The Takasago burial site lies in the Date area on the shore of Funka Bay, in southwestern Hokkaido, and it belongs to the Jomon period, when people in these northern lands buried their dead with care and ceremony. Excavations turned up graves with ornaments of shell and other goods, which suggests a settled community with trading links. The site is part of the northern Jomon group that earned UNESCO listing in 2021. There is not much to see above ground, and a rider who expects dramatic ruins will be disappointed, but the information boards and the surroundings give a good sense of why people lived here: the bay was rich in fish and shellfish, and the hills behind held game and forest foods.
Funka Bay, also known as Uchiura, is a nearly closed inlet of the Pacific with a quiet shore and a long sweep of coastline road. Route 37 follows it with long bends and the occasional dip into small fishing villages. Behind the shoreline rise two volcanoes that shape the region, Usu and Showa-Shinzan, along with Lake Toya, a round caldera lake that is one of the best rides in this part of Hokkaido. The loop around the lake is easy and the views of the island in the middle are fine from several angles. Usu last erupted in the early 2000s and the signs are still visible on the slopes.
Date is a town of around thirty-five thousand, with all the fuel, convenience stores and restaurants you could need, and it is only twelve kilometres from the site. The name comes from a lord of the Date clan, whose retainers moved here in the nineteenth century to open land during the Meiji era. Muroran, further along the coast, is a steel town with a famous bridge and some dramatic seaside cliffs. Niseko, to the north, is a different world of ski resorts and pale volcanic slopes.
Weather in Hokkaido can switch quickly. Summer is gentle, with highs rarely stifling and long daylight. Autumn arrives early, and the first frost can come in October. Bears do live in the hills here, so give any forest track a little care.