Why this ride
478 km from Misawa to Misawa, about 6 h 39 of riding. It goes by way of Korekawa Site, Goshono Site, Oyu Stone Circles and Isedotai Stone Circles. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Futatsumori Site and Isedotai Stone Circles
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 478 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 39
- 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. Futatsumori Site
Futatsumori is a gentle hilltop near the town of Shichinohe in Aomori prefecture, overlooking Lake Ogawara, and to an untrained eye it is simply a grassy field among woods and farmland. But this is one of the largest shell mounds in the Tōhoku region, piled up by Jōmon people over thousands of years as they gathered shellfish from the lake and the sea, and it belongs to the same World Heritage group of Jōmon sites as the better-known Sannai-Maruyama. The shell heaps, rich in calcium, neutralised the acid soil and preserved bones, tools and ornaments that would otherwise have dissolved.
Read the complete Futatsumori Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Futatsumori Site is where the day begins. Next is Korekawa Site.
2. Korekawa Site
The Korekawa site lies on the southern edge of Hachinohe, a port city on the Pacific coast of Aomori prefecture in northern Honshu, and it is one of seventeen locations in the UNESCO listing of the Jōmon prehistoric sites of northern Japan. The Jōmon were hunter-gatherers who lived in these islands for over ten thousand years, making some of the oldest pottery in the world and developing a remarkably settled, sophisticated way of life without farming. At Korekawa, waterlogged layers preserved things that usually vanish: wooden bowls, combs, bows and baskets, many of them coated in red lacquer, showing a level of craft that surprises everyone who sees them.
Read the complete Korekawa Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Korekawa Site comes up about 54 km into the recorded legs. Next is Goshono Site.
3. Goshono Site
In the hills of northern Iwate, a short ride from the town of Ichinohe, a group of round houses with grass-covered roofs sits in a quiet clearing among cedar and broadleaf woods. They look like something out of a fairy tale, low mounds with doorways and smoke holes, and they are reconstructions of pit dwellings from the Jomon period, the long prehistoric era of hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan from around fifteen thousand years ago until the arrival of rice farming. The Goshono site was a large settlement in the middle Jomon period, and excavations found that some houses here were roofed with earth rather than thatch, which is why the reconstructions look the way they do. Since 2021 it has been one of the components of the World Heritage site of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
Read the complete Goshono Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 102 km into the recorded legs you reach Goshono Site. Next is Oyu Stone Circles.
4. Ōyu Stone Circles
Two great rings of river stones lie in a quiet field on a plateau near Kazuno, in the north of Akita prefecture, and at the heart of each stands a small arrangement of upright stones that has been called a sundial. The Ōyu Stone Circles, known as Manza and Nonakadō, were built by the Jōmon people around four thousand years ago, and they are the largest stone circles in Japan. Beneath and around them archaeologists have found graves, suggesting they were places of burial and ceremony. Some researchers believe the circles were aligned with the setting sun at the summer solstice. Since 2021 they have formed part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Jōmon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
Read the complete Oyu Stone Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Oyu Stone Circles, about halfway. Next is Isedotai Stone Circles.
5. Isedotai Stone Circles
In a quiet corner of Akita prefecture, near the town of Takanosu in the north of Japan's main island, a set of stone circles lies on a low terrace above the Yoneshiro river. The Isedotai stone circles were built around four thousand years ago by the people of the Jomon culture, hunter-gatherers who lived in the Japanese archipelago for more than ten thousand years and made some of the oldest pottery in the world. The site is part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, listed by UNESCO in 2021, a series of seventeen sites across Hokkaido and the north of Honshu that illustrate the long, settled life of these people.
Read the complete Isedotai Stone Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Isedotai Stone Circles sits at 210 km, about halfway. Next is back through Oyu Stone Circles.
6. back through Oyu Stone Circles
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oyu Stone Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Oyu Stone Circles comes up about 289 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Goshono Site.
7. back through Goshono Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Goshono Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 375 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Goshono Site. Next is back through Korekawa Site.
8. back through Korekawa Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Korekawa Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Korekawa Site, late in the day. Next is Futatsumori Site.
9. Futatsumori Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Futatsumori Site 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 478 km.
Leg by leg
Futatsumori Site to Korekawa Site
Futatsumori Site → Korekawa Site is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Korekawa Site to Goshono Site
Korekawa Site → Goshono Site is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Goshono Site to Oyu Stone Circles
Goshono Site → Oyu Stone Circles is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ōyu Stone Circles to Isedotai Stone Circles
Ōyu Stone Circles → Isedotai Stone Circles is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Isedotai Stone Circles to back through Oyu Stone Circles
Isedotai Stone Circles → back through Oyu Stone Circles is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Oyu Stone Circles to back through Goshono Site
back through Oyu Stone Circles → back through Goshono Site is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Goshono Site to back through Korekawa Site
back through Goshono Site → back through Korekawa Site is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Korekawa Site to Futatsumori Site
back through Korekawa Site → Futatsumori Site is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.