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River

Agano River

210 km from source to mouth · Japan.

JapanJapanFlows into Sado Strait8th longest in Japan

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthNiigata
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

210km

Average flow

450m³/s

Basin

7,710km²

Drop

694m

from 692 m to -2 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

210 km of river and 15 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

692 m-2 m
Mount Arakaiat 692 m0 km
Tadami4,044 people46 km
Lake Numazawa2.9 km²83 km
Nippashi Rivertributary104 km
Tadami Rivertributary111 km
Tsugawa9,965 people158 km
Sado Straitat -2 m210 km
050100150210 km
  1. 0 kmMount Arakaiat 692 m
  2. 46 kmTadami4,044 people
  3. 83 kmLake Numazawa2.9 km²
  4. 96 kmYanaizu3,304 people
  5. 104 kmNippashi Rivertributary
  6. 110 kmIchinotogawa Bridge
  7. 111 kmTadami Rivertributary
  8. 126 kmNozawa5,770 people
  9. 158 kmTsugawa9,965 people
  10. 198 kmShin-oun Bridge
  11. 203 kmŌ-Aga Bridge
  12. 207 kmAga-no-kakehashi
  13. 208 kmAganogawa Bridge
  14. 208 kmTaihei Bridge
  15. 209 kmAganogawa-o-hashi
  16. 209 kmNiigata790,646 people
  17. 210 kmSado Straitat -2 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Japan

At the mouth it carries 451 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.5 seconds. It drops from 692 m to -2 m, 3.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 7,710 km², about the size of PR. 670,000 people live in it. Highest water: from March to May; lowest: February. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (16% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • NiigataLargest city on its banks · 790,646 people
  • Niigata Airport (KIJ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire at KIJ airport (Niigata)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water3 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to June and AugustThe best months to visit

Agano River, month by month

Highest water: from March to May

Lowest water: February. Best months to visit: from May to June and August.

240
-1°166 mmJan
57
0°121 mmFeb
540
3°104 mmMar
540
9°97 mmApr
520
15°95 mmMay
160
19°131 mmJun
260
24°196 mmJul
280
25°144 mmAug
330
20°165 mmSep
310
14°139 mmOct
350
8°135 mmNov
450
2°177 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 57 m³/s in the lowest month to 540 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire at KIJ airport (Niigata)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Agano River: the basin in numbers

7,802 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 16% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 670,000people live in the basin
  • 88/km²people per km²
  • 689maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,716mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 9.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 30%protected areas
  • 1.9%covered by lakes
  • 1.2km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 74% Forest
  • 12% Cropland
  • 5% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Agano River: what you find on the way

  • 22Damstadami dam, Toyomi Dam and 20 more
  • 4Weirs
  • 1Waterfalls
  • 1Boat ramps
  • 2Ferry piers

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Agano River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas
  • 3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
  • 12mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Numazawakm 92 · 96 m deep2.9km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Beaches (3)

At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya

  1. Yorii Hama9.3 km away26.3°C
  2. Igarashi Hama19 km away26.3°C
  3. Ikarashi-hama18 km away26.3°C

Open Coastya ↗

Mountains at the source (12)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Hiruga Take13 km away1,849m
  2. Nanatsugatake8.9 km away1,636m
  3. Mount Arakai0.9 km away1,581m
  4. Ōare Yama8.6 km away
  5. Sagura Yama7.3 km away
  6. Kurotōge Yama3.4 km away
  7. Kainari Yama12 km away
  8. Hasami Yama14 km away

4 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Agano River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Agano River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth12 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Agano River in pictures

Agano River
Triglav · CC BY-SA 3.0
Agano river in Aga town
Altomarina · CC BY-SA 3.0
AganogawaGozenBr01 BanetsuWestLine 19990808
Olegushka · CC BY-SA 4.0
AganogawaGozenBr02 BanetsuWestLine 19990808
Olegushka · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (2)

Also: Tadami River, Nippashi River

In the same basin

Shinano RiverJapanJapan367 km460 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Shinano RiverJapanJapan367 km460 m³/s0 km awayMogami RiverJapanJapan229 km250 m³/s122 km awayAbukuma RiverJapanJapan239 km67 m³/s155 km awayArakawa RiverJapanJapan173 km30 m³/s255 km awayTone RiverJapanJapan322 km260 m³/s284 km awayTama RiverJapanJapan138 km37 m³/s272 km awayFuji RiverJapanJapan128 km63 m³/s316 km awayLake BiwaJapanJapan63 km57 m³/s405 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q390458) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit