Nagano Prefecture is landlocked in the middle of Honshu, and two of its numbers are national records. It shares a border with eight other prefectures, which the prefecture’s own page says is more than any other prefecture in Japan, and 35 of its 77 municipalities are villages, which the prefecture’s page on its municipalities says is the largest village count in the country. Neither figure is about scenery, and both describe the map: the border runs against eight prefectures, and 35 of the 77 units inside it are villages rather than cities or towns.
Eight prefectures touch Nagano, and only Hokkaido, Iwate and Fukushima are larger
The prefecture lists its neighbours by name: Saitama, Gunma, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Toyama and Niigata. Its area is 13,561.56 square kilometres, which the page places fourth nationally, and it quotes the national area survey labelled 2024, taken as at 1 January 2024, for the ranking.
| Rank in the 2024 area survey | Prefecture | Area |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hokkaido | 83,422.23 sq km |
| 2 | Iwate | 15,275.04 sq km |
| 3 | Fukushima | 13,784.39 sq km |
| 4 | Nagano | 13,561.56 sq km |
| 5 | Niigata | 12,583.88 sq km |
The shape matters more than the total. The prefecture gives its own dimensions as about 120 km east to west and about 212 km north to south, which by our own division makes the north-south length about 1.8 times the east-west width, and the four extreme municipalities are named: Kawakami in Minamisaku County at the eastern end, Otaki in Kiso County at the western end, Neba in Shimoina County at the southern end and Sakae in Shimominochi County at the northern end. Subtracting Nagano’s area from Fukushima’s, the gap between third and fourth place is 222.83 square kilometres, a figure we calculated from the two printed totals rather than one the page states.
The 77 municipalities include 19 cities, 23 towns and 35 villages
The prefecture’s page on its municipalities, last updated on 27 February 2018, gives the breakdown as 19 cities, 23 towns and 35 villages. It records the total of 77 as second in the country and the village count of 35 as first. Fourteen counties are named on the same page: Minamisaku, Kitasaku, Chiisagata, Suwa, Kamiina, Shimoina, Kiso, Higashichikuma, Kitaazumi, Hanishina, Kamitakai, Shimotakai, Kamiminochi and Shimominochi. Above the municipalities sit ten wide-area unions, named as Saku, Ueda district, Suwa, Kamiina, Minamishinshu, Kiso, Matsumoto, Kita Alps, Nagano and Hokushin, which the page describes as handling work that the municipalities of an area do better together, such as waste processing and tourism promotion.
The 77 is the product of a merger wave. The page states that the prefecture had 120 municipalities in 2002 and 77 by 2010. The population figures are not on that page; the position and size page carries them, from a different survey: 1,970,876 people in 861,635 households as at 1 November 2025, on the monthly population movement survey. Reading those two figures against each other gives an average of about 2.29 people per household, an arithmetic step we took ourselves.
That position and size page carries four further items taken from national statistics rather than from the prefecture’s own counting. From the 2020 prefectural life tables, life expectancy is given as 82.68 years for men, second nationally, and 88.23 years for women, fourth nationally. From the 2024 monthly population movement survey, births numbered 10,709, which the page ranks seventeenth; from the 2022 vital statistics, the total fertility rate was 1.43, ranked fourteenth, and marriages numbered 7,288, ranked twenty-fifth. Each figure is printed with the survey it came from, so the four are not on one footing and should not be read as a single snapshot of one year.
January in Nagano city has a mean below zero, and 163 cm of snow falls in a normal year
The Meteorological Agency’s normals for the Nagano observation site cover 1991 to 2020 for the temperature, precipitation and snow columns, from 30 years of data. January has a mean temperature of minus 0.4C, with a mean daily maximum of 3.8C and a mean daily minimum of minus 3.9C. February is the only other month with a mean below 1C, at 0.4C. August is the warmest at 25.4C, with a mean daily maximum of 31.1C, so the range between the coldest and warmest monthly means is 25.8C, a subtraction we made from the two printed figures. The annual mean is 12.3C and annual precipitation is 965.1 mm; July is the wettest month at 137.7 mm and November the driest at 44.4 mm.
The snow figures need reading with the column headings in view. The normal total depth of snowfall for the year is 163 cm, of which 63 cm falls in January, 50 cm in February, 30 cm in December, 17 cm in March, 2 cm in April and 1 cm in November. The normal for the deepest snow depth is 33 cm for the year and 26 cm in January. Snow is observed on 85.6 days in a normal year, 24.0 of them in January. Four columns on the same table are not on the same footing as the rest: the global solar radiation column has a statistical period of 2007 to 2020 with 14 years of data, and the cloud amount, fog-day and thunder-day columns run 1991 to 2019 with 29 years and carry the agency’s reference-value mark. We have not used those four. Every snow column, by contrast, runs the full 1991 to 2020 with 30 years behind it. Whether the animals are actually in the water at the monkey park is a separate question, set out in when the monkeys are in the hot spring.
Zenko-ji sells four tickets, and the combined one is 600 yen below three bought singly
Zenko-ji in Nagano city prices entry to its paid areas as four separate tickets rather than one admission. The combined ticket covers the inner sanctuary of the main hall, the passage beneath it, the Sanmon gate, the Kyozo sutra repository and the temple museum. The temple gives the designation class of each building as it goes: the main hall is a National Treasure, and the Sanmon and the Kyozo are Important Cultural Properties. The same page also carries an unrelated notice about an association of owners of Important Cultural Properties in Nagano Prefecture, which the temple office administers and which charges an annual membership of 2,000 yen.
| Ticket | Adult | Junior and senior high school | Primary school | Preschool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combined ticket, three halls and museum | 1,500 yen | 600 yen | 200 yen | Free |
| Main hall inner sanctuary and the passage beneath | 800 yen | 300 yen | 100 yen | Free |
| Sanmon gate, upper storey | 800 yen | 300 yen | 100 yen | Free |
| Kyozo sutra repository | 500 yen | 300 yen | 100 yen | Free |
Adding the three single tickets gives 2,100 yen for an adult against 1,500 yen for the combined ticket, a difference of 600 yen; the same arithmetic gives 900 yen against 600 yen for a junior or senior high school pupil and 300 yen against 200 yen for a primary school pupil. Those three subtractions are ours, not the temple’s. The temple states that tickets are bought at each hall, and that the inner sanctuary ticket comes from a machine to the right as you enter the main hall from the front, or from either of two sales points.
The inner sanctuary opens an hour before a service whose time moves, and closes at 16:30, 16:15 or 16:00
The main hall inner sanctuary does not have a fixed opening time. The temple prints it as one hour before the morning service, and that service follows the season rather than the clock. Closing time is fixed but not single: 16:30 from April to October, 16:15 in March and November, and 16:00 from December to February, with 31 December cut to 13:00 and 28 December cut to 8:30. The Sanmon, the Kyozo and the museum work differently again: they open at 9:00 and close at 16:00, also 13:00 on 31 December. The temple office answers the telephone from 9:00 to 16:30 every day, and until 14:00 on 31 December.
Two conditions sit in the small print. The three single-ticket blocks each carry a note that a holder of a disability certificate and one accompanying person enter free; the combined-ticket block does not carry that note. And the Sanmon block states that children of primary school age and below cannot climb to the upper storey, and that a guardian has to come with them. Separately, pupils and teachers of primary schools inside Nagano Prefecture enter the paid areas free on a social study visit, on an application that must carry the head teacher’s official seal, cannot be sent by fax or email for that reason, and has to reach the temple office two weeks before the visit; a preliminary inspection visit is charged. Large coaches are directed to car park 4, which is paid.
Sources Checked
Nagano Prefecture — page on the prefecture’s position and size, last updated 22 December 2025
Confirmed that Nagano borders eight prefectures and that this is the largest number of neighbours of any prefecture, the named neighbours Saitama, Gunma, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Toyama and Niigata, the area of 13,561.56 square kilometres, the fourth place nationally, the dimensions of about 120 km east to west and about 212 km north to south, the area ranking of Hokkaido 83,422.23, Iwate 15,275.04, Fukushima 13,784.39, Nagano 13,561.56 and Niigata 12,583.88 from the area survey taken as at 1 January 2024, the four extreme municipalities Kawakami, Otaki, Neba and Sakae, and the population of 1,970,876 in 861,635 households as at 1 November 2025, and the further figures of 82.68 years male and 88.23 years female life expectancy from the 2020 prefectural life tables ranked second and fourth, 10,709 births from the 2024 monthly population movement survey ranked seventeenth, a total fertility rate of 1.43 ranked fourteenth and 7,288 marriages ranked twenty-fifth from the 2022 vital statistics.
https://www.pref.nagano.lg.jp/koho/kids/menu02/ookisa.html
Nagano Prefecture — page on the prefecture’s municipalities, last updated 27 February 2018
Confirmed the total of 77 municipalities and its second place nationally, the breakdown into 19 cities, 23 towns and 35 villages, the first place nationally for the village count, the fourteen named counties, the ten named wide-area unions and their stated purpose, and the fall from 120 municipalities in 2002 to 77 in 2010.
https://www.pref.nagano.lg.jp/koho/kids/menu02/sityoson.html
Japan Meteorological Agency — table of monthly and annual normals for the Nagano site in Nagano Prefecture
Confirmed the 1991 to 2020 period with 30 years of data for the temperature, precipitation and snow columns, the January mean of minus 0.4C with a mean daily maximum of 3.8C and mean daily minimum of minus 3.9C, the February mean of 0.4C, the August mean of 25.4C with a mean daily maximum of 31.1C, the annual mean of 12.3C, the annual precipitation of 965.1 mm, the July figure of 137.7 mm and the November figure of 44.4 mm, the annual snowfall depth total of 163 cm with 63, 50, 30, 17, 2 and 1 cm in January, February, December, March, April and November, the deepest snow depth normals of 33 cm for the year and 26 cm in January, the 85.6 snow days a year with 24.0 in January, and that the global solar radiation column runs 2007 to 2020 with 14 years while the cloud amount, fog-day and thunder-day columns run 1991 to 2019 with 29 years and carry the reference-value mark.
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?prec_no=48&block_no=47610
Zenko-ji — page setting out the temple’s admission tickets
Confirmed the four tickets and their prices of 1,500, 600, 200 and free for the combined ticket, 800, 300, 100 and free for the main hall inner sanctuary, 800, 300, 100 and free for the Sanmon, and 500, 300, 100 and free for the Kyozo; that the combined ticket covers the inner sanctuary, the passage beneath the main hall, the Sanmon, the Kyozo and the museum; that the main hall is a National Treasure and the Sanmon and Kyozo are Important Cultural Properties; the association of owners of Important Cultural Properties in Nagano Prefecture administered from the temple office with a 2,000 yen annual membership; the inner sanctuary opening one hour before the morning service and closing at 16:30 from April to October, 16:15 in March and November and 16:00 from December to February, with 13:00 on 31 December and 8:30 on 28 December; the 9:00 to 16:00 hours for the Sanmon, Kyozo and museum with 13:00 on 31 December; that tickets are sold at each hall and the inner sanctuary ticket comes from a machine to the right of the front entrance or from two sales points; the free entry for a disability certificate holder and one companion printed on the three single-ticket blocks and absent from the combined-ticket block; that primary school age and below cannot climb the Sanmon and need a guardian; the free social study visits for Nagano Prefecture primary schools with an application carrying the head teacher’s official seal that cannot be faxed or emailed and must arrive two weeks ahead; that a preliminary inspection visit is charged; that large coaches use the paid car park 4; and the temple office telephone hours of 9:00 to 16:30 daily and to 14:00 on 31 December.
https://www.zenkoji.jp/meguru/sanpai/
Last updated: September 2026
