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.
206 km from Fujikawaguchiko to Fujikawaguchiko, about 3 h 27 of riding. On the way it passes Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki, Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine, Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces and back through Suyama 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 about 34 km this is Hakone Turnpike and Skyline, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki.
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 comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine.
On the southern flank of Mount Fuji, above the town of Susono, a quiet shrine stands among tall cedar trees at the start of one of the oldest climbing routes on the mountain. The Suyama Sengen-jinja is dedicated to the goddess of Fuji and marks the beginning of the Suyama trail, used by pilgrims for centuries before falling into disuse in the twentieth century and being partly revived in recent years. It is one of the component sites of Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration, listed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Suyama 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 Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine sits at 140 km, about halfway. Next is back through 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.
back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki comes up about 174 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 → Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki → Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine → Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces → back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine → back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki → Kawaguchi Asama-jinja Shrine is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.