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River

Arakawa River

173 km from source to mouth · Japan.

JapanJapanFlows into Tokyo Bay10th longest in Japan

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

173km

Average flow

30m³/s

Basin

2,940km²

Drop

583m

from 578 m to -5 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

173 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 44 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

578 m-5 m
Mount Kobushiat 578 m0 km
Yokoze7,979 people34 km
Chichibu61,159 people34 km
Yorii32,851 people66 km
Hachigata Castle67 km
Kumagaya195,277 people89 km
Kōnosu116,828 people105 km
Saitama1,325,843 people140 km
Kawaguchi593,900 people153 km
Tokyo Bayat -5 m173 km
050100150173 km
  1. 0 kmMount Kobushiat 578 m
  2. 7 kmLake Chichibu0.4 km²
  3. 7 kmFutase Dam
  4. 34 kmYokoze7,979 people
  5. 34 kmChichibu61,159 people
  6. 38 kmChichibu Bridge
  7. 45 kmMinano Bridge
  8. 47 kmMinano9,497 people
  9. 50 kmNagatoro Valley
  10. 52 kmNagatoro6,838 people
  11. 66 kmYorii32,851 people
  12. 67 kmHachigata Castle
  13. 82 kmOshikiri Bridge
  14. 89 kmKumagaya195,277 people
  15. 92 kmKuge Bridge
  16. 99 kmFukiage-fujimi28,334 people
  17. 105 kmKōnosu116,828 people
  18. 123 kmIruma Rivertributary
  19. 126 kmFujimino113,597 people
  20. 136 kmDōjō5,203 people
  21. 136 kmShiki76,445 people
  22. 138 kmAkigase Bridge
  23. 139 kmArakawa Bridge
  24. 140 kmSaitama1,325,843 people
  25. 142 kmSakitama Bridge
  26. 144 kmWako83,989 people
  27. 144 kmNarimasu30,203 people
  28. 146 kmTakashimadaira49,646 people
  29. 148 kmHasune18,388 people
  30. 148 kmFunado9,612 people
  31. 149 kmShimotoda140,899 people
  32. 149 kmWarabi75,614 people
  33. 151 kmUkima24,024 people
  34. 153 kmKawaguchi593,900 people
  35. 155 kmAkabane11,000 people
  36. 155 kmOld Iwabuchi Sluice Gates
  37. 156 kmJūjō-nakahara6,006 people
  38. 156 kmKamiya16,109 people
  39. 157 kmShikahama Bridge
  40. 157 kmItabashi581,337 people
  41. 157 kmKita353,058 people
  42. 157 kmToshima301,599 people
  43. 157 kmŌji23,651 people
  44. 159 kmGoshikizakura Ōhashi Bridge
  45. 159 kmKōhoku Bridge
  46. 160 kmNakazato7,109 people
  47. 160 kmKaminakazato6,587 people
  48. 160 kmŌgi15,733 people
  49. 160 kmŌgi Ōhashi Bridge
  50. 161 kmArakawa216,900 people
  51. 162 kmMachiya29,272 people
  52. 162 kmNishiarai Bridge
  53. 163 kmSenju9,721 people
  54. 164 kmUmejima12,389 people
  55. 164 kmSenjushinbashi
  56. 164 kmAdachi695,043 people
  57. 164 kmAoi17,422 people
  58. 166 kmKosuge12,395 people
  59. 167 kmHorikiri Bridge
  60. 167 kmHorikiri28,463 people
  61. 168 kmKatsushika451,772 people
  62. 168 kmAoto27,980 people
  63. 169 kmSumida287,766 people
  64. 169 kmYotsugibashi
  65. 172 kmHirai Ōhashi Bridge
  66. 173 kmEdogawa697,932 people
  67. 173 kmKyūnakagawa rivertributary
  68. 173 kmNaka Rivertributary
  69. 173 kmHirai40,373 people
  70. 173 kmTokyo Bayat -5 m

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

River flowing through Saitama prefecture and Tokyo in Japan

At the mouth it carries 30 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 83 seconds. It drops from 578 m to -5 m, 3.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,940 km², about the size of LU. 10.2 million people live in it. Highest water: from September to October; lowest: from January to February. Its dams hold back little of its water (3.4% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • SaitamaLargest city on its banks · 1,325,843 people
  • Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 37 km from the cityCar hire at HND airport (Tokyo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water5 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From April to May and from October to NovemberThe best months to visit

Arakawa River, month by month

Highest water: from September to October

Lowest water: from January to February. Best months to visit: from April to May and from October to November.

35
4°38 mmJan
38
5°50 mmFeb
52
8°79 mmMar
64
13°99 mmApr
75
18°128 mmMay
100
21°180 mmJun
98
25°162 mmJul
95
27°166 mmAug
110
23°193 mmSep
120
17°164 mmOct
80
11°70 mmNov
48
6°40 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 35 m³/s in the lowest month to 120 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 HND airport (Tokyo)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

Arakawa River: the basin in numbers

3,453 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 3.4% of a year's flow.
  • 10.2millionpeople live in the basin
  • 2,951/km²people per km²
  • 268maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,405mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 13.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 38%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes
  • 0.1km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 36% Forest
  • 6% Cropland
  • 63% 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

Arakawa River: what you find on the way

  • 4DamsFutase-dam, Urayama dam and 2 more
  • 21Weirs
  • 7WaterfallsSeijo no Taki and 6 more
  • 2Ferry piersKamiya Water Bus Station
  • 3Boat rentals

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Arakawa 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
  • 27mountains at the sourcePeakyas
  • 14islands off the mouthIslandyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Chichibukm 60.4km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (27)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mount Kobushi11 km away2,475m
  2. Mount Kumotori13 km away2,017m
  3. Mount Sanpō11 km away2,483m
  4. Mount Tokusa11 km away2,469m
  5. Mount Tosaka12 km away2,177m
  6. Mount Karamatsuo8.0 km away2,109m
  7. Mount Wanakura5.2 km away2,036m
  8. Mount Kasatori8.6 km away1,953m

19 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

Islands off the mouth (14)

Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas

  1. Odaiba11 km away6.3km²
  2. Yumenoshima7.0 km away1.5km²
  3. Toyosu9.5 km away
  4. Shibaura Island12 km away
  5. Tennōzu Isle13 km away
  6. Harumi9.1 km away
  7. Keihinjima17 km away
  8. Jōnanjima16 km away

6 more on IslandyasIslandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Arakawa River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Arakawa River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth10 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

Arakawa River in pictures

1 Chome Horinouchi, Adachi-ku, Tōkyō-to 123-0874, Japan - panoramio
MAKIKO OMOKAWA · CC BY-SA 3.0
20160827 AraikawaRiver 5740 (29866513685)
Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan · CC BY-SA 2.0
20160827 AraikawaRiver 5741 (29866511065)
Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan · CC BY-SA 2.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (9)

Also: Naka River, Iruma River, Ayase River, Shiba River, Kyūnakagawa river, Ichino River, Sasame River, Kamo River, Nakatsu River

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Tama RiverJapanJapan138 km37 m³/s21 km awayTone RiverJapanJapan322 km260 m³/s86 km awayFuji RiverJapanJapan128 km63 m³/s128 km awayShinano RiverJapanJapan367 km460 m³/s255 km awayAgano RiverJapanJapan210 km450 m³/s255 km awayAbukuma RiverJapanJapan239 km67 m³/s277 km awayNagara RiverJapanJapan166 km120 m³/s292 km awayLake BiwaJapanJapan63 km57 m³/s346 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q625465) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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, Peakyas, Islandyas — 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