Hetsu-miya is the third of the Munakata shrines, and the only one you can drive to. Munakata Taisha honours three goddesses, the daughters of the sun goddess Amaterasu in the old myths, and each lives in a different place along the sea lane between Japan and Korea: one on the remote island of Okinoshima, one on Ōshima and one here on the mainland, at Tashima, beside a calm pine grove close to the shore. The grounds are plain, with a simple wooden hall and an air of sea and pine, and in autumn a festival draws crowds and boats.
The real wonder is in the museum next to the main shrine, the Shinpōkan, which holds the offerings from Okinoshima, tens of thousands of objects, many of them left by travellers and envoys from the fourth to the ninth centuries. Bronze mirrors from China, glass cups from Persia, gold rings and carved ornaments show how far this sea road reached, and the whole treasure has been declared a national treasure. Okinoshima itself, the sacred island, was added to the UNESCO list in 2017, and its entry is so strictly limited that almost nobody is allowed to land.
Munakata is a modest city, and Koga and Nishifukuma to the east and west are bigger towns of forty to sixty thousand where you will find fuel and supermarkets. The area is easy to reach from Fukuoka, about an hour away by road, and the coastal route is pleasant, running past fishing harbours, beaches and low hills with the shapes of islands offshore. The surface is excellent, the traffic is light and the road bends gently, so it is relaxed riding, not a technical challenge.
The ride list also takes you to the Imperial Steel Works, in the Yawata district of Kitakyushu, which was one of the foundations of Japan's rise as an industrial power. After the quiet of Tashima, with its pines and mirrors, the blast furnaces are a jolt, but that contrast is the point. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, and the first days of May are lively with festivals. Stop for grilled fish or a plate of local sashimi at one of the harbours.