CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Fujikawaguchiko it runs 309 km to Fujikawaguchiko; allow about 4 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Fujisan, Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine, Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove and back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Mount Fuji was never meant to be seen only from a distance, and the shrines at its foot are where the older idea of the mountain as a god survives. The Kawaguchi Asama-jinja sits among tall old cedars on the north side, near Lake Kawaguchi, one of the five lakes that ring the mountain's northern foot, and it is one of the shrines that were used by pilgrims before they began the climb. The deity honoured at the Asama shrines is Konohanasakuya-hime, the princess of the blossoming trees, who is linked with the mountain and its volcanic fire.
Read the complete Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine is where the day begins. Next is Fujisan.
At 3,776 metres, Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, and its almost perfectly symmetrical cone has been a sacred symbol and an artistic inspiration for centuries. UNESCO listed Fujisan in 2013 as a cultural site, a place of worship and source of artistic inspiration, rather than for its natural beauty alone, recognising the shrines, pilgrim trails, lakes and springs around the mountain, and the woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige that made its image famous around the world.
Read the complete Fujisan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fujisan comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine.
Mount Fuji has been worshipped as a sacred mountain for as long as people have lived beneath it, and the Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha in Fujinomiya is the head shrine of that worship, the principal sanctuary of over a thousand Sengen shrines across Japan. Its main hall, rebuilt in the early seventeenth century under the patronage of Tokugawa Ieyasu, has an unusual two-storey design, painted in vermilion and set among tall trees. The shrine is dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime, a goddess associated with the mountain, with blossoms and with fire.
Read the complete Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 113 km into the recorded legs you reach Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine. Next is Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove.
Miho is a thin hook of land curling out into Suruga Bay, and Mihonomatsubara is the pine grove that covers it: tens of thousands of dark pines behind a long beach of grey, pebbly sand. People come for the view. On a clear day Mount Fuji sits on the other side of the bay, framed by the trees and the curve of the shore, and that image has been painted, printed and photographed for centuries. It is why the grove was included in the UNESCO listing for Fuji in 2013, as an artistic setting for the mountain rather than as a piece of nature in itself.
Read the complete Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove, about halfway. Next is back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine sits at 117 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fujisan.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fujisan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fujisan comes up about 232 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine closes the day.
Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine → Fujisan is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fujisan → Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine → Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove → back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine → back through Fujisan is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fujisan → Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.