Why this ride
236 km from Nishifukuma to Nishifukuma, about 5 h 43 of riding. On the way it passes Onga river Pumping Station, Nakatsu-miya, The Imperial Steel Works and back through Nakatsu-miya. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Koyajima and The Imperial Steel Works · 365 km
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 236 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 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. Okitsu-miya Yohaisho
Some holy places are meant to be seen from a distance. Off the coast of Munakata, in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, the island of Okinoshima rises from the Genkai Sea about sixty kilometres offshore. It is a sacred island where rituals were performed from the fourth to the ninth century, and tens of thousands of offerings, including mirrors, jewels and gold rings, were left on its rocks. Ordinary visitors are not allowed to land, so on the island of Oshima, closer to the mainland, stands the Okitsu-miya Yohaisho, a hall from which worshippers can pray towards Okinoshima across the sea.
Read the complete Okitsu-miya Yohaisho write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Okitsu-miya Yohaisho comes up about 0 km into the recorded legs. Next is Onga river Pumping Station.
2. Onga river Pumping Station
Steel needs water, a great deal of it, and in the early twentieth century the new Imperial Steel Works at Yawata in northern Kyushu needed more than the local streams could provide. The answer was this pumping station on the Onga river at Nakama, built in 1910, which drew water from the river and sent it through pipelines to the steel works. Remarkably, it is still in operation more than a century later. The red brick building with its tall windows is part of the UNESCO listing of Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution, alongside shipyards, coal mines and iron works that tell the story of Japan's dramatic transformation into an industrial power.
Read the complete Onga river Pumping Station write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Onga river Pumping Station. Next is Nakatsu-miya.
3. Nakatsu-miya
Munakata Taisha is not one shrine but three, spread across the sea off northern Kyushu, and Nakatsu-miya is the middle one. The boat leaves from the little harbour of Kōnominato and takes roughly a quarter of an hour, crossing water that was once the main sea lane between Japan and the Korean peninsula. Shrines were built at three points along that lane to protect sailors, and the middle one honours the goddess Tagitsuhime.
Read the complete Nakatsu-miya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nakatsu-miya, about halfway. Next is The Imperial Steel Works.
4. The Imperial Steel Works
Japan's modern industry has a birthday, and in Kitakyushu they celebrate it with a rusting blast furnace. The Imperial Steel Works at Yawata began producing iron in 1901, a state-run enterprise financed with money from the war indemnity that China paid after the First Sino-Japanese War, and it was built to give a country that had just opened to the world its own supply of steel. German engineers advised on the early design. The works grew into the heart of the northern Kyushu industrial belt, and Yawata became a city that smelled of coke and smoke for most of a century.
Read the complete The Imperial Steel Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Imperial Steel Works sits at 183 km, about halfway. Next is back through Nakatsu-miya.
5. back through Nakatsu-miya
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nakatsu-miya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nakatsu-miya comes up about 160 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Onga river Pumping Station.
6. back through Onga river Pumping Station
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Onga river Pumping Station write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 196 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Onga river Pumping Station. Next is back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho.
7. back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Okitsu-miya Yohaisho write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho, late in the day. Next is Koyajima.
Leg by leg
Okitsu-miya Yohaisho to Onga river Pumping Station
Okitsu-miya Yohaisho → Onga river Pumping Station is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Onga river Pumping Station to Nakatsu-miya
Onga river Pumping Station → Nakatsu-miya is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nakatsu-miya to The Imperial Steel Works
Nakatsu-miya → The Imperial Steel Works is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Imperial Steel Works to back through Nakatsu-miya
The Imperial Steel Works → back through Nakatsu-miya is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nakatsu-miya to back through Onga river Pumping Station
back through Nakatsu-miya → back through Onga river Pumping Station is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Onga river Pumping Station to back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho
back through Onga river Pumping Station → back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.