CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Fujinomiya it runs 200 km to Fujinomiya; allow about 3 h 21 of riding. It goes by way of Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine, Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine, Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces and back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 51 km this is Hakone Turnpike and Skyline, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Deep in the lava forests on the western foot of Mount Fuji there is a cave formed when molten rock flowed down the slopes and its crust cooled while the interior drained away. The Hitoana lava tube is small and low, but in the sixteenth century an ascetic called Hasegawa Kakugyo is said to have practised extreme austerities inside it, and he became the founder figure of the Fuji-ko, the popular confraternities whose members climbed Fuji as an act of worship. Around the cave entrance stand hundreds of stone memorials erected by Fuji-ko groups over the centuries, mossy and leaning among the trees. The site is one of the components of the World Heritage listing Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration.
Read the complete Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki is where the day begins. Next is Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine.
There is a good argument that this is the most atmospheric shrine at the foot of Mount Fuji, and it has nothing to do with the view. Omuro Sengen-jinja stands in a grove of huge old cedars on the northern side, close to the lake town of Kawaguchiko, and the trees are so tall and so quiet that the sound of the road disappears within a few steps of the torii. The shrine is attached to the cult of Fuji itself, the idea that the mountain is a goddess to be placated, and it is part of the World Heritage listing for Fujisan as a sacred place and not simply a pretty one.
Read the complete Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine comes up 36 km in. Next is Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine.
On the eastern side of Mount Fuji, in the village of Subashiri, a shrine has stood at the start of the pilgrims' path for more than a thousand years. The Fuji Sengen shrine, often called Higashiguchi Hongū, the eastern main shrine, marks the beginning of the Subashiri trail to the summit, and pilgrims traditionally prayed here before starting their climb. The shrine is set in a forest of tall cedars and old trees, with a red gate, wooden halls and a quiet, spiritual atmosphere, and it is one of the components of the Fujisan UNESCO site, recognised as part of the mountain's cultural and religious landscape.
Read the complete Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
71 km in you reach Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine. Next is Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces.
Two pairs of tall brick chimneys stand in a quiet suburb at the base of the Izu Peninsula, looking strangely European against the green hills. They belong to the Nirayama reverberatory furnace, built in the 1850s to melt iron for casting cannons, at a time when Japan felt threatened by Western warships arriving in its waters. The project was led by Egawa Hidetatsu, the local magistrate, a forward-thinking official who studied Western military technology from Dutch books. He died before it was completed, and his son finished the work. It is the only surviving reverberatory furnace of its era in Japan that was actually used for casting, and since 2015 it has been part of the UNESCO site of the Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution.
Read the complete Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces, about halfway. Next is back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine sits at 142 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine comes up 178 km in. Next is Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki closes the day.
Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki → Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine → Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine → Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces → back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine → back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine → Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.