GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP JAPAN 15 



industry. Tlie small town of Olmya on the shore of Lake Suwa is 

 especially noted, having many mills. 



The western flank of the whole Hida Eange is not so steep as 

 the eastern, bnt slopes to the mountainland of Hida, sometimes called 

 the Hida Plateau. This comprises a wide tract of the most mountain- 

 ous district in Japan, which spreads over the province of Hida and 

 a part of Mino and Etchii. In its centre there is the small basin of 

 Takayama. To the north of this mountainland lies the fertile X'lii'in 

 of Toyama, along the coast of the deep Toj'ama Bay, an arm of the 

 Sea of Japan. The Jindzu-gawa and Imidzu-gawa drain this moun- 

 tainland and then flow through the i)lain. Tlie western border of the 

 plain is a high ridge, upon which stands the volcano of Haku-san, 'iTOSm. 

 The range slopes gradually through a hilly region to a narrow belt of 

 the coastal plain along the Sea of Jajjan. The province of Noto is a 

 large peninsula on this coast. It is crossed by a typical rift valley, 

 in which occur the lagoon of Ochigata and the beautiful bay of 

 Nanao. The coastal plain is thickly populated and there are such 

 towns as Kanazawa, the seat of an eminent eld feudal lord, and 

 Fukui, famous for its silk manufacture. 



To the south of the Hida mountainland, stretch the lowlands of 

 Mino and Owari. They form a part of the great depression whose south- 

 ern half is now occupied by the Ise-no-umi, an arm of the Pacific. 

 The Mino-Owari Plain is drained by the three rivers Kiso-gawa, 

 Nagara-gawa, and Ibi-kawa. It is extremely fertile and produces rice 

 of an excellent quality. ISTagoya is a flourishing commercial and 

 industrial city, especially noted for porcelains and cloisonne, and also 

 an important railway junction. This plain is bounded on the w^est by 

 the ranges of Ibuki, Yoro, and Suzuka. They are all typical tilted 

 mountains with steep scarps against the plain. Further to the west, 

 there is a series of such depressions separated from each other by 

 north and south liorst ranges, which finally end in the great depres- 

 sion of the Inland Sea or Setouchi. 



d. Kinki district : — Next to the Mino-Owari Plain and between 

 the Yoro and Hiei-Kasagi, there lies the depression of the province of 

 Oini, the greatest part of which is occupied by Lake Biwa, the most 

 picturesque and largest freshwater lake in Japan. The waters of the 

 Sea of Japan cut into the land, forming the deep depression of 

 Tsuruga Bay. There is only a narrow tract of land between this bay 

 and Lake Biwa, and it is dissected again by a series of some disloca- 



