Lake Hamana

Lake Hamana

A view from Hamanako Service Area

Landsat image
Location Shizuoka Prefecture
Coordinates 34°44′28″N 137°34′11″E / 34.74111°N 137.56972°E / 34.74111; 137.56972Coordinates: 34°44′28″N 137°34′11″E / 34.74111°N 137.56972°E / 34.74111; 137.56972
Primary outflows Philippine Sea
Basin countries Japan
Surface area 65.0 km²
Average depth 4.8 meters
Max. depth 16.6 meters
Water volume 0.35 km³
Shore length1 114 kilometers
Surface elevation 0 meters
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Hamana (浜名湖 Hamana-ko) in Shizuoka Prefecture is Japan's tenth-largest lake (by area). It spans the boundaries of the cities of Hamamatsu and Kosai.

Data

The lake has an area of 65.0 km² and holds 0.35 km³ of water. Its circumference is 114 km. At its deepest point, the water is 16.6 m deep. The surface is at sea level.

Economic activity

Lake Hamana is a commercial source of cultivated Japanese eel, nori, oysters and Chinese soft-shelled turtles. Fishers take sea bass, whiting, and flounder, among others. The lake has been developed as a resort area, with boating as a feature.

History

In ancient times, Lake Hamana was a fresh-water lake. However, a great earthquake in 1498 altered the topography of the area. As a result, the water in the lake is now brackish.

The old name for this lake is Tohotsu-afumi (遠つ淡海), which means "distant fresh-water lake" and later changed to Tōtōmi (遠江). From the perspective of the capital in the Kinai, Tōtōmi is more distant than the other famous lake, Chikatsu-afumi or Ōmi (now Lake Biwa), the "nearby fresh-water lake." The name Tōtōmi was also used for a former province in which the lake is located (Tōtōmi Province).

At the end of World War II two experimental Type 4 Chi-To tanks were dumped into the lake to avoid capture by Occupation forces. One was recovered by the US Army, but the other was left in the lake. In 2013 there were efforts to locate the remaining tank, but it was not found.[1]

References

Sources

This article incorporates material from the article 浜名湖 (Hamanako) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on December 11, 2007.

Media related to Lake Hamana at Wikimedia Commons


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