Why this ride
306 km from Aomori to Aomori, about 5 h 47 of riding. On the way it passes Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle, Shirakami-Sanchi and back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Komakino Stone Circle and Shirakami-Sanchi
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 306 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 47
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Komakino Stone Circle
Four thousand years ago, someone on this hillside in northern Honshu lined up stones in a ring and built another ring around it, and they did it carefully enough that the circles are still there. Komakino is a Jōmon stone circle, from the hunter-gatherer people who lived in Japan long before rice farming, and it is one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of Jōmon prehistoric sites in northern Japan, added in 2021. The arrangement is quite small and elegant, a double ring of river stones in a grassy field, and nobody knows for sure what it was for. Graves, ceremonies and a calendar of the seasons are all guesses, and it is better to stand there and hold the question than to pretend to an answer.
Read the complete Komakino Stone Circle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Komakino Stone Circle 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 about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shirakami-Sanchi.
3. 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
about 153 km into the recorded legs you reach Shirakami-Sanchi. Next is back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Komakino Stone Circle.
5. Komakino Stone Circle
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Komakino Stone Circle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Komakino Stone Circle. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Komakino Stone Circle to Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Komakino Stone Circle → Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle to Shirakami-Sanchi
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle → Shirakami-Sanchi is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shirakami-Sanchi to back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Shirakami-Sanchi → back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle to Komakino Stone Circle
back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle → Komakino Stone Circle is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.