Why this ride
A 271 km round trip from Shimokizukuri - roughly 4 h 05 in the saddle. On the way it passes Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle, Sannai Maruyama Site, Futatsumori Site and back through Sannai Maruyama Site. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kamegaoka Burial Site and Futatsumori Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 271 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 05
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kamegaoka Burial Site
In 1887, a farmer digging in the fields near Kamegaoka, in the Tsugaru region of northern Honshu, found a strange clay figure: a stocky body covered with patterns and a face dominated by huge eyes like snow goggles. The shakōki-dogū, the goggle-eyed figurine, became one of the most famous objects of the Jōmon culture, the hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan for more than ten thousand years and made some of the oldest pottery in the world. Kamegaoka was a burial and settlement site of the final Jōmon period, about three thousand years ago, and it has yielded lacquerware, pottery and figurines of remarkable sophistication. It is part of the Jōmon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Kamegaoka Burial Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kamegaoka Burial Site is where the day begins. Next is Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle.
2. 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
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle comes up 44 km in. Next is Sannai Maruyama Site.
3. Sannai Maruyama Site
On the outskirts of Aomori, at the northern tip of Honshu, archaeologists working on a site for a baseball stadium in the early 1990s found the remains of a large village of the Jomon period, a hunter gatherer culture that lived in Japan for over ten thousand years. Sannai Maruyama was occupied for around a thousand years, from about 5,900 to 4,200 years ago, and its finds changed ideas about the Jomon: long houses, pit dwellings, storehouses, burial grounds, and a huge structure of six massive chestnut posts, now reconstructed as a tall wooden tower. In 2021 it became part of the World Heritage listing of Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
Read the complete Sannai Maruyama Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
87 km in you reach Sannai Maruyama Site. Next is Futatsumori Site.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Sannai Maruyama Site.
5. back through Sannai Maruyama Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sannai Maruyama Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sannai Maruyama Site sits at 175 km, about halfway. Next is back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle.
6. back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle comes up 218 km in. Next is Kamegaoka Burial Site.
7. Kamegaoka Burial Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kamegaoka Burial Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kamegaoka Burial Site closes the day.
Leg by leg
Kamegaoka Burial Site to Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Kamegaoka Burial Site → Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle to Sannai Maruyama Site
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle → Sannai Maruyama Site is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sannai Maruyama Site to Futatsumori Site
Sannai Maruyama Site → Futatsumori Site is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Futatsumori Site to back through Sannai Maruyama Site
Futatsumori Site → back through Sannai Maruyama Site is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sannai Maruyama Site to back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
back through Sannai Maruyama Site → back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle to Kamegaoka Burial Site
back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle → Kamegaoka Burial Site is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.