Korekawa Site and Komakino Stone Circle

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Korekawa Site

   The Korekawa site lies on the southern edge of Hachinohe, a port city on the Pacific coast of Aomori prefecture in northern Honshu, and it is one of seventeen locations in the UNESCO listing of the Jōmon prehistoric sites of northern Japan. The Jōmon were hunter-gatherers who lived in these islands for over ten thousand years, making some of the oldest pottery in the world and developing a remarkably settled, sophisticated way of life without farming. At Korekawa, waterlogged layers preserved things that usually vanish: wooden bowls, combs, bows and baskets, many of them coated in red lacquer, showing a level of craft that surprises everyone who sees them.

   Read the complete Korekawa Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Korekawa Site is where the day begins. Next is Oyu Stone Circles.

2. 2. Ōyu Stone Circles

   Two great rings of river stones lie in a quiet field on a plateau near Kazuno, in the north of Akita prefecture, and at the heart of each stands a small arrangement of upright stones that has been called a sundial. The Ōyu Stone Circles, known as Manza and Nonakadō, were built by the Jōmon people around four thousand years ago, and they are the largest stone circles in Japan. Beneath and around them archaeologists have found graves, suggesting they were places of burial and ceremony. Some researchers believe the circles were aligned with the setting sun at the summer solstice. Since 2021 they have formed part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Jōmon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.

   Read the complete Oyu Stone Circles write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ōyu Stone Circles comes up about 92 km into the recorded legs. Next is Komakino Stone Circle.

3. 3. 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

   about 181 km into the recorded legs you reach Komakino Stone Circle. Next is back through Oyu Stone Circles.

4. 4. back through Oyu Stone Circles

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Oyu Stone Circles write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Oyu Stone Circles, late in the day. Next is Korekawa Site.

5. 5. Korekawa Site

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Korekawa Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Korekawa Site. That is the ride.