Isedotai Stone Circles and Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Shirakami-Sanchi.

2. 2. Shirakami-Sanchi

   Shirakami-Sanchi is one of the largest remaining virgin beech forests in East Asia, a vast tract of mountains straddling the border between Aomori and Akita prefectures in northern Honshu. It joined the World Heritage list in 1993, one of Japan's first natural sites, and the core area is left almost untouched, with no roads or facilities. Siebold's beech, a species found only in Japan, dominates the forest, and it shelters black bears, Japanese serows, golden eagles and the black woodpecker. The trees are at their most beautiful in autumn, when they turn gold and copper, and in spring when the new leaves are a startling pale green.

   Read the complete Shirakami-Sanchi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Shirakami-Sanchi comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle.

3. 3. Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle

   Over three thousand years ago, Jomon people in northern Japan arranged stones into circles on a terrace at the foot of Mount Iwaki, the conical volcano that dominates the Tsugaru plain in Aomori prefecture. The Omori Katsuyama stone circle is one of these monuments, with a ring of standing and placed stones that may have been used for rituals, burials or marking the seasons. It is part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2021, which celebrates a culture of hunter-gatherers who settled in permanent villages and made pottery for over ten thousand years.

   Read the complete Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 179 km into the recorded legs you reach Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle. Next is back through Shirakami-Sanchi.

4. 4. back through Shirakami-Sanchi

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Shirakami-Sanchi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Shirakami-Sanchi, late in the day. Next is Isedotai Stone Circles.

5. 5. Isedotai Stone Circles

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   Back at Isedotai Stone Circles. That is the ride.