suwa
Suwa is a collective name referring to several related geographical, cultural, and historical entities in Japan, most prominently the Suwa region in Nagano Prefecture. The city of Suwa, located in central Nagano, serves as the administrative core of the area and had an estimated population of around 48,000 residents in 2023. The city lies in the basin formed by the Tenryū River and is surrounded by the volcanic Kunimidake and the highlands of the Japanese Alps, giving it a landscape marked by lakes, hot springs, and forested slopes.
The name Suwa is closely associated with the Suwa Taisha (Suwa Grand Shrine), one of Japan’s oldest
Historically, the Suwa area was the domain of the Suwa clan, a samurai family that governed the
Economically, Suwa’s traditional activities include sericulture, sake production, and lacquerware, while contemporary sectors focus on tourism,