a meridional chain of medium and low mountains and hills in the northwestern part of Honshu Island in Japan. Length, about 225 km; predominant heights, 200–800 m. Along the western slope of the chain, there is a series of isolated volcanoes with heights up to 2,230 M (Mount Chokai). The broad valleys of the Yoneshiro and Omono rivers divide the Dewa into several massifs, which are low (up to 400 m) and flat-topped in the south and higher and more steeply sloped in the north. The Dewa range is covered with coniferous forests and is thus an important area of timber exploitation. There are deposits of oil, gold, and silver in the Dewa chain.