Miho is a thin hook of land curling out into Suruga Bay, and Mihonomatsubara is the pine grove that covers it: tens of thousands of dark pines behind a long beach of grey, pebbly sand. People come for the view. On a clear day Mount Fuji sits on the other side of the bay, framed by the trees and the curve of the shore, and that image has been painted, printed and photographed for centuries. It is why the grove was included in the UNESCO listing for Fuji in 2013, as an artistic setting for the mountain rather than as a piece of nature in itself.
The place also has a legend, the one behind the Noh play Hagoromo. A fisherman finds a heavenly feather robe hanging on a pine, a celestial maiden begs him to return it, and in exchange she performs a dance for him. One particular pine near the shrine is still called the pine of the feather robe. Whether or not you believe in angels, the story suits the soft light on the water.
Suruga Bay is the deepest bay in Japan, dropping steeply to well over two thousand metres, which is why the sea here turns such a sharp dark blue and why the port at nearby Shimizu can handle big ships. Behind the grove the Tokai region's famous tea fields climb the slopes, and Shizuoka is where much of Japan's green tea comes from. In spring, look for the little pink sakura shrimp from Yui, a few kilometres up the coast, served fried or on rice.
For riding, the approach is a flat coastal road, busy near the port and quiet along the grove itself. There is a long walk through the pines to the beach, so plan to leave the bike in the car park and spend half an hour on foot. Shizuoka city, thirteen kilometres away, has everything in fuel, food and accommodation, and further up the coast Fuji and Yaizu offer alternatives. The best time is a cold, clear winter morning, when the snowcapped peak stands sharp over the bay; in summer the mountain tends to vanish in haze by mid-morning. The rides from here run on to the great art museums of Tokyo, taking the coastal Tomei corridor and the hills around Hakone on the way.