Why this ride
From Sapporo it runs 355 km to Sapporo; allow about 5 h 17 of riding. It goes by way of Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles, Takasago Burial Site, Irie Site and Kitakogane Site. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sapporo day out · Kitakogane Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 355 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 17
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Sapporo
Sapporo is a young city by Japanese standards. Until 1869 it was an empty plain at the foot of the mountains, and then the Meiji government, wanting to settle and develop Hokkaido, laid out a grid of streets in the American manner and called the project the Kaitakushi, the Development Commission. Today it is a metropolis of nearly two million, the fifth largest in Japan, and the only one with wide boulevards, a broad central park and a cheerfully northern attitude.
Read the complete Sapporo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sapporo is where the day begins. Next is Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles.
2. Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles
Kiusu sits within the city limits of Chitose, but you would never guess it from the gentle forest and the soft ground underfoot. This is one of the strangest ancient monuments in Japan: circular graves enclosed by a raised embankment of earth, made by Jomon people about three thousand years ago. They dug a great ring pit, piled the soil into a bank around it, and placed their dead inside. The largest circles are many metres across, and the earthworks are still easy to read as mounds, grassy and a bit like a stage set. It forms part of the northern Jomon listing, which UNESCO inscribed in 2021. The reason for such labour is still discussed, but the effort tells you the dead mattered to the group.
Read the complete Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Takasago Burial Site.
3. Takasago Burial Site
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.
Read the complete Takasago Burial Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 153 km into the recorded legs you reach Takasago Burial Site. Next is Irie Site.
4. Irie Site
Hokkaido's southern coast sits on the edge of Funka Bay, a large, nearly circular inlet of the Pacific that is well sheltered, and about ten kilometres from the town of Date there is a shell mound that records how people lived here some four thousand years ago. Irie is one of the sites that make up the Jōmon Prehistoric Sites of Northern Japan, which UNESCO listed in 2021, a group of settlements and ritual places left by hunter-gatherer-fishers who lived without agriculture but built permanent villages, and who made the remarkable coiled-cord pottery that gives the era its name. The mound consists of discarded shells, fish bones and other debris, along with graves, and it is a rich archive of daily life.
Read the complete Irie Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Irie Site, about halfway. Next is Kitakogane Site.
5. Kitakogane Site
Hokkaido does not usually come to mind when people talk about ancient Japan, yet the shell heaps around Uchiura Bay are some of the oldest signs of settled life in the archipelago. Kitakogane sits on the edge of the bay near Date, roughly halfway between Muroran and the volcanic country around Lake Toya. The Jomon people who lived here gathered shellfish, hunted deer and fished, and they threw the shells onto the same pile for centuries, which is why a modern visitor can read a kitchen midden like a diary. It belongs to the group of northern Jomon sites that UNESCO listed in 2021.
Read the complete Kitakogane Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kitakogane Site sits at 191 km, about halfway. Next is back through Irie Site.
6. back through Irie Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Irie Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Irie Site comes up about 199 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Takasago Burial Site.
7. back through Takasago Burial Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Takasago Burial Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 201 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Takasago Burial Site. Next is back through Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles.
8. back through Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles, late in the day. Next is Sapporo.
9. Sapporo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sapporo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 355 km.
Leg by leg
Sapporo to Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles
Sapporo → Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles to Takasago Burial Site
Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles → Takasago Burial Site is 111 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Irie Site to Kitakogane Site
Irie Site → Kitakogane Site is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kitakogane Site to back through Irie Site
Kitakogane Site → back through Irie Site is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Takasago Burial Site to back through Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles
back through Takasago Burial Site → back through Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles is 111 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles to Sapporo
back through Kiusu Earthwork Burial Circles → Sapporo is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.