Three magnificent things
I think the number 3 is loved probably all over the world.
Japan is no exception.
In Japan, people often talk about three magnificent things.
Maybe it’s interesting for you to briefly look at some examples to learn about the geography in Japan.
Mountains
I’d like to start with mountains.
Because Japan is a very mountainous country (about 70% is covered with mountains), mountains are a familiar existence for Japanese. It’s also true that mountains have brought us countless blessings; fruits, mushrooms, woods, waters, etc.
Three highest mountains
1)Fuji (Shizuoka /Yamanashi) 3,776 m
2)Kita (Yamanashi) 3,193 m
3)Hodaka (Nagano / Gifu) 3,190 m
By the way, rankings based on fame or popularity are always a bit different from those based on objective data.
Members, as well as their rank, can change according to the situation. So, I don’t think the below is the genuine data. But one thing is everlasting: Mt.Fuji occupies the immovable first place.
Three most famous mountains
1) Fuji (Shizuoka /Yamanashi) 3,776 m
2) Tateyama (Toyama) 3,015 m
3) Hakusan (Ishikawa /Gifu) 2,702 m
Mt. Fuji reflected on the lake
Lakes
As I’ve introduced the photo of Mt. Fuji reflected on the lake, next I’d like to talk about lakes.
In Japan, this type of photo is called Sakasa-Fuji (literally, inverted Fuji) and very popular.
You can find it even on the backside of a 1,000 yen bill.
1. Three biggest lakes:
1) Biwa(Shiga) 670.4 km²
2) Kasumiga-ura(Ibaraki) 220 km²
3) Saroma(Hokkaido) 150 km²2. Three deepest lakes:
1) Tazawa(Akita) 423 m
2) Sikotsu(Hokkaido) 363 m
3) Towada(Aomori /Akita) 327 m
River
I’d like to finish the topic of three magnificent things by introducing the three longest rivers.
As you might have already noticed, I added the names ofprefecturesto which each magnificent thing belongs inside the brackets.
As you know, long rivers flow across some prefectures, sometimes changing their name. For example, the longest river, Shinano, is called as such in Niigataand Gunma prefectures. But in Nagano prefecture, the river is called Chikuma.
– Three longest rivers:
1) Shinano (Niigata / Gunma /Nagano *here the river is called as Chikuma)
367 km
2) Tone (Ibaraki /Tochigi /Gunma /Saitama / Chiba / Tokyo /Nagano)
322 km
3) Ishikari(Hokkaido)
268 km
But please pay attention to the Tone river.
It flows across 7 prefectures. But the Tone doesn’t change its name.
In ancient times, the Tone river was called a river of rampage and overflowed quite often. It was Tokugawa Ieyasu and his descendants who accomplished many flood prevention projects on the Tone river. That is, the Tone river was always under the control of the Shogunate.
How dare you call it by another name?
It must have been a common sense of the people living beside the river.
