Company. Naming is the ''kanji'' acronym of and the old comprising modern-day Niigata Prefecture. Officially, the Kan-Etsu consist ...

* *

Local attractions

Ski resorts

There are many ski resorts in Yuzawa and the surrounding area of Minamiuonuma and Minakami. The town is served by the Echigo-Yuzawa and Gala-Yuzawa stations on the Jōetsu Shinkansen line, making it one of the most accessible winter sports areas from

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, and the town's economy is mainly based on

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

and

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...

. There are 10 ski resorts in Yuzawa, and the most frequent users for the 2023-2024 season were Naeba Ski Resort, GALA Yuzawa Ski Resort, Iwappara Ski Resort, and Kagura Ski Resort, in that order. Once a year, the

Fuji Rock Festival is an annual music festival, rock festival held in Naeba Ski Resort, in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The three-day event, organized by Smash (Music promoters), Smash Japan, features more than 200 Japanese and international musicians, making it th ...

, Japan's largest outdoor music event, is held at Naeba Ski Resort.

Onsen and onsen ryokan

Yuzawa has at least 27 ''

onsen In Japan, are hot springs and the bathing facilities and Ryokan (inn), traditional inns around them. There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and approximately 3,000 ''onsen'' establishments use naturally hot water ...

'' (hot springs ) and ''onsen

ryokan A is a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically features ''tatami''-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear nemaki and talk with the owner. Ryokan have existed since the eighth century A.D. du ...

'' (traditional inns with ''onsen''). The most famous of these is Kaikake Onsen ( ja), which first appeared in documents in the 1400s. During the

Sengoku Period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

Uesugi Kenshin , later known as , was a Japanese ''daimyō'' (magnate). He was born in Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period ...

had his troops bathe in the ''onsen'' to heal their wounds. During the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, it was popular as a hot spring that cured eye diseases. Akayu Onsen is a hidden ''onsen'' located along a mountain stream southeast of Mount Naeba and is reached by a 2.5-hour hike. File:Kaikakeonsen.jpg, Kaikake Onsen File:Akayu spa tamago no yu 2006.jpg, Akayu Onsen

Ponshu-kan

Niigata Prefecture is famous for its

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

, and there is a sake-themed facility outside the ticket gates of Echigo-Yuzawa Station that has become a tourist attraction. At the facility, called "Ponshu-kan" (meaning "Sake House"), visitors receive 5 coins for every 500 yen they spend, which they can put into vending machines to sample nearly 130 brands of Niigata Prefecture sake. Sake can also be purchased and visitors can take a bath in a ''onsen'' filled with sake.

Cultural references

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and ...

's classic novel '' Snow Country'' takes place in Yuzawa.Lindelauf, Perrin,
Finding the fabled Snow Country
, ''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', 18 January 2009, p. 12.

References

External links

* *
Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Niigata Prefecture Spa towns in Japan