Why this ride
280 km from Aomori to Aomori, about 4 h 43 of riding. On the way it passes Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle, Kamegaoka Burial Site, Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan and Tagoyano Site. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Komakino Stone Circle and Tagoyano Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 280 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 43
- 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 Kamegaoka Burial Site.
3. 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
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Kamegaoka Burial Site. Next is Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
4. Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
At the foot of Mount Iwaki, the solitary volcano that rises above the Tsugaru plain in Aomori prefecture, there is a flat terrace where people of the Jomon period laid out a large oval ring of stones a few thousand years ago. The Omori Katsuyama stone circle is one of the sites that make up the Jomon Prehistoric Sites of Northern Japan, listed by UNESCO in 2021, and it is a quiet, grassy place where you can stand in the middle and look straight up at the mountain the builders must have looked at every day.
Read the complete Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, about halfway. Next is Tagoyano Site.
5. Tagoyano Site
In the far north of Honshu, on the Tsugaru plain of Aomori Prefecture, the Tagoyano site is a shell midden left by people of the Jomon period, the long era of hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan for over ten thousand years and made some of the oldest pottery in the world. The mound consists mainly of shells of shijimi, a small freshwater clam that thrived in the brackish water of the old lagoon. Along with the shells, archaeologists found pottery, tools and bones, and the site has become part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see above ground now, just a grassy area and information boards, but the picture it paints is rich: people living by water, fishing, gathering, making beautiful vessels.
Read the complete Tagoyano Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tagoyano Site sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
6. back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan comes up about 176 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kamegaoka Burial Site.
7. back through 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
about 213 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kamegaoka Burial Site. Next is back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle.
8. 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.
9. 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
The route ends here after 280 km.
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 Kamegaoka Burial Site
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle → Kamegaoka Burial Site is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kamegaoka Burial Site to Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
Kamegaoka Burial Site → Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan to Tagoyano Site
Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan → Tagoyano Site is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tagoyano Site to back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
Tagoyano Site → back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan to back through Kamegaoka Burial Site
back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan → back through Kamegaoka Burial Site is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kamegaoka Burial Site to back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
back through Kamegaoka Burial Site → back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle is 29 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.