Lake · Japan
Lake Chūzenji
Lake in Nikkō, Kantō region, Japan
- Area
- 11.8km²
- Max depth
- 163m
- Average depth
- 2.1m
- Elevation
- 1,269m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 23km
- Volume
- 0.025km³
Lake Chūzenji is a lake in Japan. It covers 11.8 km². On average it is 2.1 m deep, and 163 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 1,269 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Chūzenji?
The water is warmest in August, around 22 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 2 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from July to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 29 °C on average in August and 3 °C in January. The driest month is February (47 mm of rain), the wettest July (202 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (103 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3 | 4 | 3 | -5 | 61 | 9 | 5.6 | 15 |
| February | 2 | 2 | 4 | -5 | 47 | 8 | 6.0 | 15 |
| March | 2 | 3 | 9 | -2 | 82 | 11 | 6.1 | 14 |
| April | 5 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 104 | 11 | 6.2 | 13 |
| May | 9 | 12 | 21 | 9 | 121 | 13 | 6.1 | 11 |
| June | 16 | 18 | 24 | 14 | 155 | 17 | 4.5 | 9 |
| July | 20 | 22 | 28 | 19 | 202 | 20 | 4.2 | 8 |
| August | 22 | 22 | 29 | 20 | 176 | 19 | 5.4 | 8 |
| September | 20 | 21 | 25 | 16 | 198 | 16 | 4.4 | 9 |
| October | 15 | 17 | 18 | 9 | 178 | 14 | 4.4 | 10 |
| November | 10 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 78 | 10 | 5.0 | 11 |
| December | 6 | 8 | 6 | -2 | 66 | 10 | 5.2 | 13 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 3 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 130 km² of land.
- About 2.9 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Chūzenji
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 3beaches and swimming spots
- 2campsites
Shobugahama Camp Site, Fishing & Glamping
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 1marinas and slipways
- 5ferry piers
Tachikikannon Statue, Shobugahama Excursion Ship Pier, Excursion Ship Pier, Senjugahama, Embassy Villa Memorial Park Pier
- 26viewpoints
Chutes de Kegon, Observation Deck, Lake Chuzenji Observation Deck, Kegon Falls and 22 more
- 13hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Kojo-en, Hoshino Resorts Hotel, Hatago Nagomi, Nikko, The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko, Lake Side Nikko Hotel and 8 more
- —fishing spots
- 36restaurants and cafés
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Fukushima Airport (FKS), 101 km in a straight line.
Car hire at HND airport (Tokyo)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 2.6 | 4.1 | 8.8 | 15.4 | 21.1 | 24.3 | 28.1 | 28.8 | 24.6 | 18.5 | 12.4 | 5.9 |
| 2020 | +2.9 | +2.5 | +1.5 | −2.0 | +0.4 | +1.1 | −1.5 | +1.9 | +0.5 | −0.7 | +1.3 | +0.3 |
| 2021 | +0.3 | +2.3 | +3.7 | +0.3 | +0.2 | −0.1 | −0.4 | −0.3 | −1.7 | +0.2 | +0.7 | +0.6 |
| 2022 | −0.6 | −1.4 | +1.4 | +1.3 | −0.6 | +0.8 | +0.6 | +0.2 | +1.4 | −0.5 | +1.7 | +0.1 |
| 2023 | +1.2 | +1.4 | +4.6 | +2.1 | +0.2 | +0.7 | +2.2 | +1.1 | +2.9 | +0.5 | +1.7 | +2.6 |
| 2024 | +2.7 | +2.3 | −0.7 | +2.8 | +1.0 | +0.8 | +2.5 | +1.2 | +2.9 | +2.6 | +1.0 | +0.2 |
| 2025 | +1.7 | −0.8 | +1.1 | +1.1 | −0.5 | +2.4 | +2.1 | +1.9 | +2.5 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +1.3 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
About these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q117923) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
