CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Nonoichi it runs 128 km to Nonoichi; allow about 2 h 10 of riding. On the way it passes Ogimachi Village 2, Ogimachi Village and back through Ogimachi Village 2. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Kanazawa escaped the bombs of the Second World War and kept its old quarters, which is a large part of its charm today. The city sits on the Sea of Japan coast of Ishikawa Prefecture, between two rivers and a hill, and for centuries it was ruled by the Maeda clan, the second richest domain in feudal Japan. Their money went into art and craft, and Kanazawa is still known for gold leaf, lacquerware, ceramics and tea ceremony. Kenroku-en, the garden the clan laid out over generations, is counted among the three great gardens of Japan, with its pines held up by rope umbrellas against the heavy winter snow.
Read the complete Kanazawa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kanazawa is where the day begins. Next is Ogimachi Village 2.
Ogimachi is the largest of the gassho villages and the one most people picture when they think of Shirakawa-go, a cluster of steep thatched farmhouses in a valley of the Sho river in Gifu prefecture. Some sixty houses survive here, dark with age, their roofs angled at about sixty degrees so that deep snow slides off. Families once lived on the ground floor, kept silkworms in the attic spaces, and shared the work of rethatching in a communal effort called yui, in which the whole village turned out to rebuild a roof in a day or two. The practice carries on in a smaller form, and a roof is replaced every few decades. The village shares its UNESCO listing with Gokayama, 1995.
Read the complete Ogimachi Village 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ogimachi Village 2 comes up about 63 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ogimachi Village.
Ogimachi is the largest village in Shirakawa-go, a deep valley in the mountains of Gifu where the houses wear steep thatched roofs like hands pressed together in prayer. The style is called gassho-zukuri, praying hands, and the angle of about sixty degrees is a response to heavy snow, which can pile up for months. The roofs are made of thatch more than a metre thick, and the villagers once re-thatched them together in a communal effort, a custom still observed.
Read the complete Ogimachi Village write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 64 km into the recorded legs you reach Ogimachi Village. Next is back through Ogimachi Village 2.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ogimachi Village 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ogimachi Village 2, late in the day. Next is Kanazawa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kanazawa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Kanazawa. That is the ride.
Kanazawa → Ogimachi Village 2 is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ogimachi Village 2 → Kanazawa is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.